Can't get frost

[ForneyRider]

Cranked up the bottom pour Lee pot last night.

I turned the heat all the way up.

The Lee mold gets hot enough to where the mold is too hot for the lead to solidify in less than 8-10 seconds. I cool it down from time to time with the water. Yep, I wait a while before recasting.

I cast around 200 200gr RN 452 and drop the bullets in a bucket of water with a towel on the bottom.

These are wheel weights of unknown origin.

Where's my frost?

Good news: my waves are gone. Nice smooth surface on the bullets.

[dromia]

Either not hot enough or a low antimony alloy.

Do you know how hard the boolits are?

Are they harder when quenched than when not quenched?

So long as the boolits are good then don't worry about the lack of frosting, some people like it some people don't.

Me if I get good boolits without frosting thats champion, if I need frosting to get good boolits thats good too.

Its how they shoot thats important to me. :-D

[ForneyRider]

Not sure on hardness.

This is my first set of water quenching.

The first set I cast, I dropped the bullets on wet towel.

Yep, need to get a hardness tester.

[JeffinNZ]

Either not hot enough or a low antimony alloy.

Do you know how hard the boolits are?

Are they harder when quenched than when not quenched?

So long as the boolits are good then don't worry about the lack of frosting, some people like it some people don't.

Me if I get good boolits without frosting thats champion, if I need frosting to get good boolits thats good too.

Its how they shoot thats important to me. :-D

+1.....

[Calamity Jake]

"Can't get frost "



Wait till this winter, you"ll get some frost<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Well maybe not in Forney TX. :kidding:

[montana_charlie]

The Lee mold gets hot enough to where the mold is too hot for the lead to solidify in less than 8-10 seconds. I cool it down from time to time with the water. Yep, I wait a while before recasting.
How do you use water to do that...immersion?
CM

[Tom W.]

I dunno about cooling your mold with water.... there may be a chance of warping it I would think. When my mold gets so hot that it takes a long time to solidify the alloy, I usually set that mold aside for a while and let it air cool, and start using another mold.

[ForneyRider]

We get snow every year. No less than .025 inches! Ha!

Yea, my dad just ripped on me for letting the mold cool in the water. He was worried about lead exploding and the mold warping. So I will use a wet towel or air dry.

I'm still tooling up on this molding hobby. My Lee ingot molds are being shipped. And I am shopping for a affordable thermometer. Harbor Freight seems to have everything else, might try them. Using corn bread molds for ingots!

[docone31]

What is wrong with corn bread ingot molds? Nobody makes real corn bread anymore anyway. Might as well use them for a good use.
With cooling the Lee molds.
My 45ACP mold gets hot enough to take real time to freeze the sprue. When that starts happening, I get freeze, dump the castings in my water pot, and take longer and longer to fill the mold.
At a certain temperature, they cast flawlessly. I do not like it when I am on a roll to restart.
Once I get a fast freeze, I slow down on casting untill the mold is a little behind on the heat. Then I bang em out.
After a while you will be able to predict heating with that mold.

[montana_charlie]

Yea, my dad just ripped on me for letting the mold cool in the water. He was worried about lead exploding and the mold warping.
I'm glad somebody disabused you of that misconception before you spent big bucks on a custom mould...or somebody loaned you a high-quality mould to try out.
CM

[454PB]

I regularly quick dip my Lee moulds in water to control the temperature. I've done it for over 30 years and haven't damaged one yet.

[crabo]

As hot as it is here, I always have a fan going. I just open the mold and let the fan blow on it for 15 or 20 seconds, and that brings the temp back down.

[runfiverun]

wow i had a vision of him dunking a mold in a bucket of water.
then of no-1 wife smacking him upside the head.
if they are good and filled out you dont need frosting...

[Dark Helmet]

If you want them to frost, I had my Lee wide open too and they would not fill out, I gave the cavities a shot of Midway Dropout et viola, purty frosted boolits ensued!:mrgreen:

[yodar]

I dunno about cooling your mold with water.... there may be a chance of warping it I would think. When my mold gets so hot that it takes a long time to solidify the alloy, I usually set that mold aside for a while and let it air cool, and start using another mold.

