fishnbob;
The trick with angle iron moulds is to slightly tilt the handles so that they release the ingots. I didn't find it necessary to rust mine. Mine were done by a professional welder friend and he had to do very little grinding.
Dale53
Dale53,
Darn, I wish I had that info yesterday. As crooked as we welded, it wouldn't have been a problem to tilt the handles since everything else was tilted, outta square, etc. The biggest problem I see is in the vee's where the weld is not sloped and creates a pocket and I can't get my grinder in there. Neither of us could see well enough to weld neatly. We used a wire welder and it was hard to get the wire in the vees and see what you were doing at the same time. We had a stick welder sitting there but thought the wire welder was easier given our disabilities.
You boys gonna draw them pistols or whistle Dixie
NRA ENDOWMENT MEMBER
"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent fishing."
------Babylonian Proverb
By the way, I have some Kroil, both spray & liquid, should I coat them and wipe off the excess and give it a shot to see how they work? I guess I could build up any areas with weld to create a slope if necessary. The backside of the molds look good 'cept for the cracks that didn't fill with weld from the front. I guess lead will find that tiny slit and hold on for dear life, won't it?
You boys gonna draw them pistols or whistle Dixie
NRA ENDOWMENT MEMBER
"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent fishing."
------Babylonian Proverb
fishnbob;
The Kroil might help but the real ticket is to build it so the ingots release cleanly. If you look closely at my post #33, you'll see how the "handles" slope just a bit to enable an easy release. You don't need to rust the mould, either.
Consider your first angle iron mould as a "learning tool". Make a couple of others and build on what you have learned (I never seem to be able to get things right the first time, but I am persistent). I seem to learn more from my mistakes that I do when things automatically go "right"....
FWIW
Dale53
Here is another pic of what Dale is refering to.
The angle is called "draft". Put a little draft in the ends and the ingots drop real easy.
another thing is to have the ends taller so when you flip it the ingots have some room to drop free.
Grab a tape measure and go to the local scrap yard. 3" wide channel iron is what Ive used in the past.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |