Finally did some casting today & a Question

[RicinYakima]

The other thing is that a bottom pour pot releases the alloy 40 degrees less that the crucible temperature. Consider dumping a couple of seconds into the waste tray before you put the mould under the flow.

 

[JWFilips]

I believe I may have had a "Eureka" moment while trying to fall asleep. I kept asking myself what was different yesterday then months before ( have casted with this same mould a few times before without the problems....) then I remembered; back in July I re-did my casting room ( haven't used it since then) What is different is I have an oscillating fan blowing across the my casting table....so some times it would be right on the stream going into the mould and other times it would be behind the table or in front of the table and not on the pot.
Could this have cooled the stream and plate enough to cause this intermittent problem?

I do know one thing though: I have learned a lot of new tips from this thread! Yes I have noticed the bottom pour "splash back"! Drives me crazy with some moulds. I did figure out to set the pour rate at the slow setting ...more control and better able to make a good puddle on the sprue plate. The difficulty comes from trying to maintain the proper flow rate as the pot volume drops
I would like to visit this spout peening idea.... sound like a nice fix.

We got about 3 inches of heavy wet snow last night If I can clean it up early I may try casting with that same mould again with out the fan blowing. As put some of the other suggestions in to play too
Jim

 

[KHornet]

Just a trace of snow so far. Cold this a.m. In the 20's.

 

[S Mac]

I haven't used a Rowell ladle, heard good things about them but I do have use a couple of Lyman ladles and I almost never use the bottom pour feature. I just get a better bullet with a ladle.

 

[freebullet]

Jim
Glad to hear you fired up the pot. Sounds like the fan may be at least partly to blame. You'd mentioned partly frosted bands. When I get partial frosted areas on the band's only it usually tells me I have oil contamination issue. Either under the sprue plate or in the cavity.

Please, please, pretty please with bullets on top keep the snow & cold enough temps for it where your at. Thank you.

 

[JWFilips]

Well I have been slowly cleaning snow much of the day...don't want any set backs I would have to say in my neck of the woods it must be close to 6 " of heavy wet stuff combined over the day ...Winds pretty nasty too Not much improvement in the temps or winds tomorrow.
So No casting this afternoon but I was able to weigh out the 165 grain Ranch dogs...must have done something right because I had 90% + within .4 grain spread.
I sized those big 340's to what my Sauer needs ( Sizer is at .332") what base errors I had were mostly corrected in sizing...& actually a lot less bad ones them I thought

 

[Intheshop]

About 1-2 mph is what we shoot for in spraybooth.And possibly more important than velocity is,predictability.Any airflow used to clear a workstation has to be planned out.Obstructions,could be sitting in front of a casting pot?...or bandsaw..or welder..needs to be accounted for.

It's easier to push air than pull it,so incoming air has to be regulated more than what you,"get away with",on the suction side.It's the "eddys" downstream from obstructions that can either help or hurt.

Good luck with your casting setup.