Spur Trough

[Smk SHoe]

Was wondering if there are any pro's and con's to having a trough milled on the spur plate. I like to pour one continuous stream to fill the mold. Makes putting the spurs back into the pot easier when they are all stuck together. I also seem to get better consistency then starting and stopping each bullet. Lots of guys here have been casting way longer than I have and wondering if it's a good idea or a PITA and not worth the effort.

[Czech_too]

The only downside I can see, with some commercially made sprue plates, is that they lack the thickness necessary to machine the trough.
Now if you have the material and machinery to make your own, that's a moot point.
I've never tried using one of that design, but I like the idea.

[Finster101]

I have a couple of molds with a trough and I like it.

[skeettx]

No issue as long as your alloy and mould (sprue plate) is hot enough for a good flow.
Mike

[Dusty Bannister]

I tried the continuous flow filling the Lee 6 cav mold and found that the flow did not seem to fill the cavities as well and resulted in light and sometimes undersized castings. But when I started at the far hole, with the mold tilted slightly down and away from me, any over flow of the sprue puddle attached to the previous pour and the metal going straight into the cavity resulted in nice consistently filled bullets. The sprue is one piece, and looks like a weld bead. Perhaps you are not leaving enough sprue puddle when you fill the molds in the start/stop manner? If you have unexplained size or weight variation, you might consider that your method needs review.

[GhostHawk]

I have a couple of Lee 6 cavity molds that if they are hot I can tip one end down and fill the whole works with a single long pour.

And on the rest of them trying to do so results in half not forming correctly and half of those having pour fill. So you get one or 2 possible boolits instead of 5 or 6 good ones.


It is nice where it works.

[dverna]

Trough on the H&G mold I had and it worked very well. It is more expensive to do and I suspect that is why it is not more common.

[country gent]

I do my troughs with a dremil tool and grinding wheels. I lay the centerline and edges out with a square and scribe the grind in by hand. I also polish the surface with a rawhidide bob and a felt bob with jewelers compound. This smooths so theres no marks for sprue to grip. I do this on my moulds leading off the front edge so I can over pour the mould with a full ladle of lead keeping the base hot as long as possible and the same size sprue every time. With a little work sprue plates can be made with a drill press and hand tools. I have made them for some moulds. I normally by pass the 3/16" (.1875 gage stock) and go to 1/4" ( .250) as I find this makes a better more stable sprue plate the added thickness holds heat better and gives a better sprue with the trough. I normally cast and when I pour I fill the cavities letting the left over in the ladle run through the trough back into the pot. Since doing this with my big bullets ( 400-550 grns) I normally have very few culls and most are within .7-1grn of each other.I feel the trough used like this is a big benefit.

[spfd1903]

LBT molds are made with a trough on the sprue plate. I still line up to pour on each cavity, but the trough starts the fill. Leaves a solid, uniform mass .

[lightman]

I just cast with my first one recently and I liked it. Having the sprue connected makes dumping them easier but I suppose it would empty the pot a little sooner.

[PaulG67]

Even with a trough I find one must still line up the stream with each hole or lack of fill out results.

[Smk SHoe]

I still fill each hole individually, but having the spur in one long piece helps to get it back in the pot vs having small spurs to deal with.

[swheeler]

sprue sprue sprue

[dragon813gt]

It's personal preference. I don't like the troughs. I pour a big enough sprue that they all connect. You don't need a trough to do this.

[MT Chambers]

spur spur spur

[blackthorn]

spur spur spur

Make horse go fast!!!

[swheeler]

Make horse go fast!!!

both ends of the horse:bigsmyl2:

[FISH4BUGS]

I can't imagine doing with WITHOUT a sprue. All my H&G moulds have it. But those are all 4 cavity and above.
Whack the sprue plate, and while the mould is cooling, put the sprue trough excess back in the pot. Seems to help in the rhythm.
YMMV

[jsizemore]

I bought some lyman molds the previous owner had a trough milled into the SPRUE plate. He had additional done too. They make it easier to continuous pour. Boolits shoot the same.

[popper]

They work good for ladell pour, not sure the are needed for bottom pour.

[HeavyMetal]

I've several lyman 4 bangers that wear Red River Ricks thicker troughed sprue plates and have found the to be a big advantage over the standard lyman sprue plate, they also have the Lee style cam lever to open which is very nice particularly in a steel sprue plate.

My last mold purchase was a accurate 44 mold and the trough was an option I went for and glad I did!

I use a bottom pour Lee 20 Lb pot these days, have a mag 20 lyman dipper for the few HP molds I fill and still have the cobbled together Lee 10 Lb hanging over an Old Lyman model 61.

all work well with trough or not: simply fill the far cavity, angle the mold down hill and pour as you push the mold away from you!

Good fill out and a great sprue!

HM

[rintinglen]

In my limited experience, (I have cast a lot, but don't use the trough as a spillway), they are a good way to make bad boolits. You will get a lot more poorly filled out bases using the continuous pour method than when you go one by one.

[Smk SHoe]

I still pour into each cavity, Just like the idea of a continuous pour while pulling the mold towards me and then having one long sprue to put back into the pot.