Need info on casting with two molds

[Jeffery8mm]

Can someone give me pointers or a thread dealing with casting with two molds at one session?? I tried to search for it but did not really find what I wanted. I have Lee 2 cavity molds and want to get the most out of every casting session!!
Thanks for the help!!

Jeff

[pdawg_shooter]

Never had much luck doing that. Seems lie if the lead was hot enough to work with one it was too hot or too cold for the other!

[waksupi]

Jeff, I don't know if you can pull it off with aluminum molds. The heat transfer is too rapid. I have had good luck doing it with iron molds.

[686]

I cast with 3 lee 6 cav. at a time it took a little time to learn everything. i have 2 little fans blowing in the area where i dump the bullets. each mold gets cycled every 30-35 sec. if you were casting with just one mold you bay take that much time between pours. l just play shove up with mold 1-2-3 and so on. it takes a little to get all 3 up to temp and going. if you take a 5 min brake you have to start over, they do cool fast. i do this with lee 122 gr 9mm tc bullet also. some times i think i could use 4.

[Jeffery8mm]

Havent thought about that it may not work on the Aluminium molds. They may cool down to fast. May still have to try it though!!!
Jeff

[Calamity Jake]

It is easy to do just run your pot a little hotter, fill one set it down, fill the other, pick up the first cut spru, dump and refill, repeat with the second. Once you get a rhythm going stay with it adjusting fill and dump speed as the molds dictate to you.

[357maximum]

Crank the pot up and just do it...if I can pull it off anyone can...it just takes some on the job training on your part as to what you need to do to make it work.

[686]

calamity jake that is what i do and use 3 molds at a time. i have a big clock to watch the second hant to help with my speed.

[Jeffery8mm]

Alright, bear with me here..............
Just to make sure I understand,{me kinda thick sometmes:wink:}
Lets say I have a Lee 170gr 30cal we will call mold #1 and a Lee 240gr 44 cal we will call mold #2. Now..
With the molds and pot up to temp I..

1- Fill mold number 1 and set down
2- fill mold number 2 and set down
3 pick number 1 up and cut sprue/empty, set back down
4- pick number 2 up and cut sprue/empty, set back down
5-refill number 1 mold, set down
6-refill number 2 mold, set down
7 pick up number 1 start sequence over

Well, is that it????

Thanks
Jeff

[OLPDon]

I have always or for the most part casted with multi moulds Lyman mostly as they are not as particular or hold heat better I a find if I cut the sprue (for ease of cutting) and leave the cast Boolit in the mould it retains the heat better. I Leave Boolits with sprue cut off and the sprue plate back over the mould you can lay that mould on the top edge of pot if its a bottom pour type. Cast away with the other mould or moulds when that mould gets too hot switch. Lee's moulds cool down fairly quickly. Dependent on your speed of casting you can get a good pace and have few wrinkles on the cast.

Don

[MakeMineA10mm]

Jeffrey,
Yes, that's about the sum of it. It also helps if you have your two dump piles separated by the sprue pile, so you don't have to sort the bullets out later. When I water-drop, I use two buckets, but without the sprue-pile in-between, I always wind up dumping at least 6 of the wrong boolit into the other one's bucket... :roll:

I must be a fast caster, because after about 15 minutes of using a Lee 6-cav., I get pretty well-frosted bullets, indicating a too hot mould. I don't like dunking my mould in water to cool it, so I just started using two moulds at the same time, like I had done with my Lymans when I learned to cast. If you take a more leisurely pace, the aluminum does dissipate the heat well, but I get like a ravenous dog after a fat bunny when I see those beautiful shiney boolits starting to pile up!! :mrgreen:

[Larry Gibson]

Alright, bear with me here..............
Just to make sure I understand,{me kinda thick sometmes:wink:}
Lets say I have a Lee 170gr 30cal we will call mold #1 and a Lee 240gr 44 cal we will call mold #2. Now..
With the molds and pot up to temp I..

1- Fill mold number 1 and set down
2- fill mold number 2 and set down
3 pick number 1 up and cut sprue/empty, set back down
4- pick number 2 up and cut sprue/empty, set back down
5-refill number 1 mold, set down
6-refill number 2 mold, set down
7 pick up number 1 start sequence over

Well, is that it????

