A few questions from a new caster

[HighUintas]

A friend just gifted me a Lyman .570 round ball mold. I have a Lee magnum melter and some soft lead on the way. I've got a Lyman lead ladle. I've also got a k type thermocouple for my multimeter that goes high enough for casting.

First question is care and maintenance of the Lyman mold. Most of what I can find in searching is on the Lee molds. For a Lyman mold, do I just clean the mold with soap and water before using and use the smallest amount of 2cycle lube on the sprue plate? Do I oil the mold when I'm done to prevent rust?

Second question is on casting. I want to cast these balls as small as I can. As I understand it, I need to get the lead and mold as hot as possible (but without frosting?) So that the lead shrinks more as it cools and also so that the mold expands more and creates a smaller cavity, correct? Is there any recommendations on casting cadence to achieve this?

The other question is on fluxing/reducing the lead in the pot. Is it actually needed while I'm casting if I'm just casting a single cavity mold with a ladle?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I coat iron molds with Kroil for storage. If you live in a climate that isn't humid, you may not have to do that.

I'm not sure why you want to cast balls small?
But yes, if you cast fast, so the iron mold gets hot enough where the sprue puddle doesn't freeze in 5 to 6 seconds, you will probably notice the balls are smaller by about 0.0005" ...if that helps. Don't be running your lead hotter than normal. Typically the Lead should be 100º above liquidous temp, which is about 725º for pure Lead.

Fluxing during ladle casting. Dross will build up as you cast. You can scoop it out or you can flux it back into the melt.

Good Luck.

[dondiego]

A friend just gifted me a Lyman .570 round ball mold. I have a Lee magnum melter and some soft lead on the way. I've got a Lyman lead ladle. I've also got a k type thermocouple for my multimeter that goes high enough for casting.

First question is care and maintenance of the Lyman mold. Most of what I can find in searching is on the Lee molds. For a Lyman mold, do I just clean the mold with soap and water before using and use the smallest amount of 2cycle lube on the sprue plate? Do I oil the mold when I'm done to prevent rust?

Second question is on casting. I want to cast these balls as small as I can. As I understand it, I need to get the lead and mold as hot as possible (but without frosting?) So that the lead shrinks more as it cools and also so that the mold expands more and creates a smaller cavity, correct? Is there any recommendations on casting cadence to achieve this?

The other question is on fluxing/reducing the lead in the pot. Is it actually needed while I'm casting if I'm just casting a single cavity mold with a ladle?

Too bad you don't state where you live............ a lot of guys might help you. But who knows where you are?

[brasshog]

I keep my molds and handles in a wood crate with a golden rod dehumidifier after oiling them once I'm done casting. Some oil types will make them hard to separate if you let them set for months at a time.

[HighUintas]

I coat iron molds with Kroil for storage. If you live in a climate that isn't humid, you may not have to do that.

I'm not sure why you want to cast balls small?
But yes, if you cast fast, so the iron mold gets hot enough where the sprue puddle doesn't freeze in 5 to 6 seconds, you will probably notice the balls are smaller by about 0.0005" ...if that helps. Don't be running your lead hotter than normal. Typically the Lead should be 100º above liquidous temp, which is about 725º for pure Lead.

Fluxing during ladle casting. Dross will build up as you cast. You can scoop it out or you can flux it back into the melt.

Good Luck.

Thanks! I want to cast small as possible because my barrel is a deep round groove, so I need to use thick patches to fill the grooves. Using Hornady .570 swaged balls , some are horrifically hard to load and some easy. They measure anywhere from 0.572-0.578. I've read that Lyman molds tend to cast large, so hopefully I can cast a ball that is .570 or less or .572 at most.

Too bad you don't state where you live............ a lot of guys might help you. But who knows where you are?

Utah!!

I keep my molds and handles in a wood crate with a golden rod dehumidifier after oiling them once I'm done casting. Some oil types will make them hard to separate if you let them set for months at a time.

Thanks!

[Minerat]

I figured you were in Utah from your handle.

I find that my round ball steel molds case true to size. Both of my single cavity lyman .535 and .530 are spot on with pure lead. I have a PID and run the pot at 725° for pure and about a 5 second sprue hardening cycle. In CO I do not oil my molds as I have no rusting problems in our dry air. I store my steel molds in closed plastic shoe boxes with desiccant packets or wrapped in VCI paper.

[HighUintas]

I figured you were in Utah from your handle.

I find that my round ball steel molds case true to size. Both of my single cavity lyman .535 and .530 are spot on with pure lead. I have a PID and run the pot at 725° for pure and about a 5 second sprue hardening cycle. In CO I do not oil my molds as I have no rusting problems in our dry air. I store my steel molds in closed plastic shoe boxes with desiccant packets or wrapped in VCI paper.

Thanks! Do you heat your mold on a hot plate or just manage it with the melting pot and casting rate?

[jsizemore]

You control the heat in the mold by your casting pace. Pure lead will require a quicker casting pace/higher mold temp to get complete fill out. The hot plate is just to get started. By heating the mold to 375-400 degF before you start pouring you'll get keepers from the start. Don't stop and admire your work, keep casting at a pace that gets good results and doesn't get so hot that you smear lead across the top of the mold when you cut the sprue.

