Do's and Don'ts

[camotruck]

:bigsmyl2:Anybody have any do's
::groner:and don't do's advice for the new guys?

Mike

[docone31]

Do melt clean alloy in a different pot than you cast from.
Do not make too big a deal of casting. It is simpler than it seems.
DO NOT DROP WET ALLOY INTO YOUR MELT! Steam and molten alloy is usually the beginning of a bad day.
Do keep an exit handy while casting/alloying.
Do give your self room.
Aside from the valuable info on this sight, the Dos and Don'ts I wrote are pretty much what I abide from. The rest comes from experience. Mold temp, type of pouring, molds that the rifles prefer. Etc.
Main thing, keep moist lead away from molten alloy. Not a good thing.
Ironically, I did a 45oz silver casting last week. A cane handle. The person I helped do this, made his silver into beads so it fit into my furnace easier. In other words, an ingot takes up more room than the equivelant casting bead set up.
He dripped his ingot of silver into water. He came right over.
We are talking wet silver here. My furnace was at 1450 and climbing to melt temp. I had a puddle in the crucible and added some wet silver bead stock.
There was that sound!!!
In the case of my example, the heat of the melt was so hot, the bead could not submerge untill the escapeing steam left the bead. It was extremely rapid. In my case, the crucible was 1" wide by 4" high, made of graphite.
I lowered a large piece into the crucible next, to block off the melt, then poured the bead stock onto the larger piece. At 1650, the melt grew in the crucible.
Lesson, watch out for water, it can happen to you!!!!!!
I consider myself lucky. The bead stock felt dry.
Not good enough with heat. Lead alloy is a lower temp and it takes more time to develop steam. Steam has amazing power. Just look at what is left of Mt. St. Helens.
Water and molten alloy makes steam. Remember that, and you can have some great casting/shooting.

[hoosierlogger]

DO NOT eat, drink, chew tobacco or otherwise put your fingers in your mouth while working with lead.

[2TN Mules]

Read all the stickys and tutorials. There are many many years of experience there, both the good and bad kind. Members freely give advice on what works and more importantly what doesn't.

[camotruck]

Thanks Mules, I've been reading alot these past few weeks as you can see about 4 weeks and all of 17 or 18 posts. I've been pouring my own spinnerbaits and buzz baits for years. I just want to drill it into my head before I start up agian. I would have been smelting and casting from the same pot had someone not said something in one of the stickeys. Thankfully I probaly only lost about 3 to 4 pounds of pure lead in my mix of WW. For years I put everything in the same pot ... The fish didnt care

[snaggdit]

DO always wear safety glasses!
Do always wear cotton clothing, no synthetics!
Sorry, seemed like gaping ommissions.

[camotruck]

would have never thought about the synthetics that stuff sticks when it melts and burns

[blackthorn]

Get hold of a Lyman cast bullet handbook, the books on casting by RCBS, and Veral Smith, as well as the 2 books done by Joe Brennan and read them at least twice!

[Recluse]

Do wear safety glasses or something to protect your eyes.

Do wear clothing or something that will protect you from hot alloy and/or hot sprues.

DO NOT step directly out of the shower with no clothes on to go and check on your furnace to see if it has come up to temperature, and when it has, cast a few boolits out of that new mould you JUST got in and have been dying to check out.

Translation: DO NOT cast in the nude, no matter HOW new the mould or furnace is and no matter HOW BAD you've been dying to just try it out. ALWAYS take time to get properly dressed before casting or smelting.

:coffee:

[Cap'n Morgan]

Don't speed up cooling of the mold by dunking it in water. When you do it anyway, make sure ALL water has evaporated!

8-) Wear safety glasses! 8-)


http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/2546/splashy.jpg (http://img13.imageshack.us/my.php?image=splashy.jpg)

[45nut]

Do read all the classics and sticky's even if they don't seem to apply directly to what you are doing right now, they often have many gems in the threads.

Don't blame me for being broke!

[oldtoolsniper]

Don't buy a lathe to save money!

[superior]

DON"T use or "borrow" anything that belongs to the wife! (even if there is a dispute as to who it really belongs to) Trust me on that one lol.

