How to get good drops fast.

A

A pause for the COZ

New member
When I first started casting, the hardest part to figure out was getting proper mold temp.
Spent allot of time tweeking my melt try to get rid of the waves out of my bullets.
Turns out 80% of casting problems are related to mold temp. Well at least they were for me.

Found a fool proof way ( I know I qualify) to insure my molds and melt are ready at the same time.

If you have not done it yet, grab your self a cheap hot plate off Ebay, Hardware store where Ever. I added a old saw blade to give a even surface for the molds to sit on.

When I get ready to cast. I set the molds I plan to use that day on the hot plate, Put my ingots into the pot. Plug them both in and go do some thing else for 30 minutes.

When I come back, Throw some saw dust in the pot to clean up the melt.
Bam!!! Start casting. Very rare if I do not get lube ready bullets on the first drop.

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Nice looking boolits. Are you using Lee molds? Read an article that said too much heat could warp the blocks, but if you're doing this with Lee's or other aluminum molds I guess it must be OK. Like I said in the other thread, I'm new to this, but willing to try almost anything once.
 
Sure, pre-heating the mold helps. I generally just put my mold on top of the pot while the ingots are melting. When I come back later, the mold is already heated by the excess heat from the melter.
 
Yea I use it with LEE molds or any others I have. I set the temp at 1/2 and that seems to be about right. Also keeps the molds waiting to be used heated up and ready. Just grab and start dropping.
 
Sssshhhh man your lettin all tha secrets out....:eek:

Definitely use the hot plate. Learned that one right off the bat. Of course my first hot plate was a griddle, but hey it let me put more on it at once. It also works better than Mama's stove top when I decide to melt up some lube sticks or cook up some more 45/45/10.:rolleyes:

Now I have one that has two round burners on it. I use the one best suited to what molds I am working with. The small one is great for the 4 cavity MP's and such and the bigger one is better for the 6 cavity ones.

I started off working the temp up a little at a time until I found the sweet spot for each side with either brass or aluminum molds. Then I took a paint pen and put a red mark on it for brass and a white one for aluminum. This way I know just where to set it and they will be ready when the alloy is.
 
'S OK, Mike - I'll never tell. Thanks for trusting us with another "silver metal" mystery. Speaking of momma - my doing any kind of "gun stuff" on the wife's stove COULD result in homicide and I'm not ready for that. I'm still trying to convince her that all the money I spend on casting equipment will result in huge saving down the road.
 
Read an article that said too much heat could warp the blocks, but if you're doing this with Lee's or other aluminum molds I guess it must be OK. Like I said in the other thread, I'm new to this, but willing to try almost anything once.
Click to expand...

What warps any metal is uneven heat. Heat causes expansion of the metal, if it isn't spread to all parts of the mold at once, it'll cause the mold to warp. Most of the time, it will return to form after the heat is removed.

As Coz said, an old saw blade on the coils spreads the heat around, preventing hot spots on the mold.

I second the motion Coz, nice looking boolits!
 
I agree on a hot plate being a very handy piece of equipment. It really does help make "keepers" within just a couple of pours.

Awesome looking bullets too! :D
 
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