Casting in cold weather.

[gnappi]

The other day after a "cold front" swept through and we got into the 60's (Brrr...) it was my first casting session of the year and my steel molds had to be heated with a torch from both my Lee and RCBS pots. Off to the store to get some more propane! Gads, I forgot I had to do that sometimes this time of year :-)

One nice thing about my aluminum Lee molds is that has never been necessary.

I can only imagine casting in really cold climes, what do y'all do up north when it's cold?

[kevin c]

I’m only a little north of you latitude wise, but we are getting daytime low fifties and nighttime forties, with cool offshore breezes. Now I have to go 20 odd degrees higher on the hot plate, cycle the mold in 20 odd seconds instead of thirty, and use the same alloy heated 20 odd degrees more in order to get the same fill out and surface finish from my 8 cavity aluminum molds, compared to the summer.

Oh, and I need propane too, for a torch to unfreeze the spout now and again.

[curioushooter]

I cast outside in the winter, in southern Indiana. Usually it is do-able so long as it isn't terribly windy. A little is alright. But strong wind plays havoc on the LEE Pro-Pot thermostat. Makes it run way too hot. Then you keep cranking down the reostat and soon the wind dies and the melt gets too cool. Putting some plywood "walls" up around the pot helps, but make sure you aren't inhaling the fumes.

[jimb16]

I cast in an open garage in N. E. Ohio in the middle of winter. No problem.

[bangerjim]

Forget propane tanks to heat your molds!!!!!!!! Switch( as thousands of others on here have done) to an electric hot plate. It preheats your molds to full casting temp (not just warm, as the old school method of setting them on the edge of your pot) and you are ready to go with perfects drops on the 1st pour.

Also use the plate to preheat all you feed ingots to almost liquidous temperature to minimize cycle time when recharging your ppt.

banger

[TjB101]

Made this a few years ago. I do most on my casting in the fall or winter when the attached garage is a tad cooler. An old bath fan and under cabinet lights do the trick.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211120/d8c2d7a1c77686a39eea2e1ac1a28fe9.jpg

[oley55]

And it is illegal to transport refilled ones across state lines. As is visiting Kenosha, WI for some folks, or so it would seem.

Had mine for several years and it has instructions/cautions speaking directly to the leaking you mention. Frankly, I find the one minute fill time does not come close the the normal full in a store bought tank and that's why they don't last long, but I have resisted the urge to try for a fuller refill.

[MT Gianni]

I try to cast between 15F and 50F. Higher than that it just gets too warm. Sprues cool better, a quick cadence is easier to maintain and below that it gets cold now that I am older.

[georgerkahn]

I live a tad more north than many -- it was 22*F when I came downstairs this morn; cool in house, too, til I got woodstove (our heat) fired up... I do casting in a garage with door open, and have a radiant heater that screws atop a 20# LP tank which generally actually makes it too warm after, say, an hour. I have/use one RCBS Pro Melt, and two Lyman Mould Master electric furnaces, and -- using a G E Electric Hotplate with an inverted metal flowerpot "garage" atop it to preheat and maintain (I generally alternate two moulds) mould heat -- I have no problems with ambient temp's down to ~ 42*F. I use PIDs on both the electric furnace as well as hotplate.
For some reason, when temps get below forty degrees... unless I am in real need for some bullets I ran out of... the fun of casting is greatly diminished. I wish I could write the "coldest out" casting, but best I could do is guess -- maybe in the mid-twenties F?
geo

[centershot]

I commandeered what used to be the garden shed attached to the garage, it's about 6'x8'. When it gets cool I fire up the propane heater. Even on "low" it about cooks me if I don't crack the door open a tudge!

[muskeg13]

I've been casting in Alaska for several decades, including in winter. When living in military housing without a heated garage when temps got as low as -60F, I cast on the kitchen stove where the range hood came in handy. For the past 16 years, I do all of my casting in a heated attached garage, or in the unheated garage in summer. With clean alloy and Marvelux, I've never had a big problem with smoke or fumes, but you need to be careful what goes in the pot. Any dirty smelting needs to be done in summer in the open garage doorway with a fan blowing smoke and fumes outside. If I was to cast today at -19F/-27C, I'd use clean ignots and not worry.

[tankgunner59]

I'm not a hot weather person. If I decide to cast in the cold it would be from 20 degrees down to the single digits, and some winters it's negative numbers. I don't mind that at all, I cast outside and that just means I don't have to sweat.

[John Boy]

Just buy and use a IR thermometer and keep heating until the melt and mold is 730 … then cast with a fast steady rhythm with 5 second pours

[dannyd]

Living in Florida is hard but someone has to do it; 33 years ago I could cast in August no problem now wait till October November our second summer.

New people moving here from up north ask; what it like to live in a place with no change of season's?

I tell them we have two seasons January and Summer :)

[Oyeboten]

I only Cast out on the front Porch and with a light Breeze.

I have Cast sometimes when it was in the 20s out, and I just dress warm, and maybe turn the Electric Melting Pot "up" a tiny bit heat setting wise, and all goes well.

The Boolits of course cool off a little faster this way! Lol...

