Bottom pour pot drippings

BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
Hello Everyone,

My first post here...

I just watched one of the videos posted by one of the members here and noticed he complained about the drips from the bottom of the pot. I have a great solution for that but I’m going to back up to tell you how I got here...

I just recently started powder coating my cast bullets. I bought a two pack of silicone baking sheets to use but had to cut about 5 inches off the sheet for it to fit in my toaster oven. After continuously removing the lead from the base under my casting pot one day it finally dawned on me to use the 5inch piece of silicone sheet under the pot to catch the lead. The pot still drips but now I can remove it with zero fuss and super fast. Literally brush it out of the way or slide the sheet to an undripped on area. Now my casting sessions are much less swearing sessions.

About the paint. I bought a pound of Ford blue from Eastwood and the bullets turned out flawless with it. Can’t say I’m a fan of the color though so I was getting a little low and restocked with some different colors (Eastwood). I purchased a pound of gloss black and periwinkle gray. It was the cheapest they had and well, I’m cheap. I quickly found the black wasn’t as “powderly” as the ford blue and it “clumped” on the bullets. So, I mixed it with the blue (also with the periwinkle gray) 1 part black to 2 parts of the other. Now the paint is a better consistency with no clumping and black and blue made for stunning looking bullets. Black and gray look good but not as nice as the black/blue.

Anyways, I cast and painted a lot of bullets but have only shot a few so the jury is still out on theIr performance.

So, with all that said, silicone baking sheet under the post saves a lot of frustration.

Bryan
 
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Spindrift

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Welcome from Norway! Neat trick with the baking sheet. I also had trouble with the gloss, black by the way.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Welcome !

Been trying to convince me that I need a drip o matic if for no other reason than to pre load and sprue return for the ladle pot .
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Welcome, Bryan!

It's not the drips that get me, it's the splatters. Sometimes the splats get me in the face so I make a habit of raking off the coins into the tin pie plate in front of the elevated pot after each pour while I'm waiting for the pot to cool.

The jury has reached a verdict on PC. It is awesome of done correctly and is likely the single biggest step forward in cast bullet technology since the discovery of antimony and the invention of the gas check, particularly if you have wild temperature swings where you hunt and need that first shot to hit in the group, or shoot a lot through suppressors and gas-operated automatics.

My quest for speed and accuracy with powder-coated cast bullets

Sometimes the internet is wonderful, sometimes near useless, it all depends on what you're looking for and what's already been done and posted. With regard to getting good accuracy with powder-coated cast rifle bullets at normal copper-jacketed speeds, the reports are fair to dismal and only a...
www.artfulbullet.com www.artfulbullet.com
 
BBerguson

BBerguson

Official Pennsyltuckian
Thanks for all the welcomes, seems like a nice forum with lots of great information. I should add that I’ve been standing the bullets on their bases when they go into the oven. Makes for a near perfect finish. Yes, a little time consuming but I think the results are worth it.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I grew weary of drip and stuff on the bench where I rest the mould for cooling after ladle pouring. My solution was to place a small piece of 1/8” steel there. The lead cleans off the steel far easier than it does the wooden bench.
 
W

Walks

Well-Known Member
Welcome aboard.

I use a cast iron ingot mold under my electric pots. It's not to catch drips from my pots, but rather run off from the sprue plates. My pots don't drip.
A Lyman Mag-20 and RCBS Pro-Melt.
When I finish a casting session, I empty the pot and clean the entire system. It may be a pitb. But I don't have a drip problem.
And I can start with whatever alloy I want.

I rest my molds to cool on the sheet of plywood that's clamped to the picnic table top. The front edge of the mold is on the plywood sheet. The back edge on a 1"×2" fastened to the back edge of the plywood.
I use 2-3 molds at a time. There is enough cooling time between fills for the sprues to harden, but not for the mold to lose heat. Maintaining a casting rythem keeps the molds at an even temp.
 
trapper9260

trapper9260

Active Member
I do put my pot ,no matter if it is bottom pour or pot to use a ladle, I use a aluminum cookie sheet .Nothing stick to it and easy to clean off. I got it years ago from a locker that had thrown it out.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I am another (like Walks) that uses a Lyman 1# ingot mould to catch drips and sprue runoff under my down-spout. The RCBS ProMelt (V.1.0) doesn't make stalagmites nearly as comprehensively as the Lee bottom-pour pots can. In some ways, I miss those old days of stalagmite-making.
 
