casting woes

[wayne h]

This is my first try at casting bullets. It went terrible. Am using new wheel weights, fluxed w/beeswax, using coleman stove at full throttle. All bullets were wrinkled, then all of a sudden a lumpy, dull residue was sitting on the top of my melt, then the metal would not flow into the mold. Help what am i doing wrong. Help please. wayne h

[gray wolf]

OK slow down and we will get you fixed up,
what size pot were you melting the lead in ?( how many pounds on the Coleman stove ?)
What did it look like after you fluxed it ? was it nice and liquid and shiny ?
Do you have any idea of what the temp was in the pot ? and did you pre heat the mold?
Did you clean the mold real well before casting? what kind of mold ? and what caliber ?
After the dull reside was on top of the melt did you re flux? if you did --did it go away ?
If the metal was shiny and liquid after fluxing, your temp sounds like it dropped on you or you needed to re flux. Also sounds like metal or mold was not hot enough or both were cold
( not up to temp) mold was not clean enough.

Answer some of the questions for us and more help will be on the way.

[ktw]

Your aren't using enough heat. Turn the pot thermostat higher. Get the blocks hotter. Don't back off on the temp until the bullets start coming out with a frosted appearance.

-ktw

[wayne h]

1. the pot is a 1 qt stainless steel.

2. amount about 3 lbs

3. meyal was shiny after fluxing w/beeswax

4. the mold is a 2 cavity lee mold

5. the cal is .30

6. maybe i did not get the mold hot enough.

thanks wayne h

[RogerWatsonfromIdaho]

Wayne.

all of a sudden a lumpy, dull residue was sitting on the top of my melt, then the metal would not flow into the mold.

Above could be zinc contamination.

See:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40797 read posts 1,3,11

[chris in va]

When you melt down wheelweights, you *must* weed out the zinc and 'Fe' weights. Get too high a temp in the melt and the zinc will do exactly as you described and ruin the process.

After a while you will start recognizing the non-lead weights, but for now the best thing to do is get a pair of pliers and try to make a mark on them. If you can't do it easily, toss them out.

[bigboredad]

Wayne
this is what works for me it may not be right or proper but it works for me.
Turn your fire all the up. when your lead is ready to pour dip a corner of your mold int the lead for thirty seconds. then cast as fast as you can pour keep it until when you cut the sprue the bullet base under the sprue plate looks like it not totally cooled off. then you will be able to slow down and get a good rhythm going. don't stress about frosted boolits they lube better and taste better. the first few attempts will seem like you are going a hundred miles an hour bet then it will all click and seem second nature. hope this helps at least a little bit

[Lavid2002]

I'm very very new to this....but today I sorted my first bucket of WWs...I just had a metal tool in my hand. When I cam across a weight in question I tried to scrape corner. If it wouldnt scrape nice and soft like the led weights it got thrown in the garbage. I also noticed the steel ones, and some even had ZN on them for ZINC and dont use me in that pot : )

I would be so mad if I ruined my whole stack of lead. I am going to go and buy a thermometer and keep it below 700 even though im broke.

[mooman76]

How much lumpy residue are you talking about? This could be normal. The lead could be oxidizing or it could just be residue floating to the top. Try scraping it to the side and using the clean part to cast with. As you get it piled up I just scrape it off the top and discard it.

[462]

Wayne,
I say your mould and pot's temperature aren't hot enough. Lee moulds, in particular like high temperatures. As was mentioned, after a while the boolits will start to look frosty, at that point you can turn the thermostat down.

Since you said that, after fluxing, the lead was shiney, you can rule out zinc contamination.

One thing nice about casting...the rejects are never wasted.

Hang in there, you'll get it right.

[44fanatic]

I always get a grayish material on top of my pot. Believe it is the lead and tin oxidizing. When I ladle poured, it was a bit of a problem, but scraping it to the side as mooman76 stated. The hotter the pot, the faster it built up.

[Duckiller]

A small magnet is a big help in sorting out steel (Fe) wheel weights. Also steel weights should float on top of your melt. Steel melts at a much higher temp.

[sagacious]

NOT zinc contamination. Zinc dross does not respond to fluxing with hydrocarbon flux. We would be doing the newbies a HUGE favor if we didn't automatically suggest that zinc contamination was the cause of first-time casting difficulties.

Wayne,
As others have suggested, it sounds as if your mold temp, and maybe your melt temp, was not high enough. It is normal for the surface of the melt to turn dull gray after a while, even after fluxing.

Preheat your LEE Mold, and cast until it drops good bullets. You must keep up the casting pace at a constant rate or your mold will cool-off between pours. Sort out the rejects later, fuss with the mold later, and just keep the casting rate constant.

Working with molten metal is a skill where experience helps. Keep at at and you'll work out the bugs.

[wistlepig1]

Wayne, here is a link to a thermometer I bought, there are others by RCBS, Lyman and others. As you read some of the Stickys about casting you will see how useful it is to KNOW what temp your alloy is. good shooting



http://www.teltru.com/p-272-big-green-egg-grill-dome-kamado-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-2001000-degrees-f.aspx

[snuffy]

Wayne, what are you using to pour the lead? A spoon? If you're pouring directly from the pot, that's allowing the lead to cool too much while it's removed from the heat.

A Coleman stove, either gas powdered or propane, it is extremely difficult to control the heat/temperature. Control of the heat of your melted alloy is essential to well formed boolits. I agree you're probably too cool.

Don't give up! Keep the details of your process coming, we'll get our heads together to help solve your problems.

[Wayne Smith]

Wayne, is this a one or two burner Coleman? I've heard that the one burner, as well as being unstable, may not have enough BTU's for this. I use a 2 burner with propane - full blast has got my pot above 900 degrees - I doubt that it is a heat problem if you're using a 2 burner.

When using a pot and heat source I suggest the use of a thermometer. I didn't use one for years and once I started using one I discovered that much of my varying weight of boolit problem was a result of vastly varying temps.

I would think that Snuffy may have a hint for you. The use of a ladle that is designed for the purpose is much easier - either Lyman or RCBS, not Lee. The other issue to examine is mold temp. I am now using a hotplate to get my molds up to temp while the alloy melts. I'm getting good casts from the first or second pour where it used to take me as many as eght or ten before I got a good boolit.

Get back to us on our suggestions and what worked. This is a group that is absolutely eager to help a newbie.

[bohokii]

i use a coleman stove but i use a 6 inch skillet its hard to keep a big container hot

also the pumped white gas ones need to be well pumped and you have to use the knob to extend the tip cleaner to make sure you have a good blue wooshing flame