First casting attempt at RB

[atm1268]

OK here goes:

I cast my first set of round balls today. The first 2 dozen or so were wrinkled, some very badly, they went back into the pot. I then turned up the temperature setting from 6.5 to about 8 on my Lee 10 lb pot. I did this in increments and at about 8 I stopped getting wrinkles. This is in excess of 800 degrees F, shortly there after I started getting some partial frosting and the balls would stick together when they came out of the mold and touched on the towel.

I am guessing that I need to lower my temperature back down once I start to see frosting.

And I think that maybe a longer cooling time in the mold will prevent the sticking together.

Does any one have any ideas that might help?

A wet/damp towel?
Drop the balls into a bucket of water?

Any help or confirmation would be appreceated.

Thanks a bunch.

ATM

 

[bebloomster]

What mold are you using? I generally use Lyman 4 cavity steel molds, alternating casting with 2 of them. My RCBS bottom pour pot is set at around 825 degrees. Once the mold(s) have warmed up the resulting balls are wrinkle free and usually on the shiney side. If they start to frost I really don't worry about it as they seem to shoot just fine.

 

[atm1268]

I am using a Lee 2 cavity mold in .530 for my 54 cal Lyman GPR.

Using a thermocouple my pot is in excess of 825 degrees F. I started to melt the casing around the probe so I took it out of the lead. I am not sure how hot it would have gotten, I need a longer probe for measuring in the lead pot.

ATM

 

[cowpoke1955]

I use the Lee Production Pot IV. I use the same mold, casting for the same rifle. The frosting is when the lead is too hot. Turn it down a little. I use an old T-shirt on top of an old towel. I found that sometimes a fresh ball would stick to the terry cloth. I keep the balls in the mold for about 30 seconds before dropping them. Never had a problem and I've been using Lee stuff for over 20 years. Hang in there. Once you get it down, you'll be spitting balls out like there's no tomarrow :thumbsup: .

 

[paulvallandigham]

Its not the temperature of the lead in the pot, but its temperature when it enters your mold that is critical. Frosted balls mean, as indicated, that the lead is too hot. They shoot just fine. Given a choice between a frosted ball or bullet, and a wrinkled one, I will take the frosted one every time.

You can turn the dial down a bit. Don't rely on the factory dial scales to tell you the temperature. Get a good thermometer or thermo couple for measuring these high heats, and use it to determint he correct setting on the dials. Mark the dial for that setting, and then check it at least annually, to see if the setting is still producing the same heat.

I advise leaving the mold on top of the casting pot, so that its halves are sitting against the top lip or edge of the pot, That allows the heat to travel up through the steel wall of the pot and into the blocks to keep them at heat while you add more lead, or do anything else needed when casting.

I also drop my bullets into old denim, or t-shirt cotton, on a slanted board so they roll down into a box with rags in it to help them cool.

The hardest thing to learn is the rhythm you need to cast good balls every time. Stick with. Don't try to rush. You will soon enough find the rhythm you need to use to get there. If you get tired, or fatigued, stop casting. Let it go for another day. your brain will begin to store information known as " muscle Memory", and the next day you cast, you will be surprised at how soon you start doing things right again, compared to the last session.

Don't work up a sweat. Sweat, or any water, and lead are explosive enemies, and very dangerous. If you feel the heat causing perspiration to begin to form. walk away from the pot, turn it off, and go somewhere to cool off.

I found for me that I had to hold the mold as close to the top of the pot as possible when using a dipper, so that the time between picking the dipper out of the molten lead and pouring it into the sprue cut-off plate was as small as I could humanly make it. With a bottom pour mold, I found I had to put the mold up very close to the downspout to insure that the lead entering the mold remained hot enough to fill out corners, in bullet molds.

When casting RBs, I have long had a habit of letting lead slowly pour onto the sprue, making it much larger, but providing hot, molten lead to fill in any void in the mold, so I didn't get the dimple I sometime got when I filled the mold too fast.( a very easy thing to do with small caliber balls)

In fact, to avoid this problem, I ended up drilling the hole in the cut-off plate slightly larger to allow more lead to go down through the hole faster, fill the entire mold faster, and maintain the molten state of the lead longer. That seemed to help fill in the balls, so that in weighing them, the weights were much more consistent, and I had fewer rejects.

 

[R.M.]

Don't work up a sweat. Sweat, or any water, and lead are explosive enemies, and very dangerous. If you feel the heat causing perspiration to begin to form. walk away from the pot, turn it off, and go somewhere to cool off.

