Elric
Well-Known Member
Well, I fired up some pot yesterday. 375248 were casting nicely. Good fill, no wrinkles. RCBS 45-300-FN were responding well, a little whisker action, but still good.
Finished up a pile, then I got into a housecleaning mode, melted down a bunch of bullets for either calibers or cartridges that I do not load for, and turned them into the proper shape of ingot. A bit odd, there was two coffee cans with lead bullets, the first I has tipped over onto some plywood earlier to drain and dry, the other had some water and rust in the last inch at the bottom. Sort of a red-orange gritty slurry.
The drained ones were dumped in batches. The ones from the second can were hand-wiped and added one by one. A little bubbling with a few.
Added a few muffins of WW. Put a 410610 and a 280468(s) on top to heat up. A little flux action. Cleansing.
The 280468s pills were beautiful. Small single cavity mould. The 410610 had very crisp fill, but were showing one of the following: good base, high sprue cutoff, torn centers.
After a decent night's sleep (and coffee, don't forget the coffee...) I remembered the pretty much complete absence of a sprue puddle on any cast. The sprue mostly ran off, even though I deliberately tried to form a puddle. Melt was probably aroung 750. Further caffiene aided thought included the whiskers on some of the bullets.
Prime projection: Melt too hot, perhaps 725 or so for puddle formation. The torn sprue? Hmm... I cast with two moulds for cadence. Perhaps the absence of a sprue puddle is the culprit. The sprue plate should have enough sprue above it in order to have resistance to the sprue cut-off sufficient enough for a good shearing action. The sprues on quite a few bullets was confined to the conical depression in the sprue plate.
Direct pour was doing a good job of fill, but lack of a good puddle seems to be the issue.
The high sprues should be cured with careful tightening of the sprue plate. Direct pour takes care of a bit of the sprue plate venting issue.
Almost forgot - there has been an issue with the minimal sprue remaining in the sprue holes after I drop the bullets. Annoying, I have to turn the mold upside-down and pop the cut off sprue from the hole. It is probably linked to the near complete lack of a sprue puddle, where the sprue plate cools. Sorta confusing, but the laws of thermodynamics be a harsh mistress.... YMMV.
Finished up a pile, then I got into a housecleaning mode, melted down a bunch of bullets for either calibers or cartridges that I do not load for, and turned them into the proper shape of ingot. A bit odd, there was two coffee cans with lead bullets, the first I has tipped over onto some plywood earlier to drain and dry, the other had some water and rust in the last inch at the bottom. Sort of a red-orange gritty slurry.
The drained ones were dumped in batches. The ones from the second can were hand-wiped and added one by one. A little bubbling with a few.
Added a few muffins of WW. Put a 410610 and a 280468(s) on top to heat up. A little flux action. Cleansing.
The 280468s pills were beautiful. Small single cavity mould. The 410610 had very crisp fill, but were showing one of the following: good base, high sprue cutoff, torn centers.
After a decent night's sleep (and coffee, don't forget the coffee...) I remembered the pretty much complete absence of a sprue puddle on any cast. The sprue mostly ran off, even though I deliberately tried to form a puddle. Melt was probably aroung 750. Further caffiene aided thought included the whiskers on some of the bullets.
Prime projection: Melt too hot, perhaps 725 or so for puddle formation. The torn sprue? Hmm... I cast with two moulds for cadence. Perhaps the absence of a sprue puddle is the culprit. The sprue plate should have enough sprue above it in order to have resistance to the sprue cut-off sufficient enough for a good shearing action. The sprues on quite a few bullets was confined to the conical depression in the sprue plate.
Direct pour was doing a good job of fill, but lack of a good puddle seems to be the issue.
The high sprues should be cured with careful tightening of the sprue plate. Direct pour takes care of a bit of the sprue plate venting issue.
Almost forgot - there has been an issue with the minimal sprue remaining in the sprue holes after I drop the bullets. Annoying, I have to turn the mold upside-down and pop the cut off sprue from the hole. It is probably linked to the near complete lack of a sprue puddle, where the sprue plate cools. Sorta confusing, but the laws of thermodynamics be a harsh mistress.... YMMV.
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