Ingot mold

[carpetman]

Fancy this a boolit casting board and not one post about equipment. I'll kick it off with a real technical question. Once I get my wheelweights melted down,what could I use for an ingot mold? Anybody have any creative ideas?

[wills]

Trapdoor84 builds his own out of angle iron

[Willbird]

I like the Lodge Corn bread skillet, I grabbed (3) of them off ebay for 3-5 bucks each plus shipping.

also the popover pans as they are called that have 4-6 steel cups welded to wire frames work great, I also got (4) of them off ebay for 31.00 shipped, the one I have already(got at goodwill) throws 4lb ingots, the ones I bought will throw 3lbs I'm guessing.

avoid two piece muffin tins like the plague, the unit is not stiff enough, it is a shame but most are made that way now.

If you want to add liquid metal from a saucepan on a hot plate to your casting pot your going to want 3-4 lb ingots I think, or at least they will not be a detriment to the process.

Bill

[C1PNR]

I claim no credit for the following, it's from BruceB and just makes a LOT of sense to me.

Lead Ingot Idea - BruceB
I'll admit to being cheap, but my ingot moulds are NOT inefficient!

My friends in the shop at the mine used four pieces of 1.5" angle-iron 10.5" in length, and welded them side-by-side like this: VVVV. A piece of flat stock was welded across each end of the "troughs." A handle made of narrower flat stock was welded to each of the end pieces for ease of handling. ALL welds should be on the OUTSIDE to allow easier release of the ingots.

Why 10.5 " in length??? Because at that particular length, they leave a finger's space at the end of the ingots in the .50-cal ammo cans which I use to store them. They stack so tightly, being triangular in section, that it's often impossible to scrabble one loose from the pile if you can't lift an end. A .50 can holds over 100 pounds of ingots, and this is a convenient size to use as a "lot" of alloy for control purposes. BTW, each ingot weighs around three pounds.

NOTE TO SELF: Need to measure what a 2” angle would be like.

[anachronism]

Empty pop cans. Cut the top off, rinse well and allow to dry thoroughly, for the obvious reason. Set the cans on a board, and pour in the desired amount of alloy. The paint will burn off the can, but that's about it. Allow to cool overnight, then peel the aluminum off with a pair of pliers. You can even recycle the aluminum if you're frugal.

Bob

[imashooter2]

I use a combination of welded angle iron, commercial ingot molds and iron corn bread molds. Actually, I don't use the angle iron much... I find small ingots work easier in my 10 pound Lee pot.

[Gussy]

I have 2 types, one out of welded angle as others have said and on out of channel iron. The angle cools faster.

If you want to get fancy, engrave a carrage bolt head with alloy you're putting into ingots and put it through a hole on the back side of the mould. A permanent mark will then be in each ingot. I have marks ground in the moulds which allow some ID.
Gus

[carpetman]

Gussy--That permanent mark on the ingot made from a carriage bolt disappeared when I melted the ingot---did I do something wrong?

[Gussy]

My guess is when you threw the cat in it disturbed the surface tension enough to cause some boiling and this probably caused the loss. When you empty the pot (if the cat didn't when he was circling the pot rim looking for a way out) see if it fell to the bottom. You may have put the ingot in upside down. I only do this when I'm planning on loading the bullet backwards so it will shoot slower.
Gus

[Wapo]

I use the bread stick pans too. The cast iron ones are best.
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/wapo3030/gold.jpg
The pan will make 12-2 lb. ingots using pure lead. A wee lighter
in WW. Makes for nice loading into the pot.

[beagle]

Hey carpet.... I'm like most of these guys. I use cast iron cornbread moulds, muffin tins, and the standard Lyman and RCBS ingot moulds.

Now, what I'm really looking for is a mould like the print shops use to cast lino in for reuse. Must be about 2 X 2 X 10 and casts a bar that looks to weigh about 5 pounds.

I get tired of moving all those dinky ingots around.

I have one olf Pacific ingot mould that casts one that is about half the size of a Lyman bar. Works good for lino and tin. Gets it down into workable quantities.

Anyone see one of the lino moulds on the Bay, tip me off./beagle

[beagle]

Gussy...Carpet will never learn that you're suppose to "bronze" cats and use the lead for bullets.

The bronze ones have better resale value.

Boy won't ever learn./beagle

[carpetman]

Gussy---I fully understand your thinking that the permanent mark from the carriage bolt might sink to the bottom. The lead is compressed from the dimple thus the compaction would make it weigh more and thus sink. Very good logic. But sometimes what seems logical doesnt work in reality. I must warn you. If you go looking in the bottom of the pot for that mark. Groan. I hate to say it. You will miss carriage.