Sorry Paul, but you can pour all the water you want on top of a pot of lead, all it'll do is sizzle and steam and evaporate. Get one drop of water under the surface of that lead, then look out. It's the steam generated under the surface that creates the "Tinsel Fairy".

 

[Many Klatch]

I have found that dropping the fresh molded balls into paper egg cartons works well. It also helps me keep track of how many I have cast. Four egg carton full is 48 ball. I cast large caliber and they stay hot for quite a while so I use two cartons and don't drop the ball from one until the second carton is full.

Many Klatch

 

[bwhoffman]

Do not drop yourfresh made round balls into a bucket of water. It will harden them somewhat!

I think the sticking of your balls to the towel indicates to me that there is some "plastic" in the fabric,like polyester.

wrinkled balls usually is a cold mold or not hot enough lead.
Frosty balls is usually too hot of lead.

develope a rythm. plan on tossing back the first few balls as they are used to pre heat the mold and such.

 

[Freedom]

Your Lead should be just fine between 725 and 800 degrees.

The most critical part of casting is mould temp..

Wrinkled= mould to cool, keep casting or just dip the corner of the Closed mould in the metal until the metal doesn't stick to the mould anymore.

Frosted= mould too hot...Fosted bullets are Hard to obtain with pure lead, if you are getting frosted bullets then your metal is probly not pure lead.

Water dropping is a great way to do it but it will harden you balls a little....not enough to matter with pure lead and the tempering will leave the balls after a couple months.

Caution!!! 1 drop of water in the pot will explode the lead from your pot...you will have hot lead dripping from you eye-brows!!! I've seen very little water empty an entire 20 LB pot of alloy. So make sure your water quench is well below your pot!

If you use a dipper to fill your mould there is always a chance of a drop of water hanging from your mould or handles from the previous ball being dropped so don't ever hold or pass the mould over the top of your pot. I don't suggest water dropping unless you use a bottom pour pot.

Hope this helps :thumbsup:

 

[Idaho Ron]

Your Lead should be just fine between 725 and 800 degrees.

The most critical part of casting is mould temp..

Wrinkled= mould to cool, keep casting or just dip the corner of the Closed mould in the metal until the metal doesn't stick to the mould anymore.

Frosted= mould too hot...Fosted bullets are Hard to obtain with pure lead, if you are getting frosted bullets then your metal is probly not pure lead.

I think you hit the nail on the head.
I have also found that some wrinkled bullets are from a bottom pour pot that is not pouring fast enough. The lead is cooling too much as it goes into the mould. Use a ladle and see if it helps.

You are also right about the frosty bullets. I have never seen frosty bullets with virgin pure lead. I have seen dental lead frost, WW's will frost. and even pure lead with just a little dental lead will frost to a degree. I have poured a lot of bullets and mixed a lot of lead. Since I have a lead hardness tester I have found that if the bullets frost they were not made with pure lead. Ron

 

[jtmattison]

Given a choice between a frosted ball or bullet, and a wrinkled one, I will take the frosted one every time.

Same here.

I keep my mold and lead temps very high.

There is nothing wrong with frosted balls. :shocked2:

I pre-heat my molds on an electric hot plate and when I take breaks I set them on there to keep them hot.

I use a Lee Production Pot IV and I always have it on max temp.

HD

 

[Tom Compton]

If the pot lead is over 750*F and the balls are wrinkled, the mold is not hot enough.

Like said earlier, run an excess of lead over the spru plate while the lead cools. Making .395s, it is not uncommon for me to have a sprue that weighs almost as much as the ball. It is not wasted.

When using smaller amounts of lead on the sprue plate, observation will show a slight dimple where some additional lead is used from the excess to replace the cooling loss - heated materials expand and cooled they contract. If you cannot see the bottom of the dimple without trying, recycle that ball as the void probably continued into the ball itself.

Larger balls and bullets need to stay in the mold and under the excess on the sprue plate longer. Balls that stick together did not cool long enough in the mold or the lead was too hot to begin with.

Wear eye protection anytime you are casting but if you are going to quench, wear a full face shield. When I was casting, I cast in Jan-Feb out in an unheated shop (not that cold in Texas)and tried to cast enough for the year. ALWAYS have plenty of ventilation.

If you hold the mold up next to the spout on a bottom pour production pot, the weight (head) of the lead in the reservoir will make the ball grow lead hairs by forcing liauid into the air reliefs. Too far away will allow lead to cool too soon and also cause wrinkles.

TC