Riddle me this Castman...

[jdgabbard]

Ok, now I've got a question on sprue and sprue plates.

Now we've all seen the pictures of the H&G Molds, and the Lyman Armory Molds. Among other things that they have in common are these: They are gang molds, and they have a neat little gutter for a very large sprue.

As we all know you get better fillout with a large sprue, and it also helps keep your mold running at the right temp instead of cooling off, like what I experience many times during the winter months. I'm an outdoor cast, fwiw.

Now I as you this, you owners of H&G and Armory Molds. What are your thoughts on the design of the sprue plates? Do you feel that the this type of plate helps your casting any? I've been thinking of getting someone to machine me some sprue plates for the Lyman 4-cavs I have. I personally would go with a 1/4" plate if I were to have this done. But before I spend the money I just want to know what you ladies and gents think.

[deltaenterprizes]

What is a Lyman armory mold?

A thicker sprue plate allows a larger sprue puddle withrunning off the side of the mold and the trough design allows the over flow from the cavity you are filling to flow into the next cavity so you don't waste any of the silver stream.

[beagle]

I have a couple of thick aftermarket DC sprueplates with the holes connected with a trough. They work pretty well. Any of your sprue plates could be so modified by a machinist with a mill in a couple of minutes.

I like the concept and they do work better but there's not enough difference to me to get excited over so I haven't persued it.

In fact, on a 1/4" or 5/16" plate you could mill an enhanced "puddle" hole with slanted sides no less./beagle

[waco]

i have a lyman 4cav mold....358495???
38cal wadcutter i bought it from a member here on the swap page
it has a trough milled into the sprue plate
i did not know that any ever came that way
i thought it was some do it yourself job
i dont care for it
hard to keep the lead from spilling into the next cavity before i want it to

[jdgabbard]

Beagle, where did you get these aftermarket sprue plates? I'd be interested to find out if they are still available.

[Mk42gunner]

i dont care for it
hard to keep the lead from spilling into the next cavity before i want it to

I agree with Waco,

I have a H&G 256 that is one of the best casting molds I have ever used. In my opinion the trough should be used to tie the sprue together, rather than using it to fill adjacent cavities with overflow.

My method with 4+ cavity molds is:
1. Rest the mold on the mold guide and fill first cavity.
2. As soon as the sprue cavity fills move to the second, while keeping the stream of lead going.
3. When the last sprue is filled, I pull the mold from under the pot using a slower stream to fill the trough/ tie all the sprues together.

Personally, I believe the heavier sprue clears the sprue plate better.

Robert

[jdgabbard]

Thats exactly what I envisioned...

[crabo]

I made a sprue plate from a piece if 1/4" mild steel with a die grinder, a drill, and a hacksaw. The thicker material makes a big difference to me along with the larger holes.

I liked the new sprue plate so much better that I bought a carbide 90 degree countersink so I could make a pretty sprueplate. But the ugly one I made works so well, I am not going to mess with it. The first picture shows the difference in the thickness of the original sprueplate and the new one. I also made it a little larger for a little more camming action when I cut the sprues.

I like the troughs because it puts more lead on top of the base of the boolit which I want filled out well.

I use my countersink to open up my large boolit sprueplates. I make the hole a little larger and that makes the entire countersink larger.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Thicker spruecutters hold more heat which is desireable, so a 1/4" thick plate will do a better job than a thinner one of maintaining mold and puddle temps. It is also much sturdier and less likely to warp or bend; can handle a knock from a mallet made of wood, plastic, rawhide or lead. As for the trough or gutter, there are fans of, for or against. Its really a question of technique and or what the caster adapts to or is more comfortable with. Gang molds or armory molds as they were sometimes called, used to be fed by a (soup type) ladle usuallygoing "uphill" and it would be easier to do so with the trough. The rise of the bottom pour pot changed things as then the mold moved rather than the melt feed. It is not a question of which works better....the trough or the lack of it. Either way works well. If you make good bullets with or without then that is what is important and if you are comfortable with the arrangement. There is also a school of thought revolving around sprue cutters/plates made out of aluminum plate and the thermodynamical advantages related thereto.. I have made several out of 3/16" plate and they have worked well. There are lots of tricks, claims and techniques regarding pouring methods such as reversing/alternating pour directions, pouring large sprues, running a second pour stream back over the first one, and dropping the blocks gently while the sprue is still liquid to "inertia-feed" the melt and discourage voids. etc. There is certainly a variety of practices to believe in and if one doesn't mind the length of the ceremony, then by all means go for it. The bottom line for me is, and should be for you, well cast bullets. LLS

[HeavyMetal]

I would also like to see thicker sprue plates available for a lot of molds, particularly the Lee six bangers the trough a big plus.

