Muffin Ingot Moulds

[Castnshoot]

I went to the store yesterday and saw a variety of muffin moulds. Are there any in particular I should stay away from? I saw what seemed to be aluminum, because of the weight, and others with a non stick surface. What should I do?

[454PB]

The only ones I ever had trouble with were the ones made of steel. After about the second fill, the ingots solder themselves in and are nearly impossible to remove. Cast iron is best, followed by aluminum, then maybe the teflon lined. I've read others say the teflon is bad mojo when it burns out, I can't say, since I've never used one. Seems like if you were smelting outside (as you should), staying upwind would solve that teflon problem.

I made my own ingot moulds from steel angle iron years ago.

[carpetman]

Lyman,Lee, RCBS make a muffin tin that is especially good for making ingots. Last a lifetime and really are cheaper than all the other alternatives.

[Railbuggy]

I picked up this at Goodwill for 50 cents.:drinks:

[Crash_Corrigan]

The best is cast iron. Stay away from muffin tins of light metal.

An excellent alternative is to cut off the top of alum soda and beer cans. Make sure that they are dry and add molten alloy to can about 1/4 to 1/3 of the capacity. Keeps alloy clean and they stack well on their side and when you need one just peel off the soft aluminum cover and you are good to go.

[bbs70]

And just think of the fun you'll have emptying the beer cans.:-D

[nvbirdman]

I would prefer cast iron, but I went to a thrift store and found two muffin pans for fifty cents each. I also had a magnet with me and it didn't stick so the pans were aluminum.

[Castnshoot]

I thought aluminum would give way under the molten lead?

[colbyjack]

wonder howd the corn loafs would work..... -chris

[Pepe Ray]

Aluminum as a melting/casting pot is dangerous because it will fail under the combined heat/wgt. load. ( Even my heavy duty bulged, Whew!!!)
As a muffin/ingot maker they may or may not work, they can be too flimsy, bending etc. Being the cheapskate that I am, I only use recycled stuff. Sure the cast iron is the tops. Really old stuff from the yard sales or junk piles usually has a film of burned on food (carbon?) Works just like commercial mold release.
If you live in the country you shouldn't have to spend money on anything but molds and sizers. Virtually ALL else should be available "off the land".
Pepe Ray

[Castnshoot]

Guess I'll have to keep looking, most moulds I see are either aluminum or teflon. Not cool.

[mtgrs737]

I have a bunch of the Lyman and RCBS ingot moulds, but they are expensive. I smelt 4 to 5 buckets of WW's at a session so I need to pour a lot of ingots at 1 lb each to empty a 90 lb. pot. I have seen the corn bread moulds at the outdoor supply big box stores for around $10 but I wonder about the stackablilty of them in quanity. I keep an eye out at gunshows for more ingot moulds but they are few and far between. I like the smaller ingots but if you don't mind larger ones they are not too hard to make if you weld by using channel iron and angle iron.

[eli]

I use mostly steel and have yet to have a ingot stick, lucky I guess.

I do have a couple of aluminum muffin molds but I bought these before I knew about aluminum and hot lead. I didn't throw these away, 10¢ each or not (yard sell buys) I'll use these till I feel it's unsafe or I buy more steel ones.

I did however make a sandbox, about 5 inches deep and long-wide enough for a couple of these to sit side-by-side on top of my outside bench on the carport. I got tired of trying to move pans of hot lead ingots to the ground on charring smoking boards; very dangerous and too hard on a bad back on a long, hot casting day.

My pot is just big enough to pour a pair of eight-ten cup pans and leave enough molten lead to do a relatively fast melt more WW for the next casting and I just flip the molds over and leave the ingots in the sand to cool until the WW are ready to dip from. This works well for me and any sand on the surface wipes away cleanly.

Eli

[Le Loup Solitaire]

As already stated many times, cast iron is the best choice. Muffin forms are good as they are tapered and the lead comes out easily. They also stack well. Some can be found in thrift stores, yard-garage-atic-moving sales etc. RCBS and Lyman ingot molds work very well but are a bit spendy. Lee makes one that is more reasonably priced. Its aluminum and also has two compartments that cast 1/2 pound ingots in addition to the one pounders. LLS

[wills]

Regarding the virtues of rusty ingot molds.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=2809&highlight=leave+rain

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=31181&postcount=7

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=31186&postcount=9

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=31388&postcount=14

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6344&highlight=rusty+muffin

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=29467&postcount=20

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=2051&highlight=rusty+muffin

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=15158&postcount=10

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=1375&highlight=rusty+muffin


I have never had a problem getting ingots to release from old steel muffin pans. I destroyed a non stick aluminum pan trying to get the muffin/ingots out.

