Casting question??

[TNtrapper]

Hey yall! Well I started casting some balls for my .75 fowler smoothbore this afternoon and had mixed results. Im using a Lyman mold and a Lee casting pot with the pour spout. The first ones were irregular as usual from the mold not being hot yet...but after running about 15 good ones I started to get a (marbling) look on the balls.Kinda like swirls on the balls.Whats the problem do ya reckon? Are these safe to shoot and how will it affect accuracy?Not real deep swirls but you can see them. Im gonna try some pics here. The first is what Im talkin about,if you can see it. The second is a good ball, and the third is all the good balls out of about 40. Come on guys...this is new to me!

 

[BS]

Some times the spout will get cold and freeze up. I keep a piece of small weld rod to clean the spout out. I also just run some lead thru to check and keep the spout clean and hot. Then take the dribble and toss it back in with my needle nose pliers.

 

[fatboy]

I would say your mold is cold ,or lead not to the temp it should be. I've seen this to and its I thinks its because things are cold . Also may want to make sure you have any oils removed from the mold before casting.

 

[BS]

If the sprue cutter plate gets cold, it can cool off the spout. Ounce you start casting, don't stop, if you need to add lead or such, store the mold upside down over the top of the pot, on the sprue plate, just don't burn the handles up.

 

[TNtrapper]

Alright yall...Ill try that next time. Do you think these swirls will affect accuracy? Maybe I should put them back in the pot and recast........TN :thanks:

 

[Ridge]

I believe they call that "wrinkling" and it's caused by too cold of a mold.......sometimes you get "frosting" and that's caused by too hot of a mold. I think that's the way it works.

 

[Tumblernotch]

:agree: Looks to me like cold lead too. And you will get the same effect if you get beeswax in your mold cavity. A long time ago I put a touch of beeswax in a Minie mold as a release agent and it really wrinkled my balls. (If your sniggerin', you've got a dirty mind!) I'd say from experience that it could have an adverse affect on accuracy. I prefer smooth ones. I've found that if I have to step away from molding for a few minutes or I have to wait for some fresh lead to get up to temperature, it helps to leave the last ball you cast in the mold to help keep the mold cavity hot.
:m2c:

 

[CrackStock]

A few things:

Any oil or preservative in the cavity of the mold will heat upon contact with the molten lead and can cause wrinkles until it is carried out by the hot lead or cleaned with a solvent. Depending upon what is in there alcohol can might clean it out.

You can purchase mold release agents and lubes that will not cause you this problem.

If your mould is too cool, the lead cools upon contact with the mold and contracts unevenly which causes the wrinkles. a quick pour might lessen this effect a bit, but heating the mould a bit more is the real fix. Pour lead in the cavities and dip a corner into the lead until what sticks comes off easily.

Try often and adjust between frosted and wrinkled as mentioned above by Ridge. If you have an adjustable dial, try to remember the sweet range. (It does vary depending upon the temp of the area around it and the outlet, but it will get you close.)

As to accuracy, I would have to guess that these wrinkled balls would not be very accurate. But then, I have not tried them as it is too easy to place them back into the pot and redo them.

I was casting some .735s myself and had the same experience. Seems a bit less forgiving the bigger the cavity. Mine was from a Dixie hair curler mold and took a while to get the heat right, but it finally threw good balls.

CS

 

Shot wrinkled from oil will usually show discoloration. A shot of lighter fluid usually take out the grease if it is present.

This one is simply due to the temp of the lead being too low. I usually zip my Lee pot up to 9 or 9 1/2 and do not worry about a bit of frost on the shot. It beats the wrinkles. If the sprue begins to smear you have it too hot so back off a bit.

Just save the wrinkled ones and recast them on the next session.

I am not a freak over weighing every bullet but I do throw back any visible flaws I find, and this is definately a visible flaw.

That little knob on top of the pot belongs to you and you can move it up or down and find out what works for your blocks. Casting is as much art as technology, so experiment until you get it right. We can not tell you what the perfect setting is for your pot and blocks.

You get to melt your mistakes and recast them!

:front:

 

[TNtrapper]

:hatsoff:Alright fellers...all the advice has been well taken. Guess i need to clean that sucker up real good and keep the heat up on the pot. When I cast those balls I turned my pot down to about halfway after the first 15 or so. I reckon Ill keep her hot till it frosts them a little. Yall have been a big help! Thanks again guys......TN :thanks:

 

[Slamfire]

Get some soot on the inside of the mold with a kitdchen match. Then when you pour get a lot of extra lead up on top of the sprue cutter so as the ball cools it can draw some down through the hole.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Take a Q-tip and some acetone and rub the inside of the cavities. After that evaporates off, hold the mould cavity down over the tip of a candle flame to put a layer of carbon soot on the faces. I re-soot every 50 balls or so thereafter (don't need to wipe each time).

The crinkled balls are a tad lighter, but not enough of an accuracy concern to fret with a smoothbore. They're not spinning anyhow, so they won't wobble, but you could get a "knuckle-ball" effect at ranges past 50 yards as the ball slows.