Automated Master Caster

[hagel]

I'm afraid the credit for any engineering has to go to the students who worked om MC#1. Me, I just cobble stuff together out of desperation. That's where the foot operated Star and the second automated MC came from. Sure wish I was an engineer.

Hagel, apologies for missing the health issues you previously mentioned. I focused on the pics and vid.

And I knew about you through the design and planning stages for the MC automation with the university. And seeing it all in motion spoke to the effort of your entire team . At the time, I was visiting Magma every one or two times a week and I'd speak to them about where I was regarding with automating my machine . Anyway, speeding things up, they always spoke about you and your engineering feats. They clearly admired the feat

[hagel]

Here's a couple of questions for those of you who have been running an automated MC for a while. Do bullets have a tendency to stick in the rear cavity of your molds?

I've encountered this with both 115 gr 9mm RNs and 180 gr 45 SWcs. It plays out like this: If I run with the fan on I don't get good fill out and my reject rate goes through the ceiling. So I turn the fan off. This allows the mold temp to go up and I start getting the sticking problem. I turn the fan on and the sticking problem goes way down with the 9s but only slightly improves with the 45s. I spritz the rear cavity with a little mold lube and the problem gets a little better but doesn't go away completely. In other words, once it starts I can't really get it to stop.

Have you run into this? If so, how do fix it?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[HATCH]

The problem most likely is your sprue plate.
When the mold is at the bottom look at the top cavity. Does the sprue plate cover any of that cavity?
On most larger boolits the sprue covers 1/3 of the opening.
You need to take a grinder and notch the sprue plate so it isn't covering the cavity when the mold is open.

As far as fill out goes and the fan, it sounds like you need a shorter cycle time or higher lead temp or both

750 degrees, 1 sec before pour, 5 sec cool and 2 sec at bottom.
Try that with your 9mm

[jmorris]

Once I found the right lead temp bullets just fell from my smoked molds. At least until I came across a set that just wouldn't let go. Wound up building a set of tappers at that point.

[hagel]

Hatch: I'll check my times but I think I'm already shorter than that. As far as lead temp goes I'm using the stock thermostat. Checking that against a lead thermometer I have shows a lot of variation and the setting tends to creep slowly down as the machine whacks out bullets. It's not fast but it does creep down a little. As per your previous advice for this alloy I am trying to maintain 750 degrees. I think you are dead on with that temp recommendation. It makes all the world of difference on mold fill out.

I will take a close look at my sprue plates and see just how they need to be ground to expose the bullets.

Jmorris: I seem to recall that you smoke with acetylene. Is that right? Can you describe your smoking technique including the frequency of re-smoking your molds?

I have Curly set up to run a batch of 125 gr RNFP 38s. After that run I am going to run some .340 ball. That was the closest thing Magma had to 00 buck. Does anybody on here use that for 00 buck? I also got a .240 ball mold for making #4 buck. Not sure how that is going to work. The sprue hole is about the same size as the ball. Does anybody use a .240 ball mold from Magma to make #4 buck? It will be interesting to see how that works out.

[HATCH]

On the 22 cal I have, it looks like the hole in the sprue is the same diam as the boolit or close to it.
If the mold block for the buckshot block is a standard large block then you are going to have to run a very short cycle time with no fan. Something like 1,3,2 or 1,4,2

[jmorris]

Jmorris: I seem to recall that you smoke with acetylene. Is that right? Can you describe your smoking technique including the frequency of re-smoking your molds?

Just enough oxygen I the mix to keep the black streamers from forming and just run the flame over the mold. Generally only do it once while the machine is warming up.

[Tazza]

I was going to say increase the lead temperature too for better fill out. The 125 conical i run fills out with a very low lead temperature but the .358 wad cutter i have with multiple lube grooves refused to fill out correctly even with higher lead temperatures, i gave up as it was only a test so i never got it worked out.

Jmorris - don't you love those black soot streams as they float around the shop getting on EVERYTHING?

[HATCH]

You could always add tin to the mix

[hagel]

That's a thought. Have you ever tried adding tin to the stuff we're casting with? That 115 gr 9mm mold I had so much trouble getting good fill out with might be a good one to try it with.

