Wrinkles in my boolits

[Capn Jack]

I'm using the Lee double cavity "457-340-F" and I'm getting a lot of wrinkles in my boolits. :???: Not so much on the nose, but further back towards the base. I've tried running the temperature up, but all that does is frost the boolits and my rejection after sizing is about 50% (mainly from being too light).:( These are 340gr. (non-gas checked) slugs that I will only be driving 1,500 - 1,700 fps. My mix is pretty hard, bearing babbit and lead....I'm thinking, maybe I should dump it and try a little softer mix.:confused:

[Bill*]

possibly still some oil in the mold? try washing with dawn d/wash soap and then smoke with a match/butane lighter. It worked for me!

[Capn Jack]

The mold was cleaned and polished, then smoked. No problem with bullets dropping. I have a 50 lb. pig I've been melting, but lost track of how much babbit I was adding to the mix. I'm going to start over again and see what happens. It's really a P.I.A. as I have to use a weed burner to "milk" the pig into a ladle.[smilie=1:

[madsenshooter]

I had a similar problem with a Lee mold, I had a pot full of alloy, placed the mold in it and let the cutting lube burn out, it really gets into the pores of the metal, whatever it is. Alloy was about 900 degrees and I left the mold sit in it overnight. After that I had no problems with it. I nearly threw the mold away before though!

[oneokie]

Are you using a ladle to cast with? or a bottom pour? Speed up your casting. Or add more lead or ww/s. How much lighter are the ones you are rejecting? That will give you an idea of how much lead to add to the mix you are having the problems with.

[Capn Jack]

Are you using a ladle to cast with? or a bottom pour? Speed up your casting. Or add more lead or ww/s. How much lighter are the ones you are rejecting? That will give you an idea of how much lead to add to the mix you are having the problems with.

I dumped all of the metal out of the pot into ingots and started over. I then started with straight lead from my pig melted into the ingot mold. I don't have anything fancy to test with, so I just rap the ingots on the edge of my big vice and listen to hear if they go thud, or ping. As a number of the old ones went ping, I think I may have gottten a high level of babbet mixed into the earlier batch.
1. I have a small LEE electric pot
2. I'm using a Lyman "Nipple Ladle"
3. The light Bollits were 1 gr.,or more off. Some had slag in them.
The new Boolits are 3 x1 lead to Babbit. Not as much slag coming off of the mix.
Sized them, but I haven't weighed any yet.

[docone31]

Cap'n, two of my Lee molds were a disaster like your seems to be.
I mean, I wanted to throw them somewhere with much vigor!
Here is what I did.
I pushed the sprue plate way to the side. I put a nut over each cavity. I poured through the nut and let the whole thing cool completely. I removed the castings, with nut attached.
I then dabbed some Clover Lapping compound on one side of the casting, from top to bottom. As I closed the mold, slowly, I turned the nut with a wrench. I did not jam it shut, I slowly closed it as the compound spread in the cavity. I turned the casting a few times untill the mold closed comletely and I could turn the casting easily with a wrench.
I repeated this with the other one.
On a side note, one of my custom castings broke the nut off. I used the same casting for both cavities at that point.
From here, I poured a few castings, untill the Clover was all back in the pot. I tossed all of them back in.
How about night and day!
A fairly simple procedure.
Effective as well.

[Capn Jack]

Thanks docone31,

I've already lapped the dies. Your method is easier than mine. I drilled and tapped a boolit on the lathe then lapped the die with "Clover" I really don't have a sticking problem. The more I work with it, the more it seems to be alloy problems. I need to find some WW and try them straight. There always seems to be a lot of slag on top of my pot even after fluxing. The pot is getting hot enough to frost boolits, so that's not the problem. Might be something in the "Pig". I've only used it for SCUBA weights. I have a Pure lead 2x4x10, I hate to ruin a good "Glue Weight", but I may have to.:confused:

[Bret4207]

Cast faster. Your mould needs more heat. It might take 100 "rejects" before they start casting right, but once it casts good it should keep casting good. There's also the chance it's a venting issue.

[cajun shooter]

It's the heat of the mold. Either put in on your pot and let it become very hot or heat it with a hotplate or some other means. Or you can do as Bret said and cast faster but why go through the motion if your not making good boolits. Later David

[New Lead Man]

Now when you say a venting issue, what do you mean?

Should we be pouring directly into the mold and not touching the sprue plate, or should we be pouring onto the sprue plate and have the mold fill from the lead falling into the mold from the plate?

[oneokie]

Now when you say a venting issue, what do you mean?
The fit of the mating surfaces of the mould blocks and the fit of the sprue plate on top of the blocks is such that it does not allow the air in the cavities an easy way to escape the cavities.


Should we be pouring directly into the mold and not touching the sprue plate, or should we be pouring onto the sprue plate and have the mold fill from the lead falling into the mold from the plate?

Your mould is the best indicator of this. If you are having problems with fillout using one method, try the other to see if fillout improves or gets worse. Some boolit designs almost require the swirling action to fillout properly. Others don't.

[Capn Jack]

[QUOTE=Should we be pouring directly into the mold and not touching the sprue plate, or should we be pouring onto the sprue plate and have the mold fill from the lead falling into the mold from the plate?[/QUOTE]:coffee:

I've tried many ways:
1. Dirrect contact with sprue plate and ladle = Best fill right to top
2. Pouring through sprue plate = Base of mold doesn't fill out.
3. Let mold/lead get hotter = Sprue plate smears lead across top of die.