I don't believe you should run the lead across the holes and hope they fill out the cavities but I do like the idea of a thick sprue sitting on a thicker sprue plate for more consistant heat and the increased possibility that the bases will be filled out to a sharp edge all the time!

In all honesty anything smaller than a Lyman 4 banger won't ever need the trough but a thicker plate will always help the base area of the mold and boolit.

[Buckshot]

.............I made a replacement SP one time for NVcurmudgeon I think it was? It was quite sometime back. Anyway all I had was some 3/8" thick aluminum. It was for a 2 cav mould. After cutting it to shape and spotting the hole positions I milled the area down around the perimeter, leaving an oval plateau type deal over the 2 cavities.

I then drilled and countersunk for each cavity, and in that 3/8" thick section they were deep and wide :-) I then used a ball endmill to cut a relief around the inside between the 2 countersunk holes. Looked like a shallow bathtub with a crater at either end. I'd bet there was twice as much lead on top of that sprue plate as in both cavities. Whoever it was I'd made it for e-mailed me to say it worked well. Ha, I could imagine the look on their face when they saw it for the first time! It was, er ...............unusual to say the least.

..............Buckshot

[jdgabbard]

See, I hear mostly good things from those who have them so far. I think this might be something to look into. I can see them as useful on the four cavity molds as well.

[crabo]

MiHec uses a steel plate for his molds and I bet they would work on the Lee 6 cavity. I have wanted a mill a trough on my larger Lee molds, but was afraid to because I felt like the aluminum wouldn't take it.

I think the next time I buy a mold from him, I will order a couple of extra sprue plates and try it.

[HeavyMetal]

Perhaps some one could talk to Mihec about a group buy for steel sprue plates for the Lee 6 banger molds?

I would certainly like to see an esitmated price for a 5/16ths to 3/8's thick sprue plate for the molds with the trough in them. with that much steel to work with milling the area where the "cam " handle goes would be easy ( and stronger than stock!) and allow all the existing hardware to work.

The big issue, does Lee use the same size block for cutting these molds? If he does than he can mass produce his plates all the same. I can't believe an engineer would miss such an obvious idea but I will be checking several six banger plates some time today.

Ideas, thoughts, suggestions??

[jdgabbard]

I don't own any of lee's six bangers or the group buy molds. So I cannot even guess if they would work. But they probably wouldn't hurt the lee's casting. Or any other molds, probably a Huge improvment on any smaller boolits.

[TAWILDCATT]

I used H&G molds at my club with the trough.
open the valve and run the mold under the spot in continus.move ment you are suppost to fil the cavity and keep moving.I have lyman four cavity that I milled
a trough in.I dont have access to a mill any more or I would do it to my lees.
I use a ball end milling cutter.:coffee:

[Echo]

I have used my Dremel to cut a channel between sprue cavities...

[xr650]

I connect my sprues without a trough.
I fill the first cavity, then tip the mould slightly toward the filled cavity.
Move to the next cavitiy letting the melt flow to the filled sprue.
Continue filling cavities with on long sprue.
Fills out well.
I can catch the large sprue with a gloved hand and back in the pot it goes.

[hammerhead357]

On all of my H & G moulds I place the 1st cavity under the spout and open the pour valve then when the lead fills it I immediatlly move it to the next cavity and so on until all are filled. There is a short pause at each one. Just long enough for the lead to fill the cavity and to sort of overfill it a little. The sprue plate is filled with lead when I am finished and takes a while to become solid.
I do pour a little off to the side of all of the holes in the spure plate just to let the stream of lead have a little more space for air to vent out.
Now that is just my way of casting everyone else may have a different method....Wes