Ball molds?

[Smokey in Oz]

:rotf: I'd definately need the short starter to jam those 58cal conicals down my 50 cal bore.....

The fire was at Bell Bay, Temco ferro alloy plant. We had about 50t of molten metal escape and burn a whole bunch of wiring. 4 to 6 weeks work infront of us.

Cheers, Smokey.

 

[fho]

If you use a two cavity mold, will the weight of the balls or size be close enough that the impact will be the same? I use a single cavity mold as I want all the balls the same.

Olie

 

[sledgemeister]

ya think a fella working in a place like that would be able to get hold of a heap of lead!!!!
I hope it wasnt bad wiring that caused the fire :rotf:

 

[Blivetmaker]

I have the Lee 2 cavity ball mold in .535". Works like a charm. I use graphite and lead pencil to avoid galling. Never tested weights or cavity differences, just eyeball pass/fail test. Over sandbags I get cloverleafs at 50m with my Mortimer flinter. You pay €11.95 over here for 50 swaged balls. German construction still uses lead
flashing in huge amounts so getting clean shiny lead sheeting is relatively cheap and eliminates the smelting process altogether; just melt and cast. :thumbsup:

 

[Smokey in Oz]

No lead where I work, sadly, and no not an electrical fire. :blah:
But I'll set the scene...
Imagine a bottom pour lead pot heated with 3 arc welders (electrodes 5 feet across) melting rocks instead of lead. The pot is about 35 feet across and 20 feet deep lined with bricks surrounded by 1" thick steel. The stuff gets hotter than the melting point of steel so when the bricks deteriorate it melts its own hole in the side and we end up with a sticky situation. All good fun!

Anyway back on topic, still looking for a mold, Lee double still looks the goods according to everyones advice, might have to buy one new. Lead's no problem, $1/kg at the recyclers (see, I'm doing my bit for the environment) from old roof flashing. Reckon I'll need a few kilos of lead to fill the pot at work though. :haha:

Smokey.

 

[jimeckersley]

If you use a two cavity mold, will the weight of the balls or size be close enough that the impact will be the same? I use a single cavity mold as I want all the balls the same. Olie

When I first try out my new 2 or 4 cavity moulds I measure the balls to make sure all cavities are casting consistent balls, nothing out of round. It is possible to lap a cavity but I haven’t had to with any of my moulds that I kept. I have passed a couple on to new owners. If the measurement is reasonably consistent for all the cavities the weights will be consistent too.

The next step is weighing the balls to reject those that are under acceptable weight.

I had the same fear that a 2, 3 or 4 cavity mould would be inconsistent. What I found is that, at least with the moulds that I use, there’s more variation from pour to pour than there is from different cavities.