I just cast around 1500 38 RNFP BB bullets. They did pretty well. Lowest reject rate yet. I think that in the long run it will simply work out that each mold needs to be treated differently in order to get the best results. Before I started using these machines my experience was with aluminum two cavity hand molds. I get pretty good results with all of them I have. The thing I didn't realize was that my brain was doing a lot of adjusting of conditions/procedures without me really noticing it when I use them. Since the machines don't think or adjust on the fly like my brain does I need to be real careful about just how I set up the machines for each mold.

Switching over to the machines is a really big change and one that I am sure everyone that has switched from hand molds to machines has had to go through. So I'll apologize in advance for covering all the same ground that a lot of other people have on here. Any time any of you see me heading down a road that has already been traveled, and discussed, here on Cast Boolits please feel free to point me to a relevant thread. Doing so will save you aggravation and help get me straightened out more quickly.

Well, I need to get back out to the shop and lube and size the rest of those 38s and box them up. Next mold I am going to try is that .240 round ball/#4 buck mold.

Question: Do any of you guys make buck shot? If so, do you coat it in graphite powder? I have a vibratory tumbler but I have to believe that would end up coating the entire inside of my shop with graphite dust if I used that. This might be a good place for someone to point me in the direction of a thread that has already covered this subject.

Other topic: I have used my foot operated Star to size several thousand bullets so far. It won't really work for me as far as getting the rate of production I need for a business but it would really kick butt for the person who just casts a few hundred to a thousand bullets at a time. You can inspect the bullets for casting flaws and drop the good ones into the sizer die and push them through with your foot pretty fast.

You could always add tin to the mix

[HATCH]

I have added tin playing around.
For the most part you just need to find a setting that works.
Until I got a touch screen, my timing stayed the same from 9mm 115s to 45 250s.
What did change is in adjust the flow rate on the stroke based on the mold.
Some molds drop easy so I slowed that stroke down to limit the abuse of the machine. Other molds required more force


Also when the machine is running perfect - don't stop it.
I have made that mistake twice already.
I was getting tired and killed the machine to go to bed.
I was casting 44 grain 22s. Pain in the *** to get the right temps cause the mold takes forever to heat up.

[hagel]

"Also when the machine is running perfect - don't stop it."

Yep, already been there. The wife and I have had a discussion about that. Generally we try to avoid eating sandwiches since they usually aren't particularly healthy and I have problems already. There is lunch meat and sliced cheese in the fridge right now and she has agreed to run stuff out to the garage to me (food, water etc...) in the rare occasion that I have things running perfectly. I already have a batch of coffee fixings out there. Fortunately we live in the country and I have a deck off the second floor shop where the machines are. Probably not going to have much grass growing within a yard of the deck come spring.

[ProfGAB101]

Careful to always wash your hands before eating anything while casting. I'm often tempted to grab an Altoids mint and have to stop myself.

Same applies to smokers - lead dust on cigarette paper is death coming much sooner.

[hagel]

I've done cell culture before so I'm used to aseptic technique. The trick is to never actually touch anything that goes into your mouth in a situation like this. You can eat a sandwich from a baggie without actually touching the sandwich with your hands. You just have to be careful. It's always good to point that out in case someone on here isn't aware.

Careful to always wash your hands before eating anything while casting. I'm often tempted to grab an Altoids mint and have to stop myself.

Same applies to smokers - lead dust on cigarette paper is death coming much sooner.

[HATCH]

I guess I am gonna die from lead poison then
I do wash my hands twice when I am fixing the kids something.

Sprue plate mod

[hagel]

Thanks for the pic of the sprue plate mod.

Lead affects the developing brain. We're both way past that. I think we're safe.

[Tazza]

Speak for your self, I'm not that old :P

I try to wear gloves every time i handle lead and wash my paws before eating. I coat my projectiles before handling, so that reduces my exposure even more.

[jmorris]

I thought that was the point of automating the equipment in the first place, not having to mess with it myself.

[hagel]

It sure does help. I touch the lead and stay further away from it with the machines than I would using hand molds. Having a little more distance from the molten lead is nice. Still I have been going through the hand soap lately. Tazza is right in following basic sanitation practices. Also if he is still young enough to worry about chronic lead poisoning that's good. At my age and state of health I'm mostly concerned about the possibility of acute lead poisoning.

I thought that was the point of automating the equipment in the first place, not having to mess with it myself.

[jmorris]

One of the members of a club I shoot with came back from the doc with high lead levels after we had been shooting matches at an indoor range for a while.

I went to my doctor and tested high as well, along with most in our club. Switched to outdoor ranges and it went back down but I still have my blood tested every year.