[jsizemore]

I've cast larger balls for shotgun. Some from pure and various alloys. There's a nub with flat at the sprue cut. I built a rotary tumbler to smooth the nub. The diameter of the balls were reduced by a couple thousandths besides slicking up the surface. The tumbler is pretty heavy duty and can handle 40lbs of shot, buckshot or round balls. You only need 40-50 rpm drum speed.

[GregLaROCHE]

You are right that casting hotter will make your boolits/balls smaller. Frosted boolits aren’t the end of the world. I don’t use a thermometer. I heat the alloy until I start getting frosting and then turn the pot down a bit. I’ve used frosted boolits greased or powder coated without problems a lot. Be sure to keep your mold hot during casting. If you are casting when it’s cold, you might consider an old hot plate to heat your mold and keep it hot.

[Land Owner]

Q3 - Sawdust is an excellent flux in your pot as you pour. It keeps elements in suspension, is cheap, smokes a little bit, depending on wood species, is nice as a background smell in a well-ventilated environment, and smolders rather than burns as an open flame (such as does candle wax or crayons).

[William Yanda]

You will find the answers to all of your questions with actual practice.
Iron molds do need to be cared for differently than aluminum molds. You are wise to consider this as rust is an enemy.
In my opinion, .0005 difference in ball size will get lost in the thickness of the patch. Your experience may differ.
Your question about the temperature of the mold and the melt shows that you have researched the process. Let me encourage you to begin actual production of projectiles. It is not brain surgery. Keep notes and share your results.

[Dusty Bannister]

Some prefer to avoid adding anything that produces ash to their casting furnace since it can be carried to the bottom of the pot when adding alloy during casting. This will result in dirt occlusions in the surface of the melt. The melt does not actually stratifie during use because the surface cools, becomes heavy and sinks and the hot alloy being lighter rises so there is a circular movement within the melt. The addition of dry clean cat litter prevents the metals forming oxide on the surface of the melt.

[Land Owner]

Good thing about lead and lead-tin alloy, if after molding and cooling it is unsuitable in any way, it can and should be melted and molded again.

I have not had a single incident of "ash" or "dirt occlusions" using sawdust. The methodology includes watching as the sawdust is consumed and scooping away its residue. Nothing is added to the casting pot while the sawdust is present on the surface of the melt.

[HighUintas]

I cast my first balls last night! How do they look? A couple of them may look a little wrinkly, but I'm not sure where they were at in the session, because I didn't throw any back in the pot when I started. I wanted to be able to see what it looked like when it was wrinkly, but I just kept right on casting.

I used my k Thermo couple in my multimeter, and it seemed that the lead all became liquid somewhere around a reading of 630. I targeted a temperature of about 750 because it was only about 50° in my garage. And with the airflow, thought my mold might be hard to keep warm. The temperature fluctuated between 760 and 7 85

The mold was heated up by dipping a corner of 1/2 of it into the melt for a minute, then I did a corner of the other half of the mold, then I did the sprue plate tip for about 30 seconds.

I left my lyman ladle in the lad as it was heating up and starting to melt, so that was at temperature right away.

When the lead got up to temp and I heated the mold, I started casting balls, counting to five or six after getting a generous puddle on the sprue hole. Then I cut the sprue by pushing the plate open with a gloved hand.

I tried to go as fast as I could, but my setup wasn't great and it was a little fiddly trying to get the ball out of the mold. I didn't have anything nearby to tap the bolt connecting. The to have the handles, which is what I think I've read People do that doesn't damage the mold or handles.

I never fluxed during casting, because I wasn't sure how to keep the junk off of my ladle... With ladle casting, would it be correct that when you flux you just need to scoop all of the stuff off the top after fluxing so you have a clean surface? I fluxed it before letting it cool, with some pine board sawdust I made on the spot. Then scooped it out, and let the pot cool. Because i didn't flux during casting, I ended up with lots of spinley thin globs all over the ladle, but it's still seemed to cast balls ok.

After casting, I measured the diameter and weight of the balls. They ranged from 278.2, to 279.5. There was one that was obviously very wrinkly and bad and low weight and another that was over 280. The diameter ranged from 0.568 to 0.570.

With the appearance of most of my balls in the picture, I'm wondering if I didn't have my mold hot enough.

Overall, I consider it a great success! I'm hoping I can cast a lot more balls sometime this week and test them out on the range this weekend ��

Thanks for the help everybody!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

They look very good for first attempt. yeah, by appearance and the fact that your casting area was 50º, you can turn things up a bit more. Once you have a setup figured out and develop your technique, so you can speed up your cadence, you be cranking out perfect looking RBs.

Side note:
You know golf balls have dimples. I often wondered if a lead RB with wrinkles might fly straighter than a perfect RB...Who knows?

[Land Owner]

The proof is in the pudding. Shoot a few! You can always remelt them if you are not satisfied and the experience gained will lead to smoother surfaces. Having fun yet? Those are going to be a smash at the range! Every one of them WILL shoot.

Assure that the sprue plate remains hot as it is the first contact at which heat is withdrawn from the melt and a contributor to wrinkled surfaces. Get a hammer handle or a piece of 1 x 1 for cutting the sprue. Your gloved hand is not a safe bet. Check the stickies for methods to smooth the inside of the mold as an aid to release.