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Thread: Something I learned last weekend, about temp

  1. #81
    Boolit Master
    ghh3rd's Avatar
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    I dip alloy from old cast iron cookware.
    Hope it doesn't get passed down to someone who decides to cook food on it I use an old Lodge pot to clean my lead in and have marked it so no one will ever use it for food again.

    Just sayin...
    Plata o plomo?
    Plomo, por favor!

  2. #82
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    OK, tried something in the last session. I've started casting at a lower alloy temp, got tired of counting to 30 or so & just counted ~5 after the sprue made it's last color change. Cut with gloved hand. Really good cuts, no tears or streaks. Really nice bases.
    Whatever!

  3. #83
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    Lightbulb


  4. #84
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    Quote Originally Posted by popper View Post
    OK, tried something in the last session. I've started casting at a lower alloy temp, got tired of counting to 30 or so & just counted ~5 after the sprue made it's last color change. Cut with gloved hand. Really good cuts, no tears or streaks. Really nice bases.
    Sounds like a thermometer would change your world.
    Precision in the wrong place is only a placebo.

  5. #85
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Uh, it's a PID controlled pot! My comment was that I now run ~690-700 vs the 720 I was running (same alloy), and cut after the second color change. Cutting right after the first color change gave some tears & streaks - not really good bases. And I don't have to count so much.
    Whatever!

  6. #86
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    I bought a digital thermometer(looks like a small multimeter) that takes K-thermocouples. used an old flexible microphone neck to hold it in the pot, reads fine and gives me accurate temp readings. Funny how different molds pour better at different temps

  7. #87
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    Can an infrared thermometer like the HF model be used?

    http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ing-60725.html

  8. #88
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    Quote Originally Posted by RugerFanOH View Post
    Can an infrared thermometer like the HF model be used?

    http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ing-60725.html
    If it works it would only give you surface temp which is not what you want. But it might be good for mold temp.
    Lead bullets Matter

    There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves. - Will Rodgers

  9. #89
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    Quote Originally Posted by RugerFanOH View Post
    Can an infrared thermometer like the HF model be used?

    http://www.harborfreight.com/non-con...ing-60725.html
    Search my name for threads I created. I performed a test w/ an infrared thermometer like the one you posted. As well as a high end, it's one of the lower models but still plenty expensive, FLIR camera. The verdict is that they don't work. I go into more detail in the thread.

  10. #90
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    Thanks dragon, excellent work in that 2013 post!

    Any advice on thermocouples vs analog thermometers?

  11. #91
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    Quote Originally Posted by olafhardt View Post
    This was an outstandingly good post from one of the true masters in the field. But you should know that gear is a really nice looking red head and she sells longeray at Dillards.

    Is she married??
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  12. #92
    Boolit Buddy Twmaster's Avatar
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    I cast my first boolits today. 9MM, .45 and .309

    Like has been mentioned in this thread I learned the hard way mold temp is so important. My first go round with the 9MM mold did not yield any good boolits.

    I then went to a new Lee .45 230 grain mold. After allowing the mold to get good and hot over the pot I began making good boolits after a couple of first pours.

    What I now see, after reading this thread, is I should have been casting faster to maintain mold temp. I had my Lyman pot at 780F.

    Now armed with info from this thread I'll look at stepping up the pace and lowering the temp in the pot a little.

    I want to thank you all for the wealth of real world knowledge.
    Mike

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    1 in office. 1 in prison.

  13. #93
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    Are you using a thermometer? The dial on the pot does not relate to actual pot temp, if yours does you have the only such pot. If your using an alloy with tin in it your pot temp should not be over 700-720 as tin will both oxidize rapidly and not be able to do what it's in the alloy to do at 750 degrees.

    Rick
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  14. #94
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    Thanks Rick, very good info.
    Lead bullets Matter

    There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves. - Will Rodgers

  15. #95
    Boolit Buddy Twmaster's Avatar
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    Rick,

    Thanks for the reply. The temp scale on this this pot does not seem to be marked in degrees. I had a new Lyman thermometer in the stew. It read 780F.

    Your point about the tin is understood and during my next casting session I'll be mindful of your comments.

    ETA a pic!

    Last edited by Twmaster; 09-28-2014 at 03:48 PM.
    Mike

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    1 in office. 1 in prison.

  16. #96
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    i didn't go through all the replies so forgive me if this is a repeat question. you mentioned pine sawdust. Would i use this with flux or without? Is the sawdust for fluxing specific to pine? or perhaps could cedar or other woods be used?

    thanks for a great article, lots of good info, definitely a sticky
    Famous last words: "Hey, watch this!"

    Straight shooters and deadbeats thread http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...?263833-KuunLB

  17. #97
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    Welcome to CastBoolits KuunLB,

    The sawdust is the flux and the reducer, no need for any additional flux. Pine is the popular and smells good but any wood sawdust that will burn down to carbon. It's the carbon that does both the fluxing and reducing.

    Hope this helps.

    Rick
    "The people never give up their freedom . . . Except under some delusion." Edmund Burke

    "Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack on our liberty, we encourage it." Samuel Adams

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  18. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by cbrick View Post
    Welcome to CastBoolits KuunLB,

    The sawdust is the flux and the reducer, no need for any additional flux. Pine is the popular and smells good but any wood sawdust that will burn down to carbon. It's the carbon that does both the fluxing and reducing.

    Hope this helps.

    Rick
    Technically the reduction comes as the wood is converted to charcoal. Low order combustion is best, it produces lots of reducing gasses.

    When Rick speaks of fluxing, do what I do.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by btroj; 11-06-2014 at 11:56 PM.
    You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.

  19. #99
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    Quote Originally Posted by btroj View Post
    Technically the reduction comes as the wood is converted to charcoal. Low order combustion is best, it produces lots of reducing gasses.

    When Rick speaks of fluxing, do what I do. http://smileyshack.files.wordpress.c...g_100-1081.gif
    From "Ingot to Target" by Glen E. Fryxell - chapter 4.

    The benefits of sawdust are that it‘s a sacrificial reductant that can reduce any oxidized tin back to the metallic state, and it‘s cheap enough that the caster can use enough to form an effective barrier layer to protect the alloy from subsequent oxidation. What’s more, as the sawdust chars on top of the melt, it forms activated carbon, which is a high surface area, porous sorbent material that has a large number of binding sites capable of binding Lewis acid cations like Ca, Zn and Al. So it not only keeps the tin reduced and in solution, but it effectively scavenges those impurities that raise the surface tension and viscosity of the alloy (Al, Zn and Ca), keeping the alloy in top shape for making good bullets.


    Rick
    "The people never give up their freedom . . . Except under some delusion." Edmund Burke

    "Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack on our liberty, we encourage it." Samuel Adams

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  20. #100
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Link is fixed now.
    You will learn far more at the casting, loading, and shooting bench than you ever will at a computer bench.

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