Thanks
Jeff

Negative Jeff, steps 3 and 4 are wrong with 5 and 6 then wrong also. Should read;

1- Fill mold number 1 and set down
2- fill mold number 2 and set down
3 pick number 1 up and cut sprue/empty, Fill mold number 1 and set down
4- pick number 2 up and cut sprue/empty, fill mold number 2 and set down
5 pick number 1 up and cut sprue/empty, Fill mold number 1 and set down
6- pick number 2 up and cut sprue/empty, fill mold number 2 and set down
etc.

With this system it works best with two iron moulds of 1 or 2 cavity. As hot as aluminum molds get it works best with 3 moulds. I also can use two 6 cavity Lee moulds at one time with this system. It is important to have a good supply of ingots handy to feed the pot and the fluxing equipment ready also. I also feed the sprues back into the pot (my pot is a Lyman Mag-20 BTW). Production can be really good this way. I ise an old M60 spare barrel mitt to set the mould blocks on (an asbestos pad is good also) after filling. Doesn't take long to get the hang of it if you've any coordination and minimal attention span at all.

Larry Gibson

[Dennis Eugene]

Larry and everyone else, That is excatly how I do it and it works great I water drop aloso if the molds are close to being indentacal I use two buckets if there no where near the same such as 150 grainer 35 cal and 260 grain 45 cal I use one bucket. Dennis

[Bent Ramrod]

I was never able to do the two-mould trick with my little 10-lb pot, but it's easy now that I have a 20-pounder. Let the condition of your first mould tell you when it's time to put it down to cool and then start the new one. When the sprue starts smearing or showing a torn surface after it seems to have solidified, set the full mould down and pick up the second and fill it. Then go back to the first one and alternate as others have mentioned. The first few out of the second mould won't be worth keeping, but keep the sequence up during the time the sprue on the first one cools down and eventually the two will merge into the same heat range. I set my mould handles down on the open ends of those 12-ounce coffee cans, which keeps them supported and ready for picking up without either charring something or getting the heat drawn out of them.

It's always seemed to me that a good short-order cook ought to be able to keep five moulds running at once...:mrgreen:

[JohnH]

Larry is spot on. After emptying a mold, fill it before setting it down and emptying/filling the other. I've worked with combinations of aluminum/aluminum; iron/iron/; iron/aluminum. A 20 pound pot makes a big difference as does using 2 pots. I have 1 10 pounder and 1 20 pounder. I will normally have both pots running, using one for each mold I am casting with. If you are using a single 10 pounder with 2 molds, be sure to preheat your ingots before adding them to the melt, it will aid recovery time of the melt. I set my ingots on the pot rim to preheat. I also keep the melt topped up very regularly. The method does take a little time to adjust to, but you'll never go back to using a single mold once you master it.

[Calamity Jake]

I run 2 molds every time I cast boolets, makes no difference how many cavities. I have 2 Lyman mag 20's each with a different alloy one for pistol one for rifle so I use 2 molds of the same basic design although they may be different calibers.

[Jeffery8mm]

Thanks for all the info guys!!. Larry, I'm gonna print your instructions out and tape em to my casting table!!!!!!! lol
Thanks for the guidance
Jeff

[Tom Herman]

Hi Jeff,

The answer is YES! The norm here is to run 2-3 molds at the same time. Running one is simply a big waste of time for me.
I have mostly Lyman molds: 452424, 452664, 429421, and some .38 cal *** that I can't remember at this moment. They are all iron molds.
I preheat on an electric stove for several minutes at a setting of 2-3 while I'm working on getting everything ready.
When the alloy is fluxed and up to temp, I'll grab the molds, and fill them all in order. Then I will dump one, refill it, dump the next, refill, etc.
With the preheated molds, I'm either casting well immediately, or with two or maybe three drops.
I simply keep cycling through the molds, one after the other.
If there's a drawback, it's that I make a bunch of bullets I may not be shooting at the moment. But that's fine, as I'll get around to shooting them all at one time or another. Think of it as money in the bank! I have extra bullets that I can now resize, lube, and load as the weather is too crappy to cast where I am.
Another trick is to run two molds of the same type. I'm too frugal for that, so I'll just cycle between what I have.
Good Luck!

Happy Shootin'! -Tom