Tazman1602
12-24-2009, 08:56 PM
Hey Guys,
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or Haunnaka (sp? sorry...) or whatever your religion is, I respect it.
Got some education lately. Lot of the old boys here 'been expousing the merits of using a hotplate to pre-heat the molds before you start throwing lead at them.
Was in Walgreens today picking up some old folks medicine and wife came up to me with a single hotplate burner for $9.99 AND she had a $3 off coupon to boot. So I got the hotplate for around $7 with tax and took it home.
Now I'm pretty leary of voodoo, black magic, and "secrets of casting" because I don't believe there's any "secrets", only information and that should be shared freely IMHO. So I decide to do some tests.
Now wife got me an early Christmas present of a Lee 20# bottom pour pot.............and I've hated it, mainly because I had to learn to pour everything all over again as I've always been a ladle pourer.
Wrinkled bullets, no filling of molds, etc has been the norm so I plugged the hotplate in and set some molds on it. I have one of those laser-beam temp gauges so I kept checking the temp of the mold when I pulled it OFF the burner.
With a little experimenting I found that if I let my lead pot get good and hot, and pre-heat the molds to at least 300 degrees F I can commence to casting ASAP with no warm up at all. Works great, bullets are even .001 fatter, and the great part? Once you get the setting on the hotplate down to where you need it you can set two or three molds on it to keep them hot, then when the mold you're using starts throwing out bullets that were made for frosty the snowman (hey some people like them that way...I don't) to COOL OFF the mold you can put it BACK on the burner, take another mold off, and commence to throwing lead at that one with no delay. The SAME technique also works well for ladle pouring but more so. Bottom pour is fine for a lot of bullets but personally I like to take my time and have FUN while casting but I am getting to like that bottom pour too now........even if it drips a bit.......
It's worked well for me and is certainly something I'd advise anyone to do if you're having "beginnners blues" especially for the $7 price tag. Even if you're an old dog, well, "try it, you'll LIIIIKE it".
Art
MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or Haunnaka (sp? sorry...) or whatever your religion is, I respect it.
Got some education lately. Lot of the old boys here 'been expousing the merits of using a hotplate to pre-heat the molds before you start throwing lead at them.
Was in Walgreens today picking up some old folks medicine and wife came up to me with a single hotplate burner for $9.99 AND she had a $3 off coupon to boot. So I got the hotplate for around $7 with tax and took it home.
Now I'm pretty leary of voodoo, black magic, and "secrets of casting" because I don't believe there's any "secrets", only information and that should be shared freely IMHO. So I decide to do some tests.
Now wife got me an early Christmas present of a Lee 20# bottom pour pot.............and I've hated it, mainly because I had to learn to pour everything all over again as I've always been a ladle pourer.
Wrinkled bullets, no filling of molds, etc has been the norm so I plugged the hotplate in and set some molds on it. I have one of those laser-beam temp gauges so I kept checking the temp of the mold when I pulled it OFF the burner.
With a little experimenting I found that if I let my lead pot get good and hot, and pre-heat the molds to at least 300 degrees F I can commence to casting ASAP with no warm up at all. Works great, bullets are even .001 fatter, and the great part? Once you get the setting on the hotplate down to where you need it you can set two or three molds on it to keep them hot, then when the mold you're using starts throwing out bullets that were made for frosty the snowman (hey some people like them that way...I don't) to COOL OFF the mold you can put it BACK on the burner, take another mold off, and commence to throwing lead at that one with no delay. The SAME technique also works well for ladle pouring but more so. Bottom pour is fine for a lot of bullets but personally I like to take my time and have FUN while casting but I am getting to like that bottom pour too now........even if it drips a bit.......
It's worked well for me and is certainly something I'd advise anyone to do if you're having "beginnners blues" especially for the $7 price tag. Even if you're an old dog, well, "try it, you'll LIIIIKE it".
Art