oldracer
07-05-2010, 08:33 PM
In an earlier post I noted my first two cast sessions showed most of the 148gr DEWC boolits had what I found out were wrinkles. Several folks said the Lee 6 cavity mold was not hot enough and to get a cheap hot plate so I did. Today I got the chance to try it out and as they all said.....the mold needed to be real hot! The aluminum must really loose the heat quickly so I set the hot plate to max (400 degrees) and let the mold sit on it while the lead melted in the pot. The first couple of casts were not full enough but by the 3rd time it was going great and the casts were perfect! That was an easy fix.
I also tried using sawdust to flux the melting pot and that worked great also as those that have used it noted. I have the bench setup outdoors but there was not a huge amount of smoke and the crud stayed away from the pour hole very well.
These casts were made from a 50# ingot I was given in exchange for some of the wadcutters I have been doing so I consider that a good trade. I did find out that a long ingot does NOT fit well in my Walmart dutch pot so I'll have to break the next ones in to at least two pieces. I read the posts about that so I think I'll try the chisel and sledge hammer idea?
The question I have now is what to lube the sprue plate with as the ALOX burns away quickly when the Lee mold gets that hot so I was thinking some left other synthetic grease from my vintage race car years as it is good up to 2000 degrees before it runs or is it best to just lube the plate periodically?
Thanks a million for the help everyone and this is turning out to be a bunch of fun
I also tried using sawdust to flux the melting pot and that worked great also as those that have used it noted. I have the bench setup outdoors but there was not a huge amount of smoke and the crud stayed away from the pour hole very well.
These casts were made from a 50# ingot I was given in exchange for some of the wadcutters I have been doing so I consider that a good trade. I did find out that a long ingot does NOT fit well in my Walmart dutch pot so I'll have to break the next ones in to at least two pieces. I read the posts about that so I think I'll try the chisel and sledge hammer idea?
The question I have now is what to lube the sprue plate with as the ALOX burns away quickly when the Lee mold gets that hot so I was thinking some left other synthetic grease from my vintage race car years as it is good up to 2000 degrees before it runs or is it best to just lube the plate periodically?
Thanks a million for the help everyone and this is turning out to be a bunch of fun