sirgknight
06-04-2010, 12:46 PM
I'm getting to where my arthritis is giving me fits, especially in my wrists and fingers. I got to where a two hour casting session would leave me in pain the rest of the day. It has gotten to the point to where I had to do something about my casting table. Everything is set up in my reloading building and I was using my shooting table as a double for my casting table also. This meant that I was having to hold my molds almost chest high to get the mold under the pot and I had to continue to hold the mold throughout the process of hitting the sprue plate to dumping the bullets. Sooo, I decided to build a "casting shelf" to see if it would help; what a difference!!! This may seem to be a "lazy person's way to cast", but it allows me to be much more comfortable during the whole process. I tried to design as much safety into this as possible to prevent any accidents that may occur. The first pic shows the entire shelf with the bottom pour pot on the right; next to it is where I dump the overrun from the sprue plate; next to it is where I dump the bullets. I haven't cast any water-cooled bullets yet but it will be very convenient to place a bucket of water to the right of the pot for easy drops. The second pic shows where I actually bolt the pot to the shelf. This will prevent any accidental "pushing" of the pot and a disastrous spill. The bolt is loosely applied for easy placement and removal. The third pic shows the hinges that hold the shelf to my shooting bench. The pins are removable, again, for easy placement and removal. The fourth pic shows my shooting bench with the casting shelf removed. The only remaining evidence of the casting shelf are the hinge halves that are permanently attached to the shooting bench legs. I must admit that I was very surprised to learn how much more comfortable it is to cast at a level that low, but it really is. It's basically like holding tools in your hand and then resting your arms on your legs. I guess one would call this "ergonomical casting". Anyway, I thought this may give some of you some ideas about your casting operation. If it helps me, it may help others too. EDIT: By the way, as you can tell in the first pic, this setup allows me to use the top of my shooting bench as a very convenient and easily accessible area to put all of my tools such as flux material, lighter, screwdrivers for tightening the sprue plates and any other items I might need, i.e. cellphone.
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http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0027-1.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0028.jpg
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0029.jpg
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