Cast ball these fourty years never have used a thermometer.
Crud on Lead What?
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tenngun said:
:metoo:
Wow, I really wish I had started that long ago.
I struggled with lead temp when I first started and bought a thermometer, it helped me actually know what I was doing and I started getting good results.
I figured it out after those first few sessions after getting it.
Now I seldom use it having gone through that part of the learning curve and I considered selling it, but about to begin casting alloyed lead for CF and I guess the temp is a big variable with that stuff it'll come in handy again.
I struggled with lead temp when I first started and bought a thermometer, it helped me actually know what I was doing and I started getting good results.
I figured it out after those first few sessions after getting it.
Now I seldom use it having gone through that part of the learning curve and I considered selling it, but about to begin casting alloyed lead for CF and I guess the temp is a big variable with that stuff it'll come in handy again.
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I have 3 electric lead furnaces right now, and over the years I've worn out at least 4 others. Look close and all of them have little marks on the dials for ideal temps specific to particular alloys or pure lead and even ball size. Those didn't get there by accident.
I used my lead thermometer to place the marks. The dials on lead furnaces aren't worth doggypoopy for telling you temp until you put your own marks on them. Once you've got the marks you can pretty much leave the thermometer in the drawer.
Move from small to large balls (in my case from .290 to close to 2") and lead temp will affect results. Add in some conicals or modern bullets, and there you go again. Switch back and forth between pure lead and half a dozen different alloys, and you'll call that dial on your furnace more colorful words than doggypoopy.
Cast only pure lead and make only a narrow range of lead ball sizes, and yeah. After some trial and error you can find the right setting for your furnace. Mark it, tape it or weld it and don't move it, and you'll probably be alright.
But that doesn't mean your simple needs have the least bearing on the next lead caster. Heck, you can't even reliably tell him what setting to use on his doggypoopy meter, the furnaces vary so much from one to the next. :rotf:
I used my lead thermometer to place the marks. The dials on lead furnaces aren't worth doggypoopy for telling you temp until you put your own marks on them. Once you've got the marks you can pretty much leave the thermometer in the drawer.
Move from small to large balls (in my case from .290 to close to 2") and lead temp will affect results. Add in some conicals or modern bullets, and there you go again. Switch back and forth between pure lead and half a dozen different alloys, and you'll call that dial on your furnace more colorful words than doggypoopy.
Cast only pure lead and make only a narrow range of lead ball sizes, and yeah. After some trial and error you can find the right setting for your furnace. Mark it, tape it or weld it and don't move it, and you'll probably be alright.
But that doesn't mean your simple needs have the least bearing on the next lead caster. Heck, you can't even reliably tell him what setting to use on his doggypoopy meter, the furnaces vary so much from one to the next. :rotf:
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What your saying is correct in as far as it goes but Tin will oxidize out of a lead/tin alloy.
The scum being cleaned off after one fluxes is both oxidized lead and tin.
Now the trick is that the oxidized scum need not be removed because it can be re-alloyed with the melt with a bit of elbow grease and a wood paddle.
The scum being cleaned off after one fluxes is both oxidized lead and tin.
Now the trick is that the oxidized scum need not be removed because it can be re-alloyed with the melt with a bit of elbow grease and a wood paddle.
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True story, I live by my lead thermometers and never trust a pot dial, even ones that have been trust worthy in the past as they do degrade with age but the thermometer doesn't.
I've only run ball, I don't know anything about running an alloy.
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I agree 100%. I too lived by the thermostat dial. I have a Lee Magnum Melter and set the dial between 7-8. That was OK for a while but the lead would continually get hotter when emptying the pot and of course cooler when more lead was added. Between times was a mystery?M.D. said:
Getting a lead thermometer changed everything for the better. No more guess work. I like everything consistant and lead temperature's are no different. I like a steady 800 degrees when casting. When I first load up the pot and the lead has just melted, I wait for an additional 5 or 10 minutes, then I check the temp. Don't even start until it's 800 degrees.
Yes! Thermometers are very handy. Not a must have, but worth every penny when you cast alot.
Respectfully, Cowboy :hatsoff:
colorado clyde said:
Yeppers.... :metoo:
Didn't mean to start a range war. :grin:
Simple balls from pure lead is pretty easy. I also cast large bullets for cartridge rifles. BPCR bullets are the most fickle. Even with the temp controlled, things like casting rate and how much you smoke the mold make a big difference. I will not load a bullet that is not perfect. It is not worth the powder and time. On the other hand balls are easy. Even messed up castings will clean up when I put them in the tumbler with graphite. It is comparing apples and oranges.
At $40 a thermometer is well worth the investment IMHO.
Simple balls from pure lead is pretty easy. I also cast large bullets for cartridge rifles. BPCR bullets are the most fickle. Even with the temp controlled, things like casting rate and how much you smoke the mold make a big difference. I will not load a bullet that is not perfect. It is not worth the powder and time. On the other hand balls are easy. Even messed up castings will clean up when I put them in the tumbler with graphite. It is comparing apples and oranges.
At $40 a thermometer is well worth the investment IMHO.