[FISH4BUGS]

Get a good pair of gloves. I do not consider it a productive day of casting 2000+ bullts if I get burned while doing it.
Get some kind of apron. Leather is good.
Wear boots.
Wear a long sleeved shirt even in the hottest part of summer.
NEVER eat, smoke or put your fingers into your mouth or rub your eyes while casting. It is the best way to get lead poisoning.
Always wash your hands first thing when taking a break from casting for any reason....even a pit stop requires you to wash your hands BEFORE doing your business. Afterwards is your own call.
Don't breathe the fumes of your smelt. Lord knows what is in there. Once skimmed and made into ingots, you don't need to worry about fumes unless you get your lead to over 1000 degrees. It will vaporize at that temp.
Water is your enemy unless used to cool down a mould using the speed casting method.
Zinc melts at about 750. Always use a thermometer when smelting.
Take care of your moulds.
Always share your information here.
There is no such thing as a stupid question.
It's a start..............

[snaggdit]

+1 on what Superior says!

[rugerman1]

Castboolits forum= http://s139.photobucket.com/albums/q299/sawrm1/th_throwaway.gif
Don't blame me for being broke!

[xr650]

Do collect all the lead you can.
Do Not leave any lead at the shop you picked it up from.

[camotruck]

blackthorn I have the Lyman casting book I'll have to look into getting the others. Thanks for bringing up the others.

45 NUT I've been reading the the stickies till my eyes hurt. still have a way to go

Recluse TMI

xr 650 Good point I don't guess anyone would leave any behind for me.

Fish4bugs Never thought about the pitstop


Cap'n Morgan Is that in the water after the pout or from water in the mould pryor to pouring

[ghh3rd]

Don't drop your sprues back into the pot, place them in gently with a ladle. Just a little drop of splashed can eat deeply into your flesh and ruin your day.

Depending on your setup, tie down your electric melter's power cord. If someone (you) kick the cord, it will pull out of the wall rather than tumbling the pot.

Lube and smoke the mold at regular intervals and enjoy casting.

Randy

[04heritage]

ghh3rd, what do you mean by lube and smoke the mold?

[04heritage]

Biggest question is Smoke the Mold?

[ghh3rd]

what do you mean by lube and smoke the mold?

04heritage -

By smoking the mold I mean putting a layer of soot in the mold cavities. My choice instrument for this is my bic lighter. I open the mold, light the bic and pass it back and forth under each of the cavities for several seconds until they have a nice black layer of soot in them. This helps the boolits drop out easily. I repeat this as needed while casting - perhaps after 100 boolits come out a cavitiy.

You want to lube the sprue plate hinge to keep it working smoothly and wear free. My choice of lubricants is Bull Shop lube. I dab about 1/2 of the cotton of a q-tip into it, and then squeeze most of that back into the bottle. Then I press it against the sprue plate screw where the plate meets the mold and let some of what's left on the q-tip it seep into the 'hinge'. The rest of what's on the q-tip is used to lubricate under the sprue plate and to lubricate the places inside of the mold that mesh together when the mold is closed.

Since I'm sort of new at this myself (2 molds and perhaps around 1500 boolits cast in 5-6 sessions), I welcome anyone else who's more experienced to chime in and correct anything I've said or add something to it.

Randy

[snaggdit]

The instructions say to fill the mold (with lead, of course), open the sprue plate and then using the q-tip wetted as described wipe a layer on the top of the mold and the bottom of the sprue plate. Then, use the dry end and wipe it off. I also use the wetted end to lube the aligning pins (on the inside faces of the mold), taking care to keep it away from the cavities.

[madman]

I have not seen it yet but here goes READY here it comes.DO HAVE FUN!!

[Beekeeper]

hooserlogger,
What do you mean you can't chew tobacco while casting?
How else are you going to cool the mould when it gets too hot.
Sides baccer smells good on the fire.

beekeeper

[qajaq59]

Do read all the classics and sticky's even if they don't seem to apply directly to what you are doing right now, they often have many gems in the threads. I'll definitely go along with this one. The books have the information that you need in order to cast, but the old posts have a ton of the little hints that make it soooo much easier.

[Whitespider]

DO NOT pick up that pretty, shimmering, new boolit, freshly dropped from your mold, to admire your prowess with molten lead, WITH YOUR BARE FINGERS!!!!

Damn, I wish I could learn that one; I just did it AGAIN last night!