[Pepe Ray]

Eli;
The problem w/aluminum occurs when melting the lead on a burner. The structure can/will let go unannounced. Surprise!!
For ingot molds the only time failure occurs is when the pan is so flimsy that it bends/collapses when lifting to dump.
I suppose that a cupcake/muffin pan could be so thin as to melt but I've never seen it . And if someone can use a soft drink can, there must be merit in making ingots w/cheap pans.
A rusty or dirty pan will not stick.
Pepe Ray

[Willbird]

The nicest I have found are called "popover pans"

do a search on ebay....or google.

I have no affiliation with the seller, some of them on ebay will cut you a deal if you buy a few at a time, my first one like that I got at goodwill for $1. It makes roughly 3lb ingots that will fit in an RC
BS promelt just fine.

I also use the lodge corn bread skillets that make pie shaped wedges.

Bill

[RU shooter]

I went through this when I started into smelting /casting not too long ago and heres my 2 cents worth, Dont worry about the steel (AKA tin)muffin pans just before you use them degrease them with a good solvent throw them out in the yard and let them rust up for a week or three and them you'll have no sticking troubles.

Tim

[bobk]

I bought some steel muffin pans at Wallyworld, and they've worked fine. not sticking, or any other problems. Maybe a little big in dia. to drop into my LEE pot, but I just carefully place one in when the pot is down maybe 1/3 to 1/2. Used to used dog food cans, but they're too big.

Bob K

[GLL]

I prefer cast iron or welded steel moulds with a bit of rust on them ! :)

Jerry

Very old cast iron muffin pans ( 1.5 pound ingots)
http://www.fototime.com/FB02054454498D2/orig.jpg

Welded steel moulds (5-6 pound ingots). Sold by jawjaboy here on the Forum
I have seven of them and they are the very best I have seen !
This is 75 pounds of WW in compact form for long term storage !
http://www.fototime.com/5A6777B8FA7EE62/orig.jpg

[Ben]

I'm with Jerry, no aluminum for me.

Cast iron is the way to go..........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/IMG_1328Small.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/IMG_1454-1.jpg

[Flinchrock]

Guess I'll have to keep looking, most moulds I see are either aluminum or teflon. Not cool.

I Have used alum. muffin pans for 30 years! they work just freakin' fine!

[GLL]

Flinchrock:

By any chance are your aluminum moulds cast aluminum rather than sheet stock?

Jerry

[GLL]

Ben:

Who made those cast iron pans and where did you find them?

Jerry

[Chunky Monkey]

I'd luv to get my grubby paws on 1 or 2 cast iron muffin pans. Been looking around but just haven't dummed on any. Just can't seem to hit the 'buy' button on evilbay. Got a steel one thats laying out back under the deck, trying to get her to rust up good.

We need a cast muffin pan group buy!

For X-mas my M-I-L did get a nice small cast iron pan for warming my ingots. I got a great M-I-L!!

[Heavy lead]

I have a question, I don't smelt lead at all, I buy all my lead in ingot form. Why do you guys seem to like the ingot moulds rusty? Inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks.

[Chunky Monkey]

Ingots don't stick to rust. Its the original 'non-stick' surface! :mrgreen:

[Flinchrock]

Flinchrock:

By any chance are your aluminum moulds cast aluminum rather than sheet stock?

Jerry

No, just plain old uncoated alum. usually found for free to cheap at yard sales etc.
Note: I didn't say I used the same one for thirty years! They are good for a few hundred before they are too dented up to be much good, then it's into the alum. barrel with the cans.

[nicholst55]

And just think of the fun you'll have emptying the beer cans.:-D

What? Beer comes in cans? :-? Not in my house! :drinks:

[Ugly Dwarf]

The only ones I ever had trouble with were the ones made of steel. After about the second fill, the ingots solder themselves in and are nearly impossible to remove.

I ran into the "sticking ingot" problem with steel muffin tins purchased at the Dollar Store.

I rubbed the inside of each tin with coarse sand paper, wet them down with some salt water and finally left them outside for a week or so. When I came back to them, they had a nice bit of surface rust.

No more problems since.

[Calehedron]

I bought 2 cheap aluminum pans from Wal-Mart and threw them in the oven during a cleaning cycle. It oxidized the surface into a nice brown and nothing has ever stuck to them.

[Down South]

I’ve been planning on building some ingot moulds for a while. I finally decided due to lack of time to do it and the expense of the material it would be about as cheap to buy store bought moulds. I bought several of the Lyman ingot moulds on an order that I was making for something else anyway. If I ever do run across some scrap channel iron the size I’m looking for I’ll still make some. I've used muffin pans of different types for my ingots in the past. The only problem that I have had was with the cheap ones coming apart and bending.

[part_timer]

The wife bought me some little sauce cups at Wmart this summer and they work pretty good. They are stainless steel and the ingots weigh about 1 1/2 lbs. They will just fit in my little Lee pot. I think she paid $2 per half dozen or there abouts.