mentoring

[kbstenberg]

Once again i come on bent knees asking for help. this time i only gots 2 questions.
While i am casting with a multipal cavity mould i have noticed when i have filled one cavity an in the process of moving to the next one. A bit of the extra lead on top of the sprue plate has droped into the next cavity. An i don't start filling the next cavity till i move from the filled to the unfilled one.
It doesn't happen that often, but i am wondering if it negativly affects the second bullet in the pour. It happens more often when i try to fill all cavities without stopping the silver stream. It happens a lot less if i fill each hole individually.
#2 After the boolits have cooled an i am in the process of working with them. Culling the bad, Lubing,loading. If anyone of the boolits falls on the floor i usually through that one back for remelt because of deformation. Am i too over causious.
Usually the fall is on a concreat , tile , or wood.

[beagle]

If the mould blocks are up to proper casting temperature and the bullet looks filled out, the little dollop won't make a difference. If you have a wrinkle or parting line in the bullet, cull it. Normally, when you swing the sprue plate, a look at the base will tell you if the bullet is filled. If it looks smooth and filled, usiually, you're fine. If the base is not completely filled, the base band will normally be undersize...cull it.

Normally, if you drop a bullet on the floor, some distortion will occur as it comes from the mould, they're still in the process of forming their crystalline structure and damage will happen. May not make any difference but it's a good idea to put them in the cull pile for another run through the pot.

MHO./beagle

[garandsrus]

kbstenberg,

Move the the next cavity more quickly! In filling multiple cavity molds, I don't stop the pour until all the cavities are full. The extra lead on top of the sprue plate helps keep it hot.

If I splash a few drops in a cavity and then try to fill it a few seconds later, I am rarely happy with the boolit. If the splash is just the first few drops of the stream, than it's no big deal.

You can also tilt the mold a little so that any extra lead goes away from the next cavity instead of towards it.

John

[Calamity Jake]

beagle pretty well had it covered. I will add that if you are able to tilt the mold forward so the front cavity is lower than the back by about 10° to 15° then when filling the cavities overflow runs forward instead of back.

I have noticed that this helps allaround fillout too.

You will most always get some kind of splash that MURPHY says is going to wind up in the unfilled cavity. Tilting the mold forward helps keep murphy at bay and is automatic after a little practice.

[sqlbullet]

I naturally tend to tilt the mold the opposite way, so I fill from the nearest cavity to the furthest.

But, I also regularly get lead that runs over into the next cavity, and with my casts, doesn't seem to ever matter, unless the mold is a little cold.

any bullet with less than 24 hours of cure that falls to a hard surface gets culled. However, a thin strip of oak at the front of my bench keeps them from rolling off.