Casting mistakes

James W. Miner

Active Member
Only two. I had too large a hunk of lead in the pot on the driveway. it tipped and ruined a lot of asphalt.
The first was when young, we cast ingots at the kitchen stove. Dipped a huge ladle in water to cool faster. I told my friend to just cool and no more but he went too far and got the cast iron ladle wet. He dipped it and it exploded to spray me with lead. I peeled lead off my arm and ran to the tub to run cold water over my arm for a long time. I never got a blister and have no scar.
If you meet the tinsel fairy, get to cold water fast.
NO a drop of sweat will not do anything or even some water. It boils away. Do not stick water under the surface of lead.
 

williamwaco

Active Member
Only two. I had too large a hunk of lead in the pot on the driveway. it tipped and ruined a lot of asphalt.
The first was when young, we cast ingots at the kitchen stove. Dipped a huge ladle in water to cool faster. I told my friend to just cool and no more but he went too far and got the cast iron ladle wet. He dipped it and it exploded to spray me with lead. I peeled lead off my arm and ran to the tub to run cold water over my arm for a long time. I never got a blister and have no scar.
If you meet the tinsel fairy, get to cold water fast.
NO a drop of sweat will not do anything or even some water. It boils away. Do not stick water under the surface of lead.


That is the key!
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I don't mean to get off subject, but I have purposely tried to induce a steam explosion years back, when the idea that a random drop of sweat or rain drop or bug doing a kamikazee into the melt would cause death and agony and all that. The only way I can see it happening is if the object gets beneath the surface of the alloy and remains there. Water hitting the surface will flash off. Yes, if you ran a hose with a god solid stream into the melt you could do it. But an errant drop of sweat? I will just say that I couldn't get an eyedropper full of water to do anything but flash off. That's not to say you should ignore the outside chance, but I have a feeling the steam explosions people report might be the odd loaded 22 round, primer or moisture in a cavity in an ingot.

Mistakes? Buying into the "HARDCAST" hype, Midways mould release, not taking care of problems with Lees right off quick and scoring the top surface, causing said problem by not waiting for the sprue to really cool, not understanding the difference between a hot pot and hot mould and that moud temp is controlled by casting tempo, not writing down everything I figure out so that next time I have to re-discover it all over again. That's the biggest time waster.
 

James W. Miner

Active Member
Having made most of my own molds, I found the swirls from an end mill on the mold top and bottom of the sprue plate make perfect vents. I also break the top, inner edge for perfect bases.
I find nothing different with the casting with any mold, steel, aluminum but the big brass molds need to be hotter. A little Leementing is needed with Lee but once done, they work fine.
Do not lap sprue plates, no way to keep them flat. All I have tried needed milled again. Just remove any burrs and round edges nice and smooth.
I make my plates from scrap stainless, thick and a countersink will eat itself to death so I have to mount my plates to a face plate and cut the taper for each cavity. I had to make a tiny cutting tool.
I make cherries from oil hardening tool steel rod, lot of hand work once I mill cutting edges. Cost of a cherry is about 12 cents and work, better then $275 for a store bought custom.
However all molds I own take the same procedure and I cast with 2 to 3 molds at a time and mix Lyman, RCBS and mine. I have no notes on molds. Only a borrowed, big brass mold needed to be really hot. Made great boolits once I worked it out. Thing was a jewel. Heavy as all get out though.
Mine are made from scrap aircraft aluminum I came up with when I worked for the airline, huge hunk used on the bench to pound stuff on. I spent a lot of time in the tool room to cut it without knowing what I would use it for. My friend found the stainless in a dumpster that was used for welding class.
I made my mold vice from cast iron risers I bought from a foundry, took 2 weeks to grind into rectangles with a Harbor Freight 4" angle grinder to get on the mill. I rusted grass big time. It closes to center with a right hand and left hand threaded handle. I made it to fit a milling table so I could use gibes.
You have not lived until you make your own. I am not a machinist and learned the hard way. Smithy mill, drill, lathe.
I have never drawn a mold picture and cut cherries by eye. I file the ogive and plunge GG's and CG where it looks right. My revolver boolits have done 1/2" at 100 and all my friends use mine.
I learned a lot about mold expansion too. Cast too hot and you get out of round and smaller boolits.
I found if I put the cherry in a hot mold, I get a rounder boolit, the right size. That final cut done by hand.
Want to know how a mold expands, ask me.
 

