ladle pouring first time

[cstrickland]

ok actually my second try. the first try I think the lead was too cool, and my tin content was low as I was having more defined fill out issues. I am using COWW with 1% additional tin ( 95/5 solder) just ran about 40 of each total. got about a 60% success rate



I am happy with the lee 155's, but the NOE 70 still need work. The mold is sweet its jus tthe guy operating it needs some more experience.

anyone see anything major i should be concerned with ? I am satisfied enough with these to powder coat the 25 or so of each I have, and run them down range.

[bangerjim]

They look good. Just remember to preheat your molds to casting temp (not just warm) B4 you start and you will drop perfect boolits the 1st time like magic!

Remember when PC'ing, you can coat frostys well too! It helps the PC stick even better from what I have found. And I have coated some wrinklies to just to test and the PC pretty much fills in! And the shoot great.

Cast 'em, PC 'em.....and shoot 'em!



banger

[cstrickland]

They look good. Just remember to preheat your molds to casting temp (not just warm) B4 you start and you will drop perfect boolits the 1st time like magic!

Remember when PC'ing, you can coat frostys well too! It helps the PC stick even better from what I have found. And I have coated some wrinklies to just to test and the PC pretty much fills in! And the shoot great.

Cast 'em, PC 'em.....and shoot 'em!
banger

yeah the 225 has some wrinkling, but I as you thought after i powder coat they should shot ok. we will find out. I hope to get the 155s PC's, and loaded in my 300 blk so I can shoot later in the week

I am casting over a two burner propane stove. I have the pot on one side, and an old circular saw blade on the other. I keep the molds on the blade to keep them heated. I am still dialing in how warm to get them. I need to get a laser thermometer, so I know where they are heat wise.

[Yodogsandman]

When ladle casting, one mold at a time would be all I could handle. That's the only way I could keep the mold heated up enough for when I've done it. I must be slow...I can only handle one at a time with bottom pour pots, too!

[cstrickland]

When ladle casting, one mold at a time would be all I could handle. That's the only way I could keep the mold heated up enough for when I've done it. I must be slow...I can only handle one at a time with bottom pour pots, too!

I am not too fast yet. I just switch after every 8-10 fills. so I run the 30 cal for 8-10 fills ( 2 cavity ) , then switch to the 225's ( four cavity)and run 5-6 fills. While I am using the opposite mold the other is on a hot plate staying warm. just practicing now. When I get the alloy and temp set, and am ready to run a few hundred at a time I will be running only one mold.

[35 shooter]

I bought a bottom pour lee pot when i first started casting so have always used it that way.
I bought an old used electric lyman ladle type pot about a month ago and ladle cast for the first time. I figured i would be all thumbs at it, but took to it like a duck to water. It really didn't take long to turn out a lot of boolits and the main difference i noticed was i didn't have to reject one single boolit for external voids. I always have a few voids when bottom pouring.
I'm kind of hooked on ladle casting now for sure.

Yours look good in the pic's. My NOE moulds do like to run hot. Pre heating the mould should get rid of the wrinkles for you.

[cstrickland]

I bought a bottom pour lee pot when i first started casting so have always used it that way.
I bought an old used electric lyman ladle type pot about a month ago and ladle cast for the first time. I figured i would be all thumbs at it, but took to it like a duck to water. It really didn't take long to turn out a lot of boolits and the main difference i noticed was i didn't have to reject one single boolit for external voids. I always have a few voids when bottom pouring.
I'm kind of hooked on ladle casting now for sure.

Yours look good in the pic's. My NOE moulds do like to run hot. Pre heating the mould should get rid of the wrinkles for you.

thanks 35shooter. yeah I just wanted to try casting on the cheap to see if I would even like it. The ladle, and a 1 quart pan from wally world, along with a two burner camp stove and I am making boolits. I am considering buying an electric pot in hopes of keeping the alloy a more consistent temp . I agree once I get the mold temp down i should be doing good. So far no voids just wrinkles. I weighed all the boolits I cast even the ones I rejected and all are within 1% of the mold weight, so I feel pretty good so far!!

