can you tell me why

1

1chig

New member
can you tell me why my bullets are comming out this way, my pot and mold are hot, i have been fluxing and sturing and my mold is clean. I poored 100 the other day and they came out perfect , poored these from same pot,about a 100, all looked like this ???
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your not pouring directly into the hole are you?? sometimes my lee molds will do that when you pour into the hole instead of off to the side where the bevel is...whatever that is called.
 
It definitely looks like there is air bubbles getting in. Try not to let air to stay in the mold. Tapping or vibrating the mold during the pouring process normally takes care of it.
 
DIRT! As in dross or other type of dirt that's trapped under the lead, flowing out with the stream into the mold. You'll have to do some serious scrapping while fluxing to get it knocked loose from the sides and bottom of the pot. Once you disturb it while scrapping, it'll float out to be skimmed off.

Tapping or vibrating the mold during the pouring process normally takes care of it.
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You most definitely do NOT want any vibration of a mold that's being filled with molten lead. Vibration will cause the lead to move away from the inside surfaces of the mold,(as it cools/hardens), causing undersized bullets. Air being trapped in a mold is caused by blocked air vents, or undersized vents. Undersized vent lines can be fixed by deepening them with a scribe or engraving tool. Poor fill-out of bullet bases is caused by a too tight sprue plate.
 
Snuffy hit the nail on the head. Fluxing will help. I flux right before I begin casting...and you kinda get a feel for when you need to flux again. I am kinda bad....I may cast for an hour before fluxing again. As long as they are comin out nice, I don't flux. Good luck!
 
fluxing

Iv been fluxing Maybie not enough, i use lead free welders flux, about the size of a pea, is this enough, or do i need more, or a different kind of flux ? I also have been adding some old boolits with lube on them, figured that would act as flux also.
 
crap! I have been using Oaty#5 lead free solder paste to flux with. I just read th back of the can, its lead free but contains Zinc Chloride, Is this going to hurt anything , what do i do?
 
I believe an old paint stirring stick would be better than what you are putting in the smelt, or wood shavings, ie, sawdust. I ran out of lead flux one time and thinking just any old flux would work, went down to welding supply store and picked up a can of solder flux. Big mistake. Popped all over the place. don't know what's in there, but lead didn't like it.

Many use chunks of wood to clarify the smelt. I never liked the smoke, as my Buck Beaver flux is pretty much smokeless. A simple remedy would be to change flux, and/or flux more i fusing the correct flux.
 
I flux with sawdust let it turn kinda black before i stir it in and then skim it off. Sometimes it possible that you can over flux and remove to much of the tin in your alloy and cause fill out problems and as mentioned it could also be trash in your melt.

What temp are your running your pot at?
 
Heres what i would do if I were you. Keep casting boolits, loading them, and shooting them. The boolits in the picture have some flaws, but they will still shoot great. Don't flux with your welders flux...instead use a DRY stick, paint stirer, or a small dob of bullet lube (solid stuff, NOT Lee Liquid Alox), etc. Good luck!
 
Fluxing too much??? Tin removal

Now that this was brought up, I am curious myself. Concerning the fluxing too much and the purported removal of the alloyed tin in the pot. If tin is truly an alloy, how could it be removed by the flux? I'm still on a learning curve too after 35 years.
 
Sometimes it possible that you can over flux and remove too much of the TIN in your alloy and cause fill out problems and as mentioned it could also be trash in your melt.
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Not possible! In fact, the reason we flux is to RETURN tin to the molten alloy, along with lead and antimony that have oxidized. But because tin melts at a much lower temp, it oxidizes at a much higher rate than lead or antimony. This does not mean that tin separates or floats up from lead alloy that has tin in it.

Any time the alloy is above about 725 degrees, you will see tin oxidizing on the surface of the melt. It will still oxidize below that, but not so as to cause problems. A lead-tin-antimony alloy should not be above that temp to make good bullets. If you don't have a thermometer, you don't know the temp. The numbers on the dial on the lee pots simply means the percentage of time the heater element is on. 7 means 70% on, 30% off.
 
Maybe I didn't state that right,someday's my brain and my fingers don't always agree,I was wondering if it was possible he was running his melt to hot causing excessive oxidation or possibly skimming some of the oxidized Tin off the top before it was incorporated back into the melt.

I generally only need to flux once per pot and only again after adding more metal to the pot. I generally stir it in well and leave it in the pot til it's half empty. Glen Fryxell recommended doing it that way and so far I've cast great bullets doing it that way.
 
I was wondering if it was possible he was running his melt too hot causing excessive oxidation or possibly skimming some of the oxidized Tin off the top before it was incorporated back into the melt.
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That's better. A way to stall, slow down the oxidation of the tin is to leave burnt saw dust on the surface of the melt. This insulates the surface of the melt from the oxygen in the atmosphere, greatly reducing the formation of any oxides. Some use kitty litter, which just insulates, but does nothing for fluxing. The carbon in the burnt sawdust is an excellent flux.

This ONLY works IF you're using a bottom pour pot. Ladle casting wouldn't work too well, you have to constantly dip the ladle below the surface of the melt. This disturbs the melt, so you see the formation of the oxides much faster.

1chig, the best thing to do is completely empty the pot, clean it out real good. Get that powdery residue off/out, then only use clean ingots when you re-fill.
 
weired question

i heard somewhere, that you could use toilet bowl ring wax to flux with, is this true or should i stick with the wood.
 
I've heard bee spit will work too if you can collect enough bees and get them all to spit in a glass. Oh, wait, that's what wax is. Stool wax ring, candle, or other purchased wax I would think is all the same. Stool wax ring maybe gonna have something additional in it to make it softer. Also some candles are being made from soybean oil. Is this a case where wax is wax is wax. Keep on postin' guys, I'm still learnin'.

p.s. I have used old candles for many years, but since I now cast in the boss' garage, she don't care for the smoke it makes sometimes before the fire gets lit, so I went to Buck Beaver flux that I also learned about on here or maybe the high road.
 
1chig

I bet ya add sprue cuttings as ya go ??? !!

They pull the oxidized top layer of tin into the melt & dross , dirt or whatever is floating on top .

Each time ya add something to the pot flux & stir , I personally like parraffin wax for fluxing in the casting pot , be aware that it`ll ignite on it`s own & make ya jump a little ( not good with a spoon full of hot lead).

After fluxing I sprinkle a little sawdust over the top , hard to do on a ladle job though .

& pour a little slower if ya pour directly in the sprue plate hole so air can have time to escape.

Of the 4 bullets ya have in the pic I mite cull the 1 with the imperfect lower band the rest are shooters .
 
ok guys, thanks (AGAIN) for all the great help. I think i might be a little picky;) with what i am kulling and what im not thanks again:o
 
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