D

Dusty Bannister

Well-Known Member
Knowing I will never completely cure the drips from Bottom Pour pots, I decided to make a drip shield and place it under the nozzle. With the Pro 4-20 mold rest at the comfortable height above the base, there is plenty of room for a short metal can that might have contained cat food or tuna. I cut a 1" diameter hole in the middle of the bottom of the can after the top had been removed. Smooth the edges and apply something to prevent the lead from sticking to the surface. Place the can, bottom up under the nozzle of the pot. Drips fall into the can and no splatter to get out. When the splatter column gets tall enough that splatter can get out, grip the edge of the can with pliers, drag the contents to the edge of the base and drop into the sprue pan. Center the can under the nozzle and continue.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
I have two LEE 4-20 pots, a bottom pour and a ladle pot. My cure for the LEE drip-o-matic is to plug it and ladle cast. I prefer to ladle cast anyway and I'm tired of messing with it.. I have not been using the bottom pour pot, but I'm cleaning it up so I can keep a different alloy handy and not have to empty the pot before changing alloy.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
No drips, when ladle casting. I use a corrugated silicon baking sheet, in a metal cookie baking tray, as my bullet dump.
 
H

HHD WV

Member
Ian said:
Welcome, Bryan!

It's not the drips that get me, it's the splatters. Sometimes the splats get me in the face so I make a habit of raking off the coins into the tin pie plate in front of the elevated pot after each pour while I'm waiting for the pot to cool.

The jury has reached a verdict on PC. It is awesome of done correctly and is likely the single biggest step forward in cast bullet technology since the discovery of antimony and the invention of the gas check, particularly if you have wild temperature swings where you hunt and need that first shot to hit in the group, or shoot a lot through suppressors and gas-operated automatics.

My quest for speed and accuracy with powder-coated cast bullets

Sometimes the internet is wonderful, sometimes near useless, it all depends on what you're looking for and what's already been done and posted. With regard to getting good accuracy with powder-coated cast rifle bullets at normal copper-jacketed speeds, the reports are fair to dismal and only a...
www.artfulbullet.com www.artfulbullet.com
Click to expand...
Hello everyone. I have a master pot so my solution may not work for all others. I use an aluminum (tinfoil) pan measuring 1.5” by 4” by 6” under my pot shelf. Catches the splatters very well. Harles
 
Mike W1

Mike W1

Active Member
My system evolved over time. Started with a wood block to get the right clearance for my molds and a piece of aluminum with a bent edge for easy sweeping into the removeable catch box. Another bent piece fits over that for the clearance for the slimmer Lee molds. To get additional weight onto the valve rod a 1/4x20 bolt was brazed on. Piece of cold rolled steel tapped for that bolt along with tapped holes in the sides. Pipe couplings bolted into that steel and they're poured full of lead and bolted on. Also make a handier handle than picking up a screwdriver for the old slot to give things a twist. Bending the tip of the valve rod mates things up better. Some days I get small drips, some not, but it's definitely better tan it used to be.
Lee Mold Riser.JPG
Rod-1.JPG

Bend Rod.jpg
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
I still wonder why no one makes shot with the drips .
1/4" hole under the spout in the base and either drill the bench or overhang to a funnel or other low angle tube into a water bath . Obviously getting perfect shot would take a little tinkering , but the idea is to keep it recovered and back into the pot .

I don't know if a second floor balcony would be high enough for a straight drop , probably not . So you'd have to adapt some sort of gyroscopic capture to keep it round .

Just a thought to tinker with . It'd probably be something between #2 and B .
 
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