Lee Mold Beeswax and Ladle

[Erik550c]

Hey quick question, the Lee .454 round ball mold said to lubricate a couple of the parts with beeswax or some toxic stuff I don't want to use. Should I lube the entire mold with beeswax, or just the pin and other part it said to lube?

I don't have a casting ladle, but I bought a nice pot that pours under the pot right into the mold. I have to stir in a pencil eraser size amount of beeswax to get the tin to adhere to the bismuth (instead of just floating on top), will a cheap aluminum cooking ladle do the trick or will it melt? Thanks!

 

[coloradoclyde]

Lube your mold as instructed....
Aluminum melts at a much higher temp than lead, tin, etc...I just use a dedicated old stainless spoon for stirring in flux.

 

[excess650]

Lube the alignment pins and under side of the sprue plate with synthetic 2 stroke oil. It won't leave the mess that beeswax will.

Beeswax has a higher flash temperature than paraffin, so works OK as a flux. You'll need to stir the mixture in your pot once up to temperature, and flux to remove impurities and mix the base metals. Don't use anything aluminum or zinc to stir or skim. A stainless spoon will work just fine.

You can pre-heat the mold by placing the blocks on top of the furnace as it heats up.

I've not cast with bismuth, so don't know what temperature you'll need.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Just some on the hinge pin will help a lot. I reccomend getting a Lyman pouring ladle. Well worth the extra money.

 

[Kansas Jake]

X2 on the stainless spoon.

I started recasting round balls last year after several years of not casting. I couldn't find my pouring ladle so, I just went to the local thrift shop and bough a small stainless steel gravy ladle. I used a pliers to shape a slight v on the side, bent the handle so it was more horizontal and now I had a casting ladle. I didn't even wrap the handle, but just wore good insulated leather gloves. It worked okay until I recently found the pouring ladle. The pouring ladle works better, but the home made one did work if you are on a slim budget to get started.

 

[mooman76]

Use lube sparingly. I put on with a Qtip. Use a high temp lube like stated 2 cycle oil. It's made for high temp. I put on the moving parts like the hinge pin and sprue plate. I also put a tiny bit on the alignment pins.

 

[nhmoose]

I use Liquid wrench dry lube on my molds 1 coat pretty much per session. PB blasters also works the same.

I spray top, faces and bottom of sprue plate best bullets Eva!

 

[Zonie]

Do as suggested. Use a stainless steel spoon or rod to stir the melt.

Your saying your pot has a bottom pour feature tells me you got something to melt lead in.
Lead melts at over 460°F so if this pot has a built in heating coil, it's made to work in the 450°-600°F range.

Your bismuth will melt at much lower temperatures than that so use the lowest setting that melts the alloy.

(As a point of reference, the Cerrobend I have is a bismuth alloy that melts at temperatures below that of boiling water.
I'm sure your alloy will need to be hotter than boiling water but it could be much lower than 275°F.)

As for casting with bismuth and its alloys, bismuth usually expands as it cools from a molten liquid.

I think the tin in it will reduce the amount of growth the bismuth has but pure bismuth expands about 3.3 percent.

3.3 percent of a .454 diameter ball is .0150".
That could make the cast ball measure quite a bit larger than .454.

I don't know how much larger the cast ball will be , but don't be surprised when it is.

 

[Erik550c]

Do as suggested. Use a stainless steel spoon or rod to stir the melt.

Your saying your pot has a bottom pour feature tells me you got something to melt lead in.
Lead melts at over 460°F so if this pot has a built in heating coil, it's made to work in the 450°-600°F range.

Your bismuth will melt at much lower temperatures than that so use the lowest setting that melts the alloy.

(As a point of reference, the Cerrobend I have is a bismuth alloy that melts at temperatures below that of boiling water.
I'm sure your alloy will need to be hotter than boiling water but it could be much lower than 275°F.)

As for casting with bismuth and its alloys, bismuth usually expands as it cools from a molten liquid.

I think the tin in it will reduce the amount of growth the bismuth has but pure bismuth expands about 3.3 percent.

3.3 percent of a .454 diameter ball is .0150".
That could make the cast ball measure quite a bit larger than .454.

I don't know how much larger the cast ball will be , but don't be surprised when it is.

I hope the pot has a temperature setting or I am out the money on that. I also will have to find out if the ball is too large after casing.

 

[Pete G]

Why are you using bismuth? Unless you are constrained by certain ridiculous laws, pure lead is much cheaper and makes a superior bullet.

 

[Swamp Rat]

Look where he is from California. There's your answer.

 

[Erik550c]

Successfully cast my balls yesterday. No issues. The temp gauge on the pot scaled down to the proper temperature for bismuth and tin just fine.