Lee's book says place a shallow tray of water with a sponge in it to cool the mold when it gets too hot

It's their mold, They Know

yodar

[SWIAFB]

move norh, plenty of frost up here. In the right months.

[Tom W.]

Lee's book says place a shallow tray of water with a sponge in it to cool the mold when it gets too hot

It's their mold, They Know

yodar


Nope, Can't bring myself to do it. It WAS their mold, It's mine now.....altho most of mine are RCBS molds....

[Dale53]

ducone31;
>>>Nobody makes real corn bread anymore anyway. <<<

I beg your pardon, SIR!!! Corn bread is the staff of life. I'm from Southern Ohio (just north of the great state of Kentucky). I suspect that the Cherokee Indians taught my ancestors to make corn bread (had a stream side trout meal in the Smokies with a friend who happens to be a Cherokee Indian and he served me corn bread made from EXACTLY the recipe of my mother).

At any rate, most Appalachians would SERIOUSLY dispute that statement.

FWIW

Dale53 - now I feel better (dern flatland ferriners:mrgreen::mrgreen:)

[DLCTEX]

Are the boolits smooth, shiney and a silver grey? I have cast boolits with some zinc contaminated alloy with the Lee pot cranked up to max. and get no frosting, but do get beautiful boolits. If I use clean alloy, I get frosting. And I dip a corner of my Lee molds in lukewarm water to cool them. DALE

[Bob Krack]

Are the boolits smooth, shiney and a silver grey? I have cast boolits with some zinc contaminated alloy with the Lee pot cranked up to max. and get no frosting, but do get beautiful boolits. If I use clean alloy, I get frosting. And I dip a corner of my Lee molds in lukewarm water to cool them. DALE

I am a little confused, what does "frost" do to or for boolits that is so desirable?

I usually try to keep everthin as cool as possible as long as I get 100% fill out. Frost is OK, but I won't change somethin that's workin just to git frost.

Vic

[Boerrancher]

I start out useing one mould and have a second one sitting on the edge of the furnace. Instead of "cooling my mould" I pick up the second one and fill it, while the sprues harden on the first one. When I pick up the second mould, I place a third one on top of the furnace. When my 2 moulds get hot to where it is taking more than 10 seconds for the sprue to harden, I grab the third mould.

By doing this I can cast a chit load of boolits in short order. I generally run through about 20 lbs of lead in an hour and that includes melt time for the lead in the furnace.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[DLCTEX]

Vic: I don't find frost desirable, but don't find it harmful as long as there is not shrinkage of the metal. Frosty boolits will hold lube more than smooth boolits. I usually strive for non frosty boolits, but some molds with some alloys will not cast good boolits with being hot enough to frost, at least without more effort than I want to put into that particular boolit for that particular purpose. DALE

[Tom W.]

I've had some that I've cast for my .45 Colt crystalize, or so it looked. A bit past frosted, I'd guess. When they hit a steel plate they fragmented, rather than flatten out and behave normally. Maybe it was the babbitt content, I dunno. As long as it hits where I'm pointing, I'm pleased! The big heavy boolits are hard to slow down....

[Echo]

Don't know that I would dunk the mold in water, but I keep a shop towel next to the furnace, and keep IT soaked in agua. When the sprue gets brittle, I know it's too hot, and set the mold down on the rag and let it steam for a few seconds. Works for me. And keep a squirt bottle full of water nearby to replenish that which has steamed out.

[PineTreeGreen]

My experiance has been that it is easier to get frosted boolits out of an iron mould than an aluminum mould. Maybe the aluminum sucks the heat out of the lead faster than iron. Your milage may vary. :)

[1Shirt]

I go along with 454 and water dunking overly hot lees. Been doing it for many years, and also never messed up a mold. This is particularly true of double cav.
blts weighing over 200 grains. I cast in my garage with the fan going behind me, with the big door open, to blow the fumes away. I water drop every thing, mostly because I find it most convenient.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Irascible]

Remember, "when the frost is on the pumkin" - you'll have your mind on other than casting bullets!