Fabbed bottom pour ladle.

[Whitesmoke]

I want to make a bottom pour ladle.I saw one that a man had made from 1 1/4 pipe, blanked off one end and with a nipple in the bottom that allows the same sort of injection (if thats the right word) to the bullet mould as a bottom pour pot.

The top was cut away about 45 degrees slanted back to another semi blanked end. I am seeking a pic or dimensions to work out placement of the nipple and its thru diameter.

The local gunshops don't have any and I am on a budget in any case.

I saw it somewhere and unable locate it again.Would anyone one remember seeing it and perhaps post where it was ?

Its built along the lines of the cast iron lead dipper ladles from Lyman and RCBS

Thanks

Whitesmoke

[NavyVet1959]

Easiest solution is a stainless steel condiment ladle with a hole drilled in the bottom.

Here's a video of FortuneCookie45LC on YouTube comparing a traditional ladle to my design:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQQ159QJCo

The ladle that he's using is a bit larger than the one that I initially created. The stainless steel condiment ladles go for about $1 at the restaurant supply stores. My design starts at around the 6:40 time.

[Retumbo]

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/images/LD.jpg

[NavyVet1959]

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/images/LD.jpg

Interesting design... Looks like it was made (or a similar once *could* be made) from a CO2 cartridge.

[Whitesmoke]

NavyVet1959 and Retumbo

Thanks fellas for taking the time to post,

The ladle I happened to already have one, and the Co2 cartridge ladle I have made in the past , used and discarded years ago..

Possibly there are larger cartridges but mine I considered a tad small- it did not have enough Volume/weight behind it in a pour.

At one stage I had access to dozens of used cartridges through a school Co2 propelled dragster car racing programme.

I had a look around locally but don't see Co2 cartridges any more.

For now I'll try a drill bit through the ladle and keep you posted- Its a kiss thing and I favour Kiss.

Thanks again

[NavyVet1959]

For now I'll try a drill bit through the ladle and keep you posted- Its a kiss thing and I favour Kiss.

I wanted to try ladle casting to compare it to my bottom pour pot, but I realized that with most ladles, you are pouring from the top of the lead pool in the ladle and not the bottom. I originally thought that maybe I could create a ladle with a spring actuated plug in it that I could actuate by squeezing the handle after I had it over my mold. Prior to that though, I decided that I should just try a very basic bottom pour ladle to see if I even liked the ergonomics of ladle casting. So, I took a stainless steel condiment ladle that cost $1 (new) at a local restaurant supply store and drilled a 1/16" hole in the bottom. I found the flow rate to be a bit slow, so I went up to the next size drill bit which was a 3/32" one. That seemed to be a good size in that it allowed me to quickly fill even a 6-cavity 230 gr mold quick enough that I didn't have wrinkles in the bullets while also not flowing so fast that I lost much lead during the short time of moving the ladle from the bottom of the pot to over the mold (which is also held over the pot). I have found the my mold also can be heated up quicker this way by just pouring a heavier sprue initially. In the end, I decided to just stay with this method since it worked so well and not bother with making a spring actuated plug. It's foolproof enough that I've yet to encounter a clogged orifice and even if I did, it would be easy to just drill the orifice out. If you are casting REALLY large bullets though (e.g. 12-gauge shotgun or .50 BMG), you *might* want to consider a large orifice. I haven't cast them yet, so I'm not sure. Still, at $1 per ladle, it's cheap to have different ladle sizes or orifice sizes on hand.

[hatti]

http://i65.tinypic.com/s3q98p.jpg

my version of home made ladle.
i turned two halves and welded them together.

