Casting temps

[poppy42]

Here’s how I look at it. Man had been casting lead boolets for roughly 500 years. They certainly didn’t have thermometers or electric pots! I know others will disagree, and that’s fine whatever works for the individual. I have never used a thermometer. I heat my lead/alloy until it becomes liquid. Then I start casting. If I get poor fill out or wrinkle boollets I heat my molds up. If my boolets get to frosty ( by the way frosty boolets shoot just fine) I let the mold cool a little. While I really like the convenience of my 20 pound bottom pour electric pot, but I have cast boolets over a campfire, a barbecue grill, a propane stove, etc. whatever I can get lead/alloy hot enough to become liquid. My boolets all come out the same. I believe some people make a simple task much more complicated than it really needs to be. And that’s perfectly fine, if that’s what works for them that’s what they should do. As for me, if it ain’t broke I have no intention of fixing it.

[flatnose]

flatnose,
Throw away the thermometer and get a P.I.D., it's the best money a caster can spend! Exact temp control, no guess work, exact temp control, no wide excursions in melt temp, oh, did I mention exact temp control? They're simple to build yourself, there are schematics here:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...ller-Schematic

Or check the "Vendor Sponsors" section, HATCH Automation has them pre-assembled.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/for...TCH-Automation

It takes all the guess work out of temperature control!

Exactly and it is under way now. My thermometer is correct and I maintained 750 today by adding lead. My boolits were better than ever. I am excited to get the pid and fix this problem.

[flatnose]

I started using the p.i.d. I got from Hatch today. Wow is this the way to go. If you don't have one i highly suggest you get one ASAP. I cast the best boolits ever. I have been casting too hot for a long time and it has caused many issues but no more. My size is now correct and weight variations are gone. Thanks to Hatch and this forum.

[centershot]

"You have done well, Grasshopper!"

[cwlongshot]

I agree bad thermometer.

My Magic temp is 7-725. Very very rarely over 750.

My quality greatly improved with a PID, hot plate and LOWER temps.

CW

[JCM45]

Hi CW. Sorry about the YouTube strike.

[cwlongshot]

Thanks brother... Its a bother. We need another platform.

Merry CHRISTmas!

CW

[BattleRife]

I started using the p.i.d. I got from Hatch today... My size is now correct and weight variations are gone.

Quality and productivity both go up with a PID. The most striking difference is in time. The factory Lee thermostat takes something like 4-5 times as long to recover from temperature upsets as does a PID.

[lightman]

I agree bad thermometer.

My Magic temp is 7-725. Very very rarely over 750.

My quality greatly improved with a PID, hot plate and LOWER temps.

CW

I have the temp on my PID set at 725º. This works well for a 4 cavity mold casting with clip-on weights.

[popper]

Set my PID for 720ish 10 yrs ago and leave it. Alloy and pour rate make the most difference.

[Tazman1602]

RCBS pot and a lead thermometer from Rotometals both say 725/725 or maybe a +- 2-3°. 725° Seems to be a sweet spot for my cadence and my molds too

Art

[dale2242]

I cast at 700-725 range.
I like my thermometer because it tells me when my alloy is up to casting temp when I start up and/or add ingots to the pot.

[jeepyj]

I like so many others here have gone through about every stage of the casting game. I have a "hatch" PID and it does what it supposed to do and quite nice. I also keep a pile of ingots on a little wire rack I built over the top of my pot I don't generally wait much more than a pound of two before adding another. Pre-heating them seems to keep things going nicely for those evenings your running 15 - 20 lbs through.

[Old Caster]

It is easy to tell when you are casting too hot. When the holes in your sprue plate start to have a bit of lead left in the holes, you are cutting the sprue when it is still a bit molten. If you have to wait way too long before opening your mold because this is happening, it is too hot. Every mold is an entity to itself because of metal type, number of cavities and size of the bullets. When I was serious about casting 40/65 bullets with a single cavity steel 410 grain bullet mold with a ladle, I had to run my Waage pot at 805 degrees which is what I finally settled for and Waage made the pot to heat the lead at exactly this temperature when turned all the way up. If I cast my 5 cavity Accurate 32 caliber 62 grain aluminum mold, it is used at 710 and is a bottom pour. Basically you have to learn what signals you are getting and adjust accordingly.

[toallmy]

I find a thermometer very useful , not necessary , but very useful so - I use one for both cooking scrap lead and coww's as well as casting . I turn on my pot and get it up to the casting temperature I want before I cast the first boolit . I can monitor the temperature while casting to maintain a constant temperature even when adding preheated alloy to the pot , adding the sprue cuts back to the pot while casting also .
I picked up a tel-true thermometer with a 6 inch probe for around 30-35 bucks a few years ago , it took a lot of guesswork out of smelting & casting .

[kevin c]

I’ve found, casting outdoors, that air temp, wind and I suspect even humidity affect cooling of the mold and the alloy stream as it leaves the spout of my bottom pour. For me, maintaining mold temp needs both alloy temperature and casting cadence changes depending on those conditions, and the first is a lot easier with a PID.

[Rickf1985]

Let me put something in here as food for thought. First, a Lee 20 lb pot WILL get above 1,000 degrees! I just had it happen to me today. I was going to post this as a separate thread and still might but here is what happened. I had my PID set at 750 which is where the lead I was using was making its best bullets. My wife came in and by that time I noticed that it was taking a long time for the lead to set in the mold so I decided to take a break and toss in my sprues back into the pot. That done I threw in a little beeswax and POOF! up it went. I thought that was strange since beeswax doesn't usually flare up like that and I glanced up at the temp on the PID, It was at 850 and dropping very fast BUT, the PID was commanding full power to the pot!!!! Switched it off and threw in my two thermometers for redundancy and they were both in agreement, 1070 and rising!!!!! YES my friends, a Lee pot will easily hit 1100 degrees. That said I did just disconnect the factory thermostat on the pot to see if it made any difference in the heat time, it didn't. I had left that thermostat connected before just in case of a runaway scenario like this where the factory thermostat would limit the temps to around 900. I WILL be hooking that factory thermostat back up tomorrow. But I did find a bad connection when I opened that Lee unit up where the wire that was clipped onto the heating coil was loose and burned. I also heard this from Hatch who said he had the same wire with the same problem.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I cast at 700 degrees almost always and my molds will still overheat. The lands between the grease grooves will lose definition and frost first. Getting crisp sharply defined boolit features requires me to slow down a bit. I did get that computer fan set up to help keep my molds at optimum temp. I think a better way would be to rotate between two molds.

[Soundguy]

Speaking of temps... I am smelting type metal right now..for the heck I still use my thermometer in my melting ladle.. Had my first experience with zinc since I've been casting. Found a few large zinc sinkers mixed in. Keeping floating right on top of the molten lead. Glad I wasn't running the burner balls to the wall..might have missed the zinc before it melted. Kept temps at 650 for pouring.. Well under the 787 zinc melting temp.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

With a Lee bottom pour, you cannot go much below 700 degrees or the nozzle will freeze. Maybe those ladle pour guys are on to something? Would not cost much to try ladle pouring, perhaps running the pot at 650 or 625 would keep the mold at optimum temp?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lyman-Lead-Dipper/37391290