[35 shooter]

The used pot i bought doesn't have a temp control on it although it is electric. I was having to set the mould aside to control casting temp with it. I was having so much fun with the ladle though, i'm going to buy a lee ladle pot with temp control. I can always use the old pot for smelting or mixing alloy for pouring ingots.

My ex father in law never used anything but an old lyman cast iron pot and a campstove and ladle. If the mould got too hot , he'd just touch the bottom to an old wet towel to cool it a bit, cut the stove down a bit and just keep on casting. He always made his own #2 alloy and his boolits were always perfect looking.
He just shook his head and laughed a bit when i bought my bottom pour pot. I'm enjoying doing it both ways now.

[TXGunNut]

My Lyman 1-2 moulds seem to prefer ladle pour, with a Lyman ladle no less. Better fill and more consistent diameter and weight, not sure why. All my Lee, NOE and other 4-6 cav moulds do just fine with bottom pour.

[44man]

All I use is a Lyman ladle. Bring the mold to 500* to start, need it even so the sprue plate is also hot. If the plate is too cold just play your propane torch around on it a little.
Hold the lade tight on the mold long enough to draw molten lead from the ladle to fill the boolit.
When you use two molds and get them both hot, go from one to another, set the first on a piece of oak while you cast the second. Don't use wood with resin.

[GhostHawk]

I don't try to alternate molds myself. Once you have a mold casting right just keep the rhythm going until you have as many as you want. I would typically cast 50 then another 10 so I can remove not perfect boolits and still have 50. Then preheat the next mold and do those.

I've cast for years with just a cast iron pan on the kitchen stove and a ladle. Started with .45 round balls for black powder, then branched into fishing sinkers. Learn to recognize when all is right, your in the groove and the silver stream is flowing.

[bangerjim]

yeah the 225 has some wrinkling, but I as you thought after i powder coat they should shot ok. we will find out. I hope to get the 155s PC's, and loaded in my 300 blk so I can shoot later in the week

I am casting over a two burner propane stove. I have the pot on one side, and an old circular saw blade on the other. I keep the molds on the blade to keep them heated. I am still dialing in how warm to get them. I need to get a laser thermometer, so I know where they are heat wise.

A "laser" IR thermometer will NOT work with molten lead or any shiny surface such as a mold. Don't waste your time and money.

banger

[cstrickland]

A "laser" IR thermometer will NOT work with molten lead or any shiny surface such as a mold. Don't waste your time and money.

banger

I knew it would not work on the alloy in the pot, but it wont pick up on the mold either ?? hmm i did not know that

[TXGunNut]

I get an approximate reading off a dark sprue plate, not as good as a probe but it tells me if I need to leave it on the hot plate awhile longer.

[44man]

I use the little oven made from an electrical box on my hot plate. I have a little BBQ thermometer in the top. I put the mold in and start the pot, go do other work, My first boolits will be perfect. Found the cheap hot plate had a thermal fuse and it quit so I eliminated the fuse. Yeah, I bypassed the safety and stay close to everything but it works fine.

[Colohunter]

I'm pretty new to casting as well. I found that with the Lee 309-230 I had to get the mold quite hot to get good casts. My Lee 45-200SWC heats up pretty quickly and casts well with some of the first few drops, but I found the long skinny bullets of the 309-230 seemed to require a number of drops before they started coming out smooth.

[Forgetful]

The sides of the electric pots should be about as hot as the liquid metal, so you could (while it is cold) tape off a small square section of the outside of the pot with masking tape and spray some ceramic paint, like the stuff used for spraypainting exhaust pipes. A laser will register just fine off this surface. Do the same with the side of your mold. Half-inch square should be good. Make sure you degrease the area you're spraypainting.

edit: this won't work on the encased electric pots, such as RCBS models. My lee bottom-pour is not encased. For the encased pots, maybe on the rim of the inner pot near/at the top would suffice. Looking at an RCBS pro melt, the rim around the top could have a little black ceramic paint square for lasering.

[bangerjim]

I knew it would not work on the alloy in the pot, but it wont pick up on the mold either ?? hmm i did not know that

Sprue plate MIGHT be close. If you want mold temp. get some BirchwoodCasey AluminumBlack and make a big black spot on the end or side. It is NOT paint, it works very well. I use it on some finicky molds. IR should be usable on steel molds.

banger