[Geezer in NH]

http://www.advancecarmover.com/rowellbottom-pouringladles.aspx

[NavyVet1959]

http://www.advancecarmover.com/rowellbottom-pouringladles.aspx

https://www.restaurantsupply.com/vollrath-46900
http://www.harborfreight.com/332-in-titanium-nitride-coated-high-speed-steel-drill-bit-set-7-pc-61547.html

[melloairman]

I have been using a bottom pour pot for the last 8 years . After viewing the video I remembered I had a RCBS [I think ] bottom pour ladle I used for pouring swag cores years ago . I think I will give it a try tomorrow . I cast almost ever day and leaning over to watch the pour can get old . Saw a ladle in moms [she's 91] utility bin today . It might come in handy some day .Marvin

[melloairman]

Used the rcbs ladle yesterday . It was ok but I had problems with a constant pour rate and the bases showed it . With a lot of practice I think it would work . But I also think the ladle might be a better option . Today while bottom pouring I kept looking at my old Lee ladle . Has any one tried to bend the handle and drill a 3/32 hole in it ? Marvin

[NavyVet1959]

Used the rcbs ladle yesterday . It was ok but I had problems with a constant pour rate and the bases showed it . With a lot of practice I think it would work . But I also think the ladle might be a better option . Today while bottom pouring I kept looking at my old Lee ladle . Has any one tried to bend the handle and drill a 3/32 hole in it ? Marvin

I've never owned one. If it is steel, then just heat it up until it is cherry red and then bend it. From the reviews that I've read on it though, it's not large enough for the 6-cavity molds. With the condiment ladles only costing $1-2 each, you can cheaply choose the size you need for the bullet size and number of cavities.

[Landy]

This is a really good tool for and method of pouring. As mentioned many other ladles pour from the contaminated top. Bottom pour pots obscure the pour, and this beginner needs to see what I'm doing and learn as much as I can.

I went with a two fluid ounce 'spoodle' as the restaurant supply called it with a straight handle like a spoon. It lets me have the mold hand and ladle hand parallel for comfort.

My thanks to the promoter FortuneCookie45LC and inventor NavyVet1959.


Easiest solution is a stainless steel condiment ladle with a hole drilled in the bottom.

Here's a video of FortuneCookie45LC on YouTube comparing a traditional ladle to my design:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZQQ159QJCo

The ladle that he's using is a bit larger than the one that I initially created. The stainless steel condiment ladles go for about $1 at the restaurant supply stores. My design starts at around the 6:40 time.

[Landy]

Just a note on volume, lest anyone think that a two ounce ladle seems too small, I estimate that it gives me about 6,000 grains of pour-able lead.

I stacked 38 SWCs of 158 grains each in it to below the rim a smidge. Assuming that the interstitial volume is adequate for pre pour flow as mold and ladle are positioned and a remaining puddle in the ladle, that gives me 6,004 grains of lead to pour.

[country gent]

1 ounce is 437 grains so yopur either off in the volumne of the ladle or in the conversion. for most moulds it should be fine big bullets in a 4 or 6 cavity may be diffrent.

[Landy]

1 ounce is 437 grains so yopur either off in the volumne of the ladle or in the conversion. for most moulds it should be fine big bullets in a 4 or 6 cavity may be diffrent.

Neither, it is the difference in the volume unit of fluid ounces verses the weight unit of avoirdupois ounces.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Haven't read thread, sorry if it's been mentioned.
I saw a ladle made from an old CO² cartridge in a similar way you described. It had the tip cut off, a hole cut in the side, and was tack welded to a short thin rod so that the cut was on the top as held like a ladle.

Looked great, owner said it worked great.

[GhostHawk]

Well I do nothing but ladle pour, have not had a bottom pour pot since I gave it away back in the early 80's.

I do have the good lyman ladle with the nipple on the front and a big opening in the back.

But I really only do pressure casting on molds that need it. If the mold is warm, the lead is right, and the mold is vented correctly you should not need pressure casting to get good boolits.

But I do have a few molds that just kind of insist on it.

My sharpshooter combo mold is one, double ought side needs full pressure casting and needs to be hot before I get good fill.
Now my sharpshooter #1 buckshot mold I just pour a stream down one side, flip, other side count to 5, split it grab the sprue with pliers and pull it out. But no pressure casting at all. Fill is at over 95% after one pour.

With pressure casting the sprue needs to be warm or you can stick the ladle to the mold, lead cools inside and it goes back into the pot until it melts out.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Just buy a Rowell Bottom Pour ladle and be done with it. They come in a number of sizes for the smallest, to the second up which is about right to so big they have handles on both ends for two people.