I'm going back over the vent lines in my dies. Maybe aluminun dies really need them and they need to be perfectly clean and clear.:confused: Maybe a "Bottom Drop Pot" is the answer????

In the mean time I'm keeping my eyes open for a suitable "Steel" die.[smilie=1:

[oneokie]

:coffee:

I've tried many ways:
1. Dirrect contact with sprue plate and ladle = Best fill right to top.
2. Pouring through sprue plate = Base of mold doesn't fill out.
3. Let mold/lead get hotter = Sprue plate smears lead across top of die.

I'm going back over the vent lines in my dies. Maybe aluminun dies really need them and they need to be perfectly clean and clear.:confused: Maybe a "Bottom Drop Pot" is the answer????

In the mean time I'm keeping my eyes open for a suitable "Steel" die.[smilie=1:

1. Dirrect contact with sprue plate and ladle = Best fill right to top

When you are seeing the incomplete base fillout, are you pouring both cavities with one dip on the ladle? Is one boolit filled out and the other not? If so, your alloy is cooling to the point that it is the cause of your incomplete fillout. Try pouring one cavity, then refilling the ladle before pouring the second cavity.

3. Let mold/lead get hotter = Sprue plate smears lead across top of die.

Get some Bullshop Sprue Plate lube. You will be able to cut the sprue as soon as the puddle solidifies. Link is at the bottom of this page.

[KCSO]

Put 2 tablespoons of Nutrogena in you luube, takes the wrinkles right out!

[Capn Jack]

OK...One last time....:twisted:
You "Old Timer's" probably figure I'm beating this thing to death.[smilie=1:

I took the dies apart last night and with a magnifying hood on, I carefully cleaned out all of the "Vents" on the blocks with an Xacto knife..Guess what? Some of them were not cut all the way across the blocks. I cast some more boolits last night and my rejection rate went down to 20%. I'm going to go over the vents again today, then give the blocks a soaking in "Micro-90" before trying them again. I guess I wont throw them away after all.:mrgreen: If I had it to do over again, I would have bought "STEEL" dies.:roll:

[HORNET]

Unfortunately, Capn, that happens a LOT and not just with Lee's. I usually figure on checking and chasing vents as part of the initial tune-up.
KCSO, I thought the Nutragena was for pimples and ance and the Oil-of-Old-Lady was for wrinkles?? :bigsmyl2: :veryconfu

[shotman]

you say you would go to steel. If you ever use a LBT mold you will trash the steel molds. One thing is a ladle cast is slow and is hard to keep a AL mold or mould [what ever] to even temp. If you want a challange try a 25acp mold. If you are useing that hard of mix the Al mold will not last long.

[Capn Jack]

I'll leave the LBT molds to you full time boolit casters. They're a little too $$ for the amount of casting I do.[smilie=1: The .45cal. boolit I'm casting is for one rifle, and I don't expect to have my barrel before September.:twisted:

[Dale53]

I have that exact same mould (in fact, two copies). It casts wonderful bullets. If you have wrinkled bullets, nine out of ten times it is not clean enough. I don't know what preservative that Lee uses but it is HARD to remove.

The best method I have found is to use Dawn dishwashing detergent and a discarded toothbrush. Scrub the "dickens" out of it. Then rinse in very hot water. Dry carefully and cast with it. It should be fixed.

2% tin added to your alloy will help immeasurably with good fill out.

Let us know when you "fix" it as I know that you will!

Dale53

[Bret4207]

It's the heat of the mold. Either put in on your pot and let it become very hot or heat it with a hotplate or some other means. Or you can do as Bret said and cast faster but why go through the motion if your not making good boolits. Later David

Because some moulds need a faster pace to throw good boolits regardless of the hot plate. Plus you're going to have to start at some point and there's no guarantee when you'll get good boolits.

[Capn Jack]

Thanks DALE53,:-D
It's nice to know that they do work.:neutral: With the dies squeaky clean and all of the vents opened up I cast about 50 Boolits (Straight WW) last night. They looked pretty good when I sized them, but I haven't weighed them yet. The real proof is in +-.25 gr.:Fire: See if the re-melt rate will drop below 20%. :twisted:

:castmine: Thanks for all of the help guys.:drinks:

Jack:mrgreen:

[docone31]

Yesterday, I used my two Lee molds for the first time.
The difference,
I let each one sit in mineral spirits a week each. That is all I did. I smoked them with a BIC lighter. No rejects!!!
Lots of aluminum flakes in the bottom of the container, the mineral spirits were slightly brown from dipping the molds.
I preheated the molds, cast, and they fell out! I have never been more pleased with my molds.
I fill the mold, wait for the sprue to snap to grey, and pull in the center, then cut the sprue. No smearing. Open the mold, drop in water, do it again.
These castings were boring almost.

[TAWILDCATT]

decon your right lee are good molds I have 10 6 cavity and all worked from go.if people would only learn how to prep them.I use a stone on face and break the corners of out side with fine file.works for me plus I dont get impatient.after 60 plus yrs and at 85 nothing fazes me.:coffee: