How long for ingots?

[RegCom7]

How long do you wait to dump your ingots from the muffin pan? In other words; how long for the lead to harden enough to dump the ingot?

[supv26]

I dump mine as soon as they are not too hot to handle with gloves. I have a rack from a BBQ grill that I lay on top of the muffin pan and then just flip them over and drop on to the table to knock them out of the muffin pan. I let them lay on the rack until my next batch is ready to dip out and pour. They are still very hot so I still have to wear my gloves. I then stack them about 3 high to cool. When I move them inside they are cool enough to pick up with bare hands.

[docone31]

It doesn't take long. They are hot though.
I use two muffin pans. When I fill one, I fill the other. When I have filled the second, the first is ready to dump over.
Simple that way.

[targetshootr]

If you get plenty of cheap muffin molds, you can empty the pot and let them cool while the next batch of ww melts.

[Tom Herman]

Keep in mind that I'm using standard Lyman and RCBS ingot molds. The first pouring is into a cold mold, so it solidifies quickly.
The second pouring (usually a couple of minutes later) requires longer to cool, as
the mold is already hot.
Before I scored the extra molds, I sometimes had to do three castings with the molds at hand, and by the third one, it took a couple of minutes for the ingots to cool enough to drop them out of the molds without shattering the ingot.
I got to the point where I would leave #3 several minutes, and only empty it after I refilled the pot with ingots and was waiting for the new alloy to form.
Muffin tins are thinner than what I'm using, so you may have to wait longer for them to cool, as you don't have a lot of metal in the tins to act as a heat sink to dissipate the heat.


Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Willbird]

One benefit of smelting when there is now on the ground is being able to quench the ingot molds in the snow :-)

[RegCom7]

Ok, thanks for the information everyone! :drinks:

[mpmarty]

I use two ingot molds. Fill one, fill the second, dump the first and place the mold (empty) on a damp cloth in a shallow cookie sheet with just a very small amount of water in it, dump the second mold and remove the first one from the damp cloth and place the second one on the damp cloth in a different area from the first one and refill the first mold and then the second mold. Repeat as necessary. No wait for the melt to cool. I run a turkey fryer and about sixty pounds of melt at a time dumping the ingots on a large sheet of plywood. When I have most of the pot empty I refill it and stack the ingots while the pot remelts

I use vice grips (c) attached to the ingot molds and wear gloves.

[GabbyM]

Best to dump them as soon as they've set up.
I've found if I don't let the pan cool between fillings the ingots will stick.

[ghh3rd]

As MPMARTY said, a damp cloth seems to work at cooling things down quickly. You can hear the sizzle and see the steam, while the energy is being sucked out and dispersed to the atmosphere.

Just watch out that you don't lay any lead, your ladle or anything else on the damp rag that will be placed into the melting pot, or you may have a visit from the tinsel fairy.

Randy

[RegCom7]

Great tips guys! That's just what I needed to know! I got some of my casting equipment from Midway today ( I feel like a little kid at Christmas!). I got one Lee ingot mold, but I have a few muffin tins too. The other day I put the muffin tins upside down over a fire in a wood stove, so they're dirty and grungy now. They should work ok. I sorted through a 5-gallon bucket of wheelweights. As far as I can tell there was only ONE zinc wheelweight in the whole batch. But I'll see what floats to the top when I smelt, which will probably be this Saturday. I have a cast iron dutch oven and a Coleman stove for that. Today I got a Lee 4-20 pound furnace, and RCBS thermometer, a couple molds and some other goodies. :-D

[imashooter2]

Get to the end of the line, dump the first and refill. Continue while lead lasts.

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/break600.jpg

[mtgrs737]

Imashooter's set up looks about like mine, except I have four Lyman aluminum ingot moulds and two cast iron ones. I just came in from smelting down 4 buckets of Wheel weights, took all afternoon but I got about 300 lbs. of ingots all nice and shiney! If you have enough moulds the first will set up while you pour the rest. You will soon learn how they look when they are ready.