Cooling Fins For Bullet Molds

[GARD72977]

Any one ever machine cooling fins in a bullet mold. I was thinking of shaping a grinding wheel for the surface grinder and grinding sever fins on the side and bottom of a RCBS bold. Not very deep just trying to increase surface area and make a heat sink out of the mold. These would be 2 cavity molds. Any ideas welcome

[JesterGrin_1]

Why would you wish to do that? For a mold you would like for it to maintain the heat for better casting.

[osage]

Welcome aboard.

I've not heard of doing that to a mold. It could work out for you.
You might want to search the forums for info on different ways to cool molds. This link might help, cooling is on page 2. I tend to adjust my pace if mold is running to hot.

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/casting.html

[GARD72977]

I should have give more information. I am considering a Magma Master Caster but I am a little turned off by the production rate. I see the mold heating up as the bottle neck.

Not sure what effect grinding the fins in the mold would have. The largest chunck of iron is at the bottom of the mold. Cooling this area could give some negative effects on the bullet. If aluminum molds will hold enough heat a heatsink iron would still have enough heat.

Also considering a extra cooling system of small fans in the correct location.


Any idea if this would increase production rate

[anachronism]

If you want to cool your mould faster, just lay a couple of cool bullet metal ingots on the bench and set the mould on them if it seems to be getting too hot. They'll act as a heat sink and pull heat from the mould. When they get too hot to touch, throw them in the pot & get a couple more. I used to use this technique with big 45-70 moulds because they got hot so quick.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Injection molds maintain their correct temperature by circulating water around the cavities (sometime oil is used for high temperatures) A 1/8" hole through each mold part should be plenty enough to keep the temperature down. I leave it to you to work out the finer points in the setup :-D

[deltaenterprizes]

You can increase production 50% if you use 3 cavity molds! The machine is designed to produce high quality not high quanity!

[35remington]

Grinding material OFF a mold reduces its heat sink qualities....because you're removing material that could be absorbing and radiating heat.

You can't get there from here trying that. Any increase in surface area would be more than lost with the reduction of metal to absorb and radiate the heat.

The only way to increase heat sink qualities is to somehow increase surface area without removing material.

Put away the grinder.

[longbow]

While some may shudder, I often dip a corner of my moulds into water or sit them on a wet towel to help cool them off if I am running hot. It sucks some heat out of the mould and lets me keep casting fast.

Never had a problem with warping, cracking or any other mould damage and if dipped with boolits in the cavities there is no chance for water to get in. Even if it did the mould is hot, the boolits are hot and the mould is opened to dump the boolits after.

Longbow