Doh!

[Brad]

Ever had one of those moments?

I was casting some bullets for the 44 mag and started to notice the alloy was getting grainy in the ladle. What the hell? Looked at the PID and it was off!

At some point I managed to hit the on/off switch on the PID and turned it off. Once it came back up the alloy was down to below 600 degrees.

Will be interesting to see how consistant the weights are.....

 

[KeithB]

I haven't shut a pot off by accident. I have, however, left one turned ON by accident!

 

[KHornet]

As the lettering on the pregnant ladies shirt said "Poo Poo occurs"!

 

[Brad]

Keith, I am anal as all get out about leaving stuff plugged in. I check at least a couple times when done. I won't leave the house until I check again if I cast that day.

 

[fiver]

well..
you'll get to learn about temp/density/diameter interface now.

 

[freebullet]

Hmm, even with sweet fancy tools the human factor still rules.

 

[Rick]

Hmm, even with sweet fancy tools the human factor still rules.

Yeah and the Brad factor too.
.

 

[Brad]

I measured about 20 of them. Some early in run, some alter once alloy was cooling. All measured between .4335 and .4328.
I weighed over 30 with a high of 284.7 and a low of 283.6. They are all within .5%, no complaints from me.

I was shocked that they came out that consistant with a temp drop like that.

 

[Rick]

Would be an interesting and I think worthwhile test to do the same thing bottom pouring and see what difference there may be. It's possible that an experienced ladle caster kept things fairly consistent by keeping an eye on sprue temp and what was coming out of the mold.

 

[Brad]

The ladle also helps keep mould temp up because so much extra heat is poured into the mould.
I don't think a bottom pour would do near as well. I know I didn't do as well with mine even with the pot staying on.

I agree that paying attention to what you are seeing makes a difference. I never noticed a change in how long the sprue took to harden. I did see a few bullets with minor flaws on drive bands as it cooled but they were very minor. What caught my eye was the slush beginning to form on the surfaces of the ladle.

 

[fiver]

stupid mold temp.

 

[Brad]

stupid mold temp.

It is what really matters. If we could get a PID to control mould temp the way it can control pot temp we would have it made.

 

[Rick]

it is probably the single most important thing and what new casters have the biggest problems with. Mostly new casters try to get mold temp correct by ever increasing pot temps which is a backwards approach. Most molds will cast best somewhere around 400 degrees, a pot temp of 700 is 300 degrees over that and easily enough heat to keep the mold running perfectly or even to over heat the mold. Higher pot temps isn't the answer, the correct mold temp is the key to good bullets.

 

[Brad]

And if the mould isn't hot enough then cast faster. Casting tempo controls mould temp.

I use the ladle and a small fan to help too.

 

[fiver]

mold temp and air venting.
the rest is just another way of saying/doing that.

 

[Rally Hess]

Your not alone Brad. I ran 15 pieces of .30-06 through my M die, with the wrong size expander in it today. I'd used it last on some .32-20's. The .310 sized bullets were real easy to start after going through the .311 - .315. Oops.