williamwaco

Active Member
I don't mean to get off subject, but I have purposely tried to induce a steam explosion years back, when the idea that a random drop of sweat or rain drop or bug doing a kamikazee into the melt would cause death and agony and all that. The only way I can see it happening is if the object gets beneath the surface of the alloy and remains there. Water hitting the surface will flash off. Yes, if you ran a hose with a god solid stream into the melt you could do it. But an errant drop of sweat? I will just say that I couldn't get an eyedropper full of water to do anything but flash off. That's not to say you should ignore the outside chance, but I have a feeling the steam explosions people report might be the odd loaded 22 round, primer or moisture in a cavity in an ingot.

Mistakes? Buying into the "HARDCAST" hype, Midways mould release, not taking care of problems with Lees right off quick and scoring the top surface, causing said problem by not waiting for the sprue to really cool, not understanding the difference between a hot pot and hot mould and that moud temp is controlled by casting tempo, not writing down everything I figure out so that next time I have to re-discover it all over again. That's the biggest time waster.


Yeah! Yeah! - - -> What he said.

+ If it is damp, do NOT drop cold lead into the melt. It will have condensation on it.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
+ If it is damp, do NOT drop cold lead into the melt. It will have condensation on it.

That is a cold hard fact! I emptied a near full RCBS pot one time by picking up an ingot off the floor and dropping it in the pot. Lead all over the ceiling, walls, bench, floor, ME. If the ingot is cold and there is any humidity condensation WILL form on that ingot, droping it into molten lead will go far beyond getting your attention.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I don't drop anything into the hot melt. I gently lay it on the surface with my dross skimmer. I don't know about steam explosions, but I know for sure hot lead will splash like water if some dummy (Gee, my face is red!) drops a 5 lb ingot into a 40 lbs pot.....
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I don't drop anything into the hot melt.

Wise advice, I don't either but accidents do happen. That ingot I did it with was destined for the edge of the pot when it slipped and things got extremely exciting just almost instantly. I have no doubt that it was damp from condensation and being on the floor and cold.

Next lesson learned . . . Pay attention.
 

Texas Hillbilly

Active Member
Not all brilliant ideas pan out. How about making gas checks go twice as far by cutting them in half? :confused::eek::confused:

View attachment 1013

MP copy of Lyman 311410. I received two 4 cavity molds on the same day, one a plain base and one gas check. I took them apart and did my usual cleaning & pre-heating, assembled one and began casting. After a few pours I looked at the bullets laying on the towel and thought what the ???? I had put a mold half from the gas check mold together with half from the plain base and invented the half check bullet. Sure says a lot about Miha's machining that mold blocks from different molds fit together that well.
I guess we could start calling you halfcheck:eek:o_O
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
Stacking too many ingots on the pot and then answering a phone call has pretty poor results also. Especially if you have a mould laying under said pot.
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
In using a half check, I believe it would be important to seat the bullet so that the case is marked (use perm marker) so that chambering would be easier for exactness!!
 

Creeker

Well-Known Member
I had no one to show me how to cast & the web wasn't around in 1973 so I learned what I knew from the Lyman reloading manual. First mistake I didn't preheat my molds. Second, my sprue cutters were too tight. Third, after smoking cavities, spraying cavities with something like Drop Out, & even "coloring" them with a lead pencil I can make this statement & I'm 100% sure that no mold I've owned needed anything in the cavities.