Poor Ingot Mould Choice

T

TXGunNut

New member
I gave up trying to find muffin pans at garage sales and bought a couple @ WallyWorld (their private "Mainstays" brand) to supplement my lonely Lyman ingot mould. First "ingot" with WW's went OK, didn't release especially well but that didn't stop me from trying three more with pure lead from stickons. Big mistake, knocked the cups out of the framework but the lead is stuck fast. They don't appear to be non-stick or aluminum but am thinking the recovery mission will involve tin snips and pliers. Suggestions?
 
Check antique shops and flea markets. Lots of cast iron muffin type pans around good for casting ingots. If you find an old original bar type mould for lead be prepared to pay plenty $$$ for it. I have reluctantly passed on several because of the prices asked.
 
I'm probably going to pony up the needed $ and buy another Lyman mould. I'm a low volume caster (and smelter) so only need one, maybe two more. I'm just trying to get the pure lead ingots out of the cup but not in any hurry, haven't even ordered my round ball moulds yet.
 
Have you tried re-melting it? Throw the whole thing into a melting pot. Once the lead melts, use some pliers or something and remove the "oversized gas check" from the mix. Flux it down good to remove any garbage left by the muffin pan and you should be good to go. Of course, this assumes you have a melting pot sufficiently large to do this in.
 
I'm thinking that could work, was thinking about casting a bit today anyway. Just hoping the cup doesn't reach it's melting point before the lead does. Don't think it will since it didn't melt when I filled it, just don't want to make another mistake.
Would like to find some cast iron muffin moulds but I'm a big fan of cast iron cookware. Probably wouldn't be able to use it for lead. :(
 
Had one oddball muffin pan do the same thing to me. turned it upside down and went to work on the bottoms of those cups with my framing hammer. Boy were they stubborn to let go. Was afraid the pan may have had tin in it and is why they stuck so badly. Didnt want it in my smelter. All of my really old muffin pans from thrift shops work fine. Bought some old ugly ones for about a quarter apiece and hit em with easy off oven cleaner after I heated them in an oven to around 250 degrees . Cleaned up real nice and polished them up a tad with an sos pad. Drops those lead biscuits like a charm. Wish my boolit molds would learn how to do that.:(
 
Just don't fill them as full and they won't stick. I have a stainless steel measuring cup I use as an ingot mould. Fill it full and you'll have trouble. Fill it halfway and they drop right out.
 
I bought some muffin tins at the dollar store that did the same thing. (it's especially bad if they are tinned)

I use 2.5 or 3 ounce stainless steel "condiment cups" for ingot molds. The ingots weight about 1.5 pounds each -- more when I cast soft lead. And the ingots knock right out.
 
I use 2.5 or 3 ounce stainless steel "condiment cups" for ingot molds. The ingots weight about 1.5 pounds each -- more when I cast soft lead. And the ingots knock right out.
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I completely forgot about those. They do work well. I don't use them because the ingots are hard to stack for storage.
 
I have the same problem as TXGunNut, I really like cooking with cast Iron so I am not sure I could bring my self to melt lead in it. In fact my neighbor who is a pip fitter at a new MFG plant going up near by is supposed to bring me a 8" pip about 12" tall. I will play with the height a little to see how tall I want it. I was hoping for a 16" diameter pip so that I could keep it shallow but beggers can't be choosers.
 
My outdoor kitchen on most hunting/camping trips consists of about 100 lbs of Lodge cast iron cookware. Some pieces get used at home as well. I can order a Lyman ingot mould for just a bit more than the Lodge, won't be tempted to cook with it either. :D Thanks for the link, tho. I don't have one of those. ;)
 
Last time I was at Cabela's I saw some cast iron serving pieces that looked like they would make great ingot molds -- but I was too cheap to pay $10 for it. The one that caught my eye would cast 3 rectangular ingots at a time, a little bigger and flatter than a large bar of soap. Something like that would probably be about 2 or 3 pounds of lead, should fit nicely in a 20# casting pot, and they'd stack well.
 
Sounds interesting. Like I need an excuse to go prowling around @ Cabelas. ;)
Peeled the cup off my ingots in pieces with pliers and tinsnips. If you must try this at home some heavy gloves are a great idea. Those edges are very sharp! :eek:
 
I bought an el cheapo 'mini muffin' pan at ChinaMart and it's worked very well. Flip it over, give it a tap and they all fall out. It has the teflon coating if that makes any difference.
 
The lyman type moulds make 1 lb+ ingots that feed nicely into the Lee electric bottom pour pots.They stack in a space efficient manner in an ammo can.For these reasons,I prefer the ingot mold.
 
I think I'm with you, HiBC. The cute little cornbread stick pan had me looking but I'm going to order a second Lyman for the reasons you mentioned. I stack some in the bottom of my safes for added security so space and easy stacking is a consideration.
 
If you are a welder or have a friend that is a welder, 1 1/2 inch angle iron makes a great ingot mould. You can make them whatever length you want and the ingots stack real nice. For less than $5 you can have a couple nice 4-ingot moulds.
 
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