Frosted in the middle?

[101VooDoo]

Well, day two went much better than yesterday. This is the pre-quality check pic:




Getting a better idea of mold temperature control, and have been using a sponge to good effect. But I'm having a bit of an issue with one mould though, its a Saeco 441 and its frosting in the middle:



Tried cooling the bottom of the mould, but started getting wrinkles on the nose. I've been cooling the sprue plate every three pours or so (when I can keep count -CRS syndrome) and the base and nose have been great, but the middle is hot enough that its not filling out well.

Any suggestions?

Jim

[Blammer]

looks like you need to clean your mould again or pressure pour. Looks like most of your bands are not filling out, they are sort of rounded, not sharp and crisp.

If it's frosting in the middle, just hold the mould open for a few seconds longer to let it cool. I would also venture to say you're holding the sprue on the cooling pad too long. just a second or two is all you'll need.

[MtGun44]

"Hot enough that it is not filling out well" ??? - hot fills out well, cool does not.

Might need a touch of tin, but shoot some of the best ones. They will likely
surprise you how well they work. There are some pretty decent looking boolits
in the picture, but the wrinkled front bands and bad noses on some would
indicate dirty mold or still too cool. Scrub mold with Comet with an old toothbrush.

More heat! Until you get frosty boolits you are probably running the pot too cool.

Bill

[montana_charlie]

If the bullets in those pictures came from your second ever casting session, I have a suggestion.

Learn to cast good bullets.
Then start playing around with sponges and fans, and all of the other 'speed casting' paraphanalia and manipulations.

It looks to me like you are trying to run...but you haven't figured out how to stand up and walk, yet.

CM

[101VooDoo]

Yep second casting, tried the sponge because moulds got so hot yesterday the bases were all rounded and frosted like mad. Alloy is Hard Ball, temp was 650.

I did a few of these at the end of the morning, they're out of Mihec's 45-270 mold, at around 750. I had to keep bumping the temp up to get the wrinkles to stop. Finally got a few good ones at the end, but by that time I was worn out and it was getting hot outside.



Guess I'm just going to fast? Maybe a higher pot temp and a slower pace? The saeco 4-bangers sure get hot a whole lot faster than the 2-cavity brass mould.

Jim

[mooman76]

Try starting out at a hotter temp to get your mould temp up quicker and once you get it hot enough you can cut back on the heat some. You shouldn't have to cast slower to keep going. I cast as fast of a pace as I can get going. Practice is all you need.

[stephenj]

im not sure but in the pic it looks like a few of the bullets have a hole or dimple in the base if there is you may be dropping them from the mold to soon , and i dont know others theory's about frosted bullets but my expeariance has been that they shoot just as good as the shiny ones do , most of the bullets i cast now are for bpcr and are a 1/20 lead tin alloy never had any frosted bullets with it , when i first started casting it was with mostly wheel weight and it sure seemed that the slightly frosted bullets had the best fill out and most consistant weights , but the only time ive ever had any bullets that was only partialy frosted was at the start of a casting session before the mold was at a proper temp

[Doc Highwall]

You have to control both the alloy temperature and the mould temperature. The alloy is controlled with the pot and thermometer and the mould is controlled by the cadence of your casting speed.

[lwknight]

A little frosting does not hurt anything but , if you must have perfectly beutiful boolits:
Try slowing the cadence a little rather than sponging the mold.

[MtGun44]

Sounds like your latest session ended just as you finally got the temp up high enough
and started casting good boolits.

Again, hotter is better as a general rule and you seem to have problems that are related
to being too cool, not too hot.

Until you get frosted boolits you are not too hot. I LIKE frosted boolits, they fill out the
mold well and shoot just fine. I can't quite figure out why some folks seem to think that
frosted boolits are somehow a problem.

More heat and cast faster. Only when the boolits are damaged hitting the towel or
there is serious tearout at the sprue should you slow down and let the metal cool longer.

Bill

[303Guy]

Would this be an alloy issue - need a bit more tin perhaps? I've had an alloy mix cast very poorly and with a little guesswork alloy adjustments, got it to cast much better. Frosting seems to be alloy related too and does not seem to be a problem but alloys that frost easily also seem to cast with rounded edges easily. That might not be a general rule - just an impression I get.

[WHITETAIL]

I agree with what has been said.

1 clean the mould again.

2 set the pot at a higher temp.

3 start out slow and watch what comes out .

4 when you get a good boolit then just pour and
keep going.

[101VooDoo]

I agree with what has been said.

1 clean the mould again.

2 set the pot at a higher temp.

3 start out slow and watch what comes out .

4 when you get a good boolit then just pour and
keep going.

Sounds like that encapsulates most of the suggestions, I'll give it a try.

Thanks everybody -

Jim

[Blammer]

too bad we can't just sum it up on the first post.

[Wayne Smith]

Make sure you are clear on the difference between mold temp and alloy temp. Your alloy can be up to temp when the mold isn't. That appears to be your problem, inadequate pre-heating of the mold. I set mine on a hotplate and get them at least 300 degrees while my lead is melting. I'm getting slow cooling of the sprue from the first pour when I do this - almost no throwaways.

I agree with Montana Charlie, experience is the best way to know what's going on in your mold while you are casting. The more you complicate the mold temp the less predictable it is. The more you leave it at a constant or linear process the easier it is to learn. Even with the best advice and process in the world the learning process cannot be made quicker. We can only help you understand what you are seeing. The more linear the temps are the easier it is for us to do that.

[canyon-ghost]

That's the rundown. Turn the heat up, get it to pouring good bullets. Don't fuss about frosted boolits, they still shoot. I don't even have temperature control and I can show you photos of 500 lots of frostys that shoot great. Skip the frosted worries.
To be absolutely honest, I use a Lyman mini-mag, tiny 10# pot. I have a very small setup and all two cavity molds.

My frosty bullets shoot to 100 meters that good in 32-20, and my 9mm hollowpoints look like this.

Don't worry about appearance too much until you get the rhythm down. Set up and pour for a half day sometime just to get the hang of it. Just keep the faith, pretty bullets look all shiny on a website, they gotta perform though!

Hope that helps,
Ron