[upnorthwis]

Might have been 20 years ago or so. Got a new 255 gr. mold for .38-55 and I wanted bullets now. Temp was in single digits with a light wind. Couldn't get good bullets no matter how fast I cast with the Lyman iron mold or that the Lee 10 lb. pot was set at max. That was when it was time to get a range hood for indoor casting. Been indoors ever since.

[Oyeboten]

Might have been 20 years ago or so. Got a new 255 gr. mold for .38-55 and I wanted bullets now. Temp was in single digits with a light wind. Couldn't get good bullets no matter how fast I cast with the Lyman iron mold or that the Lee 10 lb. pot was set at max. That was when it was time to get a range hood for indoor casting. Been indoors ever since.

Good idea!

I have a Ventilating Fan and Duct for Oxy-Acetylene Torch work, in my little Workshop in the Basement, and if it is too cold out, I can Cast there and be a happy boy...Wood Stove soft rumbling like a distant Freight Train, and be in a Tee Shirt and Levis when it is 14 below out.

Casting outside when it is in the 20s is not very pleasant for me, but I have done it a few times, and it was fun for being novel and wacky, but, eeeeesh! Ugh! It is not inviting...

[dearslayer]

Good idea!

I have a Ventilating Fan and Duct for Oxy-Acetylene Torch work, in my little Workshop in the Basement, and if it is too cold out, I can Cast there and be a happy boy...Wood Stove soft rumbling like a distant Freight Train, and be in a Tee Shirt and Levis when it is 14 below out.

Casting outside when it is in the 20s is not very pleasant for me, but I have done it a few times, and it was fun for being novel and wacky, but, eeeeesh! Ugh! It is not inviting...

I'm just starting out learning to cast and having much difficulties along the way. I am attempting to cast out in my unheated garage and with temps getting lower I'm thinking if I'm already having issues getting my lead and mold up to temp what the heck kind of problems will I have as winter approaches. I had mentioned to a co-worker that perhaps I'd build a similar set up as TjB101 in post # 6 but use a Range hood to vent into the Dryer vent hose and he said that no way should I be casting in the basement due to the smoke and lead fumes. I thought that as long as and smoke and fumes were drawn outside by the range vent that it might be ok.... those that have the same set up..is everything drawn outside or do other household members ever complain of fumes or smell upstairs in the rest of the house?? It sure would be nice to cast in the warm basement.

[greenjoytj]

Casting indoors? What about the mess cause by tiny lead splashes. I try not to create any lead splashing but at the end of the casting session my apron has dozens of tiny dots of shinny lead on it and the garage floor does too. I never saw any of these splashes occur but the evidence that they did is all over my apron and floor.
I can’t imagine cleaning up after an indoor casting session, even using a floor covering which will just end up a trip hazard creating an even bigger mess.

[Dusty Bannister]

Harbor Freight has rubber floor mat that would make it more comfortable on a cement floor and still allow for easy clean up. Spills would certainly melt into the pad but not harm the floor.

[Mal Paso]

Casting indoors? What about the mess cause by tiny lead splashes. I try not to create any lead splashing but at the end of the casting session my apron has dozens of tiny dots of shinny lead on it and the garage floor does too. I never saw any of these splashes occur but the evidence that they did is all over my apron and floor.
I can’t imagine cleaning up after an indoor casting session, even using a floor covering which will just end up a trip hazard creating an even bigger mess.

That's what shops are for. So glad when I got mine out of the house but I do what I have to.

There are no lead fumes to speak of at normal casting temperatures, the boiling point of lead is 3,180F. I only melt clean alloy inside so the only fumes are a very little beeswax. I have never cast boolits outside. Not only is it safer to work in a warm stable environment but outside, the Condors would grab my lead the minute my back was turned.

[dale2242]

I cast indoors in my heated shop.
I don`t have any special venting system.
I cast in a pretty large area, 20X60 and have a small fan running to cool my molds when the sprue gets to taking too long to solidify.
It is kind of smelly when I flux with pine shavings and candle wax but I light the smoke.
I have cast this way for well over 50 years and have had no issues.

[GregLaROCHE]

I only cast outside. I have a nice covered spot under the roof of my firewood storage area. I’m blocked from the wind and don’t get cold unless it’s below freezing and then it’s just my feet. It does take longer to melt ingots in the casting pot though and you need to keep your rythme going so the mold doesn’t cool down too much.

[dearslayer]

I built this little box frame this evening before work to exhaust fumes out under the garage door. Hope to try it the next couple days to see if or how it works.

[greenjoytj]

I put my furnace on a platform to raise it higher so it’s easier to see and aim the lead stream into the molds fill holes.

Also I constructed a hot plate cover from a large steel can that sits open end down on the hot plate heating element. The can acts like an oven retaining heat around the mold.
I used a Costco large peanut can. I cut a classic shape mouse hole in the can side side above the rim (keep the rim intact it stabilizes the can sides).
This can is large enough to insert a 45 cal. 6 cavity LEE commercial mold.
When the weather is warmer I’ll spray the can with flat black high paint.
A thin steel plate keep the aluminum mold block off the hot plate heating element.

[blue32]

I tell them we have two seasons January and Summer :)

More like January and wet blanket.