Help using an Ideal 3089 hollow base mold.

[Steppapajon]

I bought an interesting Ideal mold today. It is a single cavity 3089 hollow base. The best I can tell it was made around the turn of the twentith century. It was designed for short range use in the .30 WCF. It is in excellent shape but for the life of me I can't get it to fill out. I was using 96% pb 4% Sb 2% Sn. I had no problem casting in my two cavity 3118 but the 3089 was a bear. I managed to get 10 decent boolits when it was all said and done but I lost count on how many I tried to cast. I thought the fill hole in the mold and the sprue plate were a bit small but I have never seen one like it so I have no real reference point.
Does anyone have any helpful hints using this mold.

[NoZombies]

Venting could be an issue. I've got a few HB molds from the same era, and none of them were vented sufficiently from the factory.

[Bent Ramrod]

Wow; that’s a rare one! I presume it’s the small, integral block and handles (?). Is your hollow-base pin held in the blocks friction-tight, with no locking arrangement?

Small blocks with small cavities and hollow-base or -point pins need to run hot. I have the same problem as you have trying to get “keepers” out of my Ideal 22638.

I heat blued my hollow-point pin with a propane torch, and it seemed to help reduce the voids around and below the hollow-point cavity and fill the nose out flat. Also, you might try a 30:1 lead:tin alloy, (or even less tin, if you can get away with it), run at 775 degrees or hotter. Antimony reduces the melting point of the alloy, and with the small blocks and removable pin, there is a lot of heat loss, which needs to be made up. For me, heating antimony alloys too hot seems to increase the incidence of smears and torn bases. Giving the casting time to solidify loses you the extra heat that is needed.

Also, of course, some moulds just need to be “lived with” for a while until they straighten out.

[NoZombies]

On my early HB molds with integral handles, the HB pin is actually held in the block via a screw through the side of the block. Similar in concept, if not execution, to the Cramer HP molds.

[Krag1902]

I think you have the hollow base fixture/plug that was attached to the mold with a screw that sticks out the side of the block. There is one on ebay currently and you may have the one that sold recently. I have a 38 bullet on the same set-up. I was having the same trouble you are and the solution was to crank up the heat a bit and keep casting. That plug sucks a lot of heat. I took my own advice and eventually got to the point it turned out good bullets. I have the 30810, the plain based version that is just as useful/useless. They are fun to own and use but there are more accurate CB systems out there.

[John Boy]

212715
* Heat the mold and pot melt up to 750*
Do a 10 second cavity ladle pour to allow the melt to fully fill the cavity

[Steppapajon]

Wow, Lots of good advice in short order.
I will crank up the heat and see if that does it. My thought was it was a small block and run it low. I didn't take into account that the base pin was sinking all of my heat.
The base pin is indeed held by a screw like NoZombies described. Does anyone know it the hollow base can be switched to a flat base?
John Boy, can you explain the details of the 10 second cavity ladle pour?
SPJ

[NoZombies]

Wow, Lots of good advice in short order.
I will crank up the heat and see if that does it. My thought was it was a small block and run it low. I didn't take into account that the base pin was sinking all of my heat.
The base pin is indeed held by a screw like NoZombies described. Does anyone know it the hollow base can be switched to a flat base?
John Boy, can you explain the details of the 10 second cavity ladle pour?
SPJ

Any decent machinist could make a replacement plug that could be inserted when desired without sacrificing the molds originality (just switch back when desired) I'm sure he means to use a full preheated ladle and hold it to the sprue for a solid 10 seconds.

And that does remind me, I did find that casting with a ladle or pressure casting produced the best results on my HB molds of this type.

[Krag1902]

I have had a couple of molds with the hollow base plugs, and it was just remembered that with one of them the plug was reversible to get a flat base bullet if desired. You might take your's apart to see it assembles with the plug turned around.

[Steppapajon]

I turned up the heat and while I got better results I still would not call them good results. I think I am going to switch to a bottom pour ladle and see if that helps. Seems like it would be more in line with a mold designed 120 years ago. Off to spend money to "save money" with this hobby :bigsmyl2:

[Thin Man]

Two things I have tried in the past are (1) use a tiny propane torch, the small all-in-one type, to apply extra heat directly to the plug to get and keep it up to working temperature, being very cautious to not over do this and cause the mold to warp. Also (2) rather than a ladle, press the sprue cutter directly onto your pot's spout and lift the handle to cause alloy to flow into the mold. Hold the mold there with the handle up for several seconds, even if you get slight spill coming out at the sprue cutter. The weight of the lead in the pot helps press liquid alloy into the mold. YMMV.