[44 WCF]

I bought old aluminum fruit cake pans at a thrift shop for a quarter each. Each yield about 7 lbs in size that fits just right in my RCBS melt pot.
I since saw same at Wal Mart, metal for about 2 bucks each. I bought two of those. With 7 pans now I can smelt almost 50 lbs finished WW without having to handle until cool. and they fit right in my RCBS pot.
I wasn't sure about the non stick of the new pans being toxic with contact with molten lead, (teflon melting?) so was careful but did not detect any fumes, but kept upwind just to be sure.

For my Magma Caster ingots I use aluminum ice cube trays from thrift shop also with yield 18 lbs

[Oldfeller]

Heck, I use cheap small cavity aluminum muffin tins sprayed with Pam vegetable oil anti-stick spray -- I use standard casting gloves to flip the pans over after the lead congeals and cools a bit, this keeps from tearing the tins up like a pair of pliers would do.

Aluminum muffin tins are cheap, don't cha know ? Work just fine and you can always find a spare set to "permanently borrow" stored under the kitchen cabinets .....

Oldfeller

[NVcurmudgeon]

Carpetman, I use my rare LYMAZ (Z represents backwards N) ingot mould exclusively. Lately I have felt the need of a second mould. Naturally I want to have another real ingot mould, because I know the former moderator on the old Shooters board took a dim view of makeshifts. I have made three attempts to order an RCBS mould from Midway, each time using the ingot mould as a fill in to make up the minimum order. without fail Midway would be unable to deliver my whole order, so I would cancel and buy everything locally, except for the unobtainable ingot mould. I am beginning to believe that there is a demon possessing LYMAZ ingot moulds, causing them to resent the presence of other brands. I'm sure the LYMAZ could be exorcised by filling it while the mould is rotating backwards on a digronificated turntable, but then the L would be backwards. No wonder some casters use such alternate ingot moulds as cornbread moulds, Coke cans, and angle iron. It's not their fault, the devil made them do it! curmudgeon

[carpetman]

Curmudgeon--The former moderator on the old Shooters site had no aversion to makeshift ingot molds. Really enjoyed the hilariousness of the situation though,atleast his perception of the hilariousness of it. The subject would come up very frequently. Most times it would result in a whole bunch of posts on the subject. All types of creative ideas. I once had some muffin pan ingots,that were not as handy to use. They weren't as easy to add to my melting pot and didnt stack as well. I no longer stack ingots,I place them in a plastic bucket--so that part doesnt matter now. Using muffin pans,seems people are in constant search as they do have to replace them. Oldfeller uses Pam on the muffin pan,an expense even though it may be a small one you don't have using an ingot mold. Using aluminum cans has a couple of drawbacks in my books. You have to cut the top off. You have the danger of moisture still being in it. You need pliers to peel off the can. If poured too thick,they wouldnt add to the pot very easily and would be hard to grasp with pliers to add them. Using my LYMAZ(as you know,I too have the Lyman with backwards N) I think the 4 ingots weigh around ten pounds. There is a lip on the mold for using pliers to dump it. The wait between filling it and dumping it is very short and ready for ten more pounds. I find the ingots very easy to use. Easily use pliers to add them to the pot and they fit right in. All in all we are talking a $15 item or less. I bought mine used in 1967 and it's as good as ever. I do enjoy reading about all the other alternatives.

[nighthunter]

Beagle .... I might be able to help you with the larger ingot mold. I work in the glass industry and the machines use a series of long cast iron and aluminum troughs and deflectors to deliver the glass gob to the mold in the forming machine. We throw many of the used or damaged ones into the recycle bin outback of the shop. With some of these you could pour a 10 foot long ingot. they very in length and width. A person could easily cut some to the desired size and weld a cap on each end. I've been planning on doing it myself as I have 8 5 gallon buckets of WW to process when it gets nice enough to be outside for a few hours. Let me know what you think and I'll see what I can come up with.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Carpetman, If your LYMAZ ingot mould make ten lb. of ingotd per filling you must be using a Texas Bureau of Standards Certified Scale. Mine make four ten lb. ingots. curmudgeon

[carpetman]

NVCurmudgeon----Was thinking that thick LYMAZ ingots weighed about 2.5 lbs??? Seems like I emptied my 10 lbd cast iron pot when I filled it. Been awhile and I never had need to weigh the ingots.