what temperature is best for bullet casting?

[Tar Heel]

We are going to get yelled at for sure by the Mod.

[RED333]

We are going to get yelled at for sure by the Mod.

Part of life, lets ya know you are alive.

[mozeppa]

nope...its my thread!
and i find ALL info useful!.....i learned something here, there's other temperature scales!
now...

who do i need to ask about getting my PID to register in "RANKINE" , as i find it to be more exact.

[Tar Heel]

Run a custom Google search on the entire site using "Rankine" as a search word. Here is the custom search location:

https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=0...69:ggn3vg-bjum

[Tar Heel]

I just did that and saw only 3 returns. Good luck with that one. Of course you can always convert F or C or Ab to Rankine.

[youngmman]

I keep the pot at 750 and cut the Sprue as soon as it frosts over. If the bullets appear frosted then it's too hot. Trouble is that setting the pot for 750 means it goes to that temp then backs off 10-15 degrees then starts up again and goes slightly over the 750 before backing off again. It seems to be the normal cycle. I'm using a Magma Master pot.

[runfiverun]

it's about the molds temp, 10-15-f is nothing in pot temp fluxuation.
15-f in mold temp is in and out of the zone, or a 7-f swing to either side and perfect.
keeping that 700-725-f alloy in there is what makes that happen.

[mozeppa]

yeah... i noticed that too...

the pid swings the temp from 10 degrees cool to 10 degrees hot .

like my wife!

[Bullshop]

About 65 *F is comfortable as you should be wearing a long sleeve shirt. Much over that and you get too sweaty.

[44man]

Yep, guys pinned it! Pot temp not as important as your cadence. I run 750 because I am slower. Pure needs 800.

[Char-Gar]

I guess I am hopeless! I have been casting for over 50 years and have never measured the temp of the melt or of a hot plate. I just keep turning up the dial on the Lyman pot until the alloy flows like water from the dipper and then I have at it. If it is to cold I crank the pot up a notch, if to hot I crank it down a notch. I started casting before there were thermometers for such things and just never felt the need to change what I was doing as it worked. Saved some money also.

I have been using NEI mold prep for many year. It is just graphite in some kind of carrier that evaporates off. It works as good or better than smoking a mold and is not needed once the mold is broken in. Bullplate spru lube is also a gift from heaven.

Lee molds are not made from high end aluminum and so burrs and machine hickies are common. We used to polish the molds with a bullet cast in the cavity coated with a little Bon-Ami sink cleaner. We would drill pilot hole in the bullet still in the mold using the sprue hole as a guide. Open the spru and turn a self threading sheet metal screw into the bullet. Coat the bullet with a little Bon-Ami and replace in the cavity. Use the screw head as a place to grip and rotate the bullet in the cavity. This will take out any burrs and high places and bullets will drop out easy. You will of course have to clean the Bon-Ami out before casting.

Aluminum molds made by NEI, Accurate, NOE and others use much higher grade aluminum and don't often have these problem. This is why these molds cost more than a Lee.

Most often bullets that don't come out easy are the fault of the mold and not the alloy.

[detox]

Different molds require different pot temps. Depending on mold manufacturer some smaller bullets will require hotter pot temps and larger bullets can sometimes over heat a mould. So pot temp can vary from 650 to 800 degrees from my experiance.

I have one of the NOE plug in mold thermometers and mold temp had to be 430 degrees to get well filled out bullets. Pot temp had to be turned up to 800 degrees to match my casting pace...this was using linotype! Mold is a new NOE 30 caliber 165 grain design.


Here is the thermometer:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...u2lds819d8oia4

Here are the bullets casted

[Larry Gibson]

There is no "best" temperature per se. Each alloy, amount of alloy in the pot, make of pot, heat source, mould block material, number of cavities, size of cavities, bottom pour or ladle pour, make of furnace, ambient temperature cast at and the casting tempo will determine the "best" temperature. Probably a few variables I didn't mention also. That's why I don't use a PID or a specific setting on an electric pot. I instead use the mould and quality of the cast bullets to tell me when the temperature is "right". I then use a thermometer to maintain that temp. I adjust not only the temp dial as I use, empty or fill the pot to maintain the temperature but also adjust the flow of alloy out of the bottom pour spout as the pot empties to maintain an even fill pressure of the cavities.

Larry Gibson

[DeanWinchester]

Its a pretty easy thing to maintain pot temp. I thought about a PID but its so easy to do why bother. If you keep the dial up just a hair over what you need, you can add cut sprues back to the pot to pull that temp back down.

It is as Larry says though, every mold is different and only experience will teach you. Get in there and cast a monster pile. It'll make sense the more you do.

[44man]

I NEED a PID for an old Lyman pot, thermostat failed twice, now runs wide open. But the PID I made burned up. To fix it would cost more then a new Lee pot. I can't afford to buy one and need plans to make a cheap one that will work.