The two home made ladles shown, while well crafted ARE NOT bottom pour ladles and do not have the advantage of the true bottom pour ladle which is pouring from the clean metal at the bottom of the alloy pool contained in the ladle.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[NavyVet1959]

Just buy a Rowell Bottom Pour ladle and be done with it. They come in a number of sizes for the smallest, to the second up which is about right to so big they have handles on both ends for two people.

The two home made ladles shown, while well crafted ARE NOT bottom pour ladles and do not have the advantage of the true bottom pour ladle which is pouring from the clean metal at the bottom of the alloy pool contained in the ladle.



I suspect that if you rotate them all the way so that the spout was straight down after filling them up, you would be getting the equivalent of a bottom pour. I know for a fact that my design was a true bottom pour ladle though. And personally, I think my design works better for narrow deep pots than the Rowell ladles. With the stainless steel condiment ladle that I used, the handle on the ladle is oriented very vertically, so it's more like lowering and filling a bucket in a well. Since there's a small hole drilled in the bottom of the ladle, I guess it would be more like lowering and filling a *leaky* bucket in a well. :)

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

NavyVet,

Yes, it works. I watched the video.

However, I'll stay with my recommendation for the Rowell ladle.

I use a cast iron pot of about 40 - 45lbs. capacity and when casting by myself, will run 2 - 3 molds and mostly 4 to 6 cavity.

The exception being when I cast for my 45/70 using my 465gr - 4 cavity mold. I use a different alloy for those bullets then the wheel weight alloy used for my general casting.

In truth I am not as "neat" as the caster shown in the video, as I am going for as much production as possible in a 2+ hour casting session.

Using an old Coleman gas stove with the big pot, I have enough heat to add back sprews and fresh ingots of 3 +/- lbs each which allows me to maintain a well filled pot and a high rate of production without needing to dip into the bottom of a shallow pool of alloy.

The large pot and Rowell ladle also allows me to maintain a lower shoulder/arm angle then that shown with the stainless steel dipper, which for my arms and shoulders and considering my high rate of casting is a real advantage.

Were I to use the dipper with a hole drilled in the bottom, I'd need to reform the dipper handle to allow a lower shoulder and arm angle.

I have used the Rowell ladle for years and find it a huge step above the typical RCBS or Lyman ladles with the little nipple. I have a Lyman sitting in my collection, but it just draws dust remaining unused since I bought the Rowell ladle.

As I recall, I have the second from the bottom sized ladle and I believe there was two handle lengths available when I ordered. I bought the longer.

Thanks for the video and it does show an option.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

179412179413

[NavyVet1959]

NavyVet,

Yes, it works. I watched the video.

However, I'll stay with my recommendation for the Rowell ladle.

I use a cast iron pot of about 40 - 45lbs. capacity and when casting by myself, will run 2 - 3 molds and mostly 4 to 6 cavity.



If you have a larger pot, then a handle that just goes straight out the side of the ladle like the Rowell will work. If you are using one of the Lee pots that are fairly narrow (especially if it is their bottom pour pot where their mechanism takes up a lot of the room in the pot), having a ladle that you lower and pull back out vertically has a bit of an advantage. The ladle and pot that FortuneCookie45LC on YouTube was using is not the same as what I used when I came up with the bottom pour ladle idea. The Lee pot is narrower and deeper, so a condiment ladle with a handle that goes close to vertical works better for me.

Because of various injuries over the years (sports, motorcycles, etc), sitting in one place for too long gets painful, but so does standing, so I alternate between sitting and using the pot's bottom pour feature and standing and using the bottom pour ladle technique.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/images/LD.jpg


Haven't read thread, sorry if it's been mentioned.
I saw a ladle made from an old CO² cartridge in a similar way you described. It had the tip cut off, a hole cut in the side, and was tack welded to a short thin rod so that the cut was on the top as held like a ladle.

Looked great, owner said it worked great.
Whoops... that's what I get for posting without reading. This is almost identical to the one I'm talking about, except this one is a bit nicer looking somehow.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I gave Navyvet's bottom pour condiment ladle a try a number of months ago....

The bottom pour spout on my casting pot is now closed off if that's any indication of how I like it!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

179477
Click to enlarge.

Here's mine. Lyman still makes them, I believe.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

Yep, Still available from Lyman and I believe the RCBS version is also still available.

