What alloy is in my pot?

[reloader4410]

casting the other day, I mix lino & sheet lead for about lyman #2, well pot wasn't full so I mixed some lead I bought off the internet,I have used this lead before with no problems, this lead took a long time to melt. I started casting after it melted, I always pre heat the mold on a hot plate, also tried some moly spray on mold, well this lead started right off frosting the bullet, the flow also was slow & I could not fill a two cavity mold, went to casting one cavity, seemed to puddle up before the mold filled. I added more sheet lead no help, I stopped after about 20 bullets were cast. when the pot cooled the lead looked frosty in the pot. Bullets were about 14 on a lbt tester, I kept turning down temperature to no avail. any ideas as to what alloy is in my mix to cause this? Don't know weather to dump the whole batch or what? any ideas to what alloy I mixed in? forgot to add when I get an overflow puddle I can turn the mold over & pry the lead away from mold & then break the sprue well this alloy would just brake of sometimes right down in the sprue. please forgive spelling. please advise. Thanks & happy trails.

[white eagle]

Sounds to me like you were not up to temp with the mold
that would cause the cav's. not to both fill
also the temp.on the pot may have been to low if you kept turning it down
compounding the issue.
best of luck keep after it

[reloader4410]

if temps were low wouldn't bullets have wrinkles, no mater the setting on the pot no wrinkles on the bullets. Thanks.

[bangerjim]

If you added that "unknown" metal and it is pure PB, it has a melting temp higher than, say COWW's. When I add an ingot of pure, it takes much longer to melt than ingots of alloys. Just wait and stir.

When you say "pre heat" you do not say how hot. I take all my molds to full casting temp B4 ever starting. Never any problems.....1st drop is perfect. Do no just warm the mold. A good way to test your plate is to put a small piece of WW on it. When it melts, turn your plate dial down a bit and use that setting to preheat for at least 20 min. That is a rough estimate if you do not have access to contact thermocouples and digital temp equipment. And an IR gun will not read shiny surfaces!

Your story above is exactly why I would NEVER buy lead or alloy off the net. Only locally after an x-ray gun analysis or from know reliable sellers on here in S&S.

I would add some pure Sn, and skip lino! Try that. You do not need anymore Sb.

banger

[reloader4410]

Thanks for the replies, will try the above as I cast outside raining so may take a while. Thanks & may the force be with you.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I don't think it's your alloy.
What is your procedure for fluxing or stirring your pot once the alloy is melted ?
If your stream is slowing down, your spout may have some gunk in it?

[scottfire1957]

We can't have any idea what your alloy is. We don't, like you don't, know what you bought.

Analysis is the only answer.

[reloader4410]

I run my pot temp wide open, stir, mix & scrape sides remove trash, when I get a bullet that starts to frost I back down temp till I get a shiney bullet. It didn't happen with this batch, all I got at any temp was a frosted bullet. The bullets looked silver & completely frosted. I had to over pour to fill the mold, usually I would bend the over pour so it would be out of the way when I broke the sprue, what would happen was the sprue would shatter sometimes right at the cut off plate, that is what made me think it was the alloy. It looked like any other stream of lead I have poured, but looked frosty. Wrinkled bullets are a sign to me to cold, never got a wrinkled bullet. the lead in the pot looked like a heavily frosted bullet would look like never had a mix look like this. would cadium, zink, or other metals cause any of this? Thanks

[hutch18414]

I had a similar experience not long ago. Could not get anything but frosted bullets with a new to me 2 cavity mold. Happened to see a post about a cold sprue plate. Flipped the mold over on the hot plate for about 15 minutes and tried again. As soon as the sprue started cutting easy the mold started dropping nice bullets. I was then able to drop my temperature back for the slightly oversized bullets I was looking for and everthing ran great after that.

[Mitch]

get a thermometer.if you sre running the pot wide open it would be 850+ way to hot

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

frosty huh?
frosty boolits, frosty stream, and the lead in the pot looked frosty...in it's melted status ?
some photo's would really help.

[old benn]

Are you using a thermometer? Do not rely on the dial on your pot to reach a temperature.

[NavyVet1959]

If you don't like the look of frosty bullets, just powder coat them. :)

[reloader4410]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and PM's. The following was the cure; temperature gauge I bought runs 700 degrees in the mix, I still have a frosted bullet but I can live with that. Cleaned the spout with a paper clip, more flow, also put some bullet lube in the mix & stirred the heck out of it. One of those controllers is out of my budget has anyone tried a light dimmer switch for controlling the temperature? Again, thanks to all & may the force be with you always.