However, not even close to the Rowell bottom pour type in usability.

CDOC

[NavyVet1959]

I gave Navyvet's bottom pour condiment ladle a try a number of months ago....

The bottom pour spout on my casting pot is now closed off if that's any indication of how I like it!

Thanks... What size ladle are you using? I checked mine today and it is 1 oz. I also have a 2 oz ladle, but it is a bit of a tight fit into the Lee 20 lb melting pot if you leave Lee's bottom pour mechanism in it, so I did not drill it out as a bottom pour. I think the 1/2 oz one might be a bit small unless you were doing only 2 cavity molds.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Thanks... What size ladle are you using? I checked mine today and it is 1 oz. I also have a 2 oz ladle, but it is a bit of a tight fit into the Lee 20 lb melting pot if you leave Lee's bottom pour mechanism in it, so I did not drill it out as a bottom pour. I think the 1/2 oz one might be a bit small unless you were doing only 2 cavity molds.

I made up both a 1/2oz ladle and a 1oz ladle and came to the same conclusions. The half ounce is a little small but okay for 2-cav's and the small stuff. The 1 ounce is just perfect! I left all the bottom pour mech installed in my pot in case I decide I need it for whatever reason so the 1 ounce is just fine! These work great for plunging into the depth of a pot like Lee's casting pots and other deep style pots. The vertically fixed handle is great, trying to use a Rowell or the other horizontal handle types would require the pot stay fairly full not to mention how cheap a condiment ladle is compared to a Rowell.

Now one of the things in my project list I want to tackle is a custom ladle casting pot. We have a handy little scrap metal place here that has mountains of scrap metal and divided by type. I gravitate to the stainless steel pile every time I go and found they had scrapped a bunch of commercial coffee machines. Well these machines have this beautiful hot water vessel about 6"x12" nice robotic welded 16ga stainless steel cylinder. Nice flat bottom with a rounded edge where it meets the body of the cylinder. Once I shorten it and TIG weld a new upper flange on it for the top, I have already fitted dual heating coil elements for the Lee 4-20 pot on it (had to open the coil up a bit to fit), I will wrap it in ceramic "wool" refractory lining and fit a stainless outer jacket and make a nice stand and use a PID controller and make a nice, large pot for ladle casting. The stainless is nice because it won't rust like carbon steel pot liners and create extra **** to flux out nor let buildup cling to it and it's better suited to high heat so it should last a long time. It will probably hold 40lbs of alloy and fit a larger ladle no problem! It's getting to be about casting season so I need to get on with it!

[NavyVet1959]

Now one of the things in my project list I want to tackle is a custom ladle casting pot. We have a handy little scrap metal place here that has mountains of scrap metal and divided by type. I gravitate to the stainless steel pile every time I go and found they had scrapped a bunch of commercial coffee machines. Well these machines have this beautiful hot water vessel about 6"x12" nice robotic welded 16ga stainless steel cylinder. Nice flat bottom with a rounded edge where it meets the body of the cylinder. Once I shorten it and TIG weld a new upper flange on it for the top, I have already fitted dual heating coil elements for the Lee 4-20 pot on it (had to open the coil up a bit to fit), I will wrap it in ceramic "wool" refractory lining and fit a stainless outer jacket and make a nice stand and use a PID controller and make a nice, large pot for ladle casting. The stainless is nice because it won't rust like carbon steel pot liners and create extra **** to flux out nor let buildup cling to it and it's better suited to high heat so it should last a long time. It will probably hold 40lbs of alloy and fit a larger ladle no problem! It's getting to be about casting season so I need to get on with it!

Call around to some of the dive shops or places that do hydrostatic testing on SCUBA tanks. Often you can find one of the old steel (NOT aluminum) 72 cu-ft tanks that did not pass inspection and they'll either give it away or at least sell it too you for scrap price. Leave the bottom on it and cut as much of the top off as necessary to get to the depth that you want.

The freon (refrigerant) tanks that the HVAC guys use for refilling home air-conditioner units work good also if you want a really big pot. I've made smelting pots out of them. They're too big for my casting needs, but the bottom off of a steel-72 would be good.