1st poured nosecap - pics

[mikemeteor]

After going through all the tutorials on pouring a nosecap, figured I'd give it a try on my current mountain gun build.
Kept it simple - straight nosecap - no designs for my first tme.

drilled some anchoring holes and undercuts.
a couple went all the way thru, some didn't.

Put modeling clay in all the nooks and crannies, smoothed it out, then taped on the mold - I used regular old file folder cardstock.
And a half a' roll of masking tape.
Wrapped the barrel in some of wifey's parchment paper from the kitchen. no thickness, easy release.

Dropped a screamin' hot bolt down the barrel to warm things up, as per tutorials (thanks Ken G.!), melted the pewter chunks in a $4 stainless soup ladle over my campstove, and poured it in.

Dang near had a disaster - almost an overpour that came close to going down the barrel. :barf:
When you're into the pour, that stuff develops a surface tension that, when it lets go, ya get more than ya bargained for.
(Kinda like when the ice in the glass lets go and ya get faceful of iced tea. :haha: )

I don't know if the bolt head woulda' saved me or not.

Anyway, things hardened up and I tore off the mold.
Believe me there's some breath-holding when you get to taking off that last layer :shocked2: - don't want to see any voids or bubbles!

You can see the yellow clay 'dams' at the barrel-stock interface and around the sacrificial ramrod.

The barrel was trapped at first

so I carefully cut away those overpour wings so I could remove the barrel

things looked pretty good inside - another thin clay dam on the inside so nothing could get down into my barrel lugs and inlets.

Then comes the hard part. Filing off about 80% of the material you poured on. :cursing:
I have a big honkin' file I got for $1 in a box lot at an auction - it's still sharp and plows thru pewter pretty good.

That's it for now.
Leaving it kinda rough and oversized, until final forend finishing time, in a month or two.
Will post pics of finished product then.

Lessons learned: Take some time to make the mold as efficiently-sized as possible - I ain't kiddin' about having to file off about 80% of what I poured on.
But of course, a starved pour with gaps is even worse.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I think you did just fine on your first pour. Pewter is soft enough, that the filing and shaping are NOTHING compared to filling in bubbles and voids. You did it the right way, IMHO. :hatsoff:

 

[bioprof]

Well done. It looks like it's going to turn out great. :thumbsup:

 

[rabjr]

Nice job MM. :thumbsup:

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

That looks fine to me, and I'm just an observer... :thumbsup:

 

[sc45-70]

Looks great!
Save those over pour wings as they may come in handy someday. They work well for filling small voids with a soldering iron. :thumbsup:

 

[Capt. Fred]

Looks good MM. Nothing caught on fire! Homerun! :thumbsup:

 

[Dalekg6]

Looks good so far. Be sure to follow up and show us the finished product.

 

[mikemeteor]

Nothing caught on fire! Homerun! :thumbsup:

I'm still chuckling over that comment, Capt Fred :haha: !

The good Cap't is referring to an earlier attempt of mine at a practice nosecap pour.
Problem was, unbeknownst to me :idunno: , I was using an aluminum alloy instead of pewter, which required a melting point somewhere over twice as high.
Poured it into the paper mold, and the paper, tape, wood, everything burst into flames.
Very exciting for a few seconds.
My wife is getting used to these things happening in the basement.

 

[Packdog]

She looks great! You should be very happy. I wish my first attempt had gone so well. My first attempt was followed by learning the best method for cleaning out a bad pour and starting over. Which, by the way is to use a soldering iron and melt it out small sections at a time.

I'll take filing off excess material any day over bubbles and voids. Next time try using a rasp to get rid of the bulk of the material before swapping to a file. I hope Birddog6 sees this post. He made up some real simple little tools to help keep the file teeth from clogging up with pewter. Maybe he will post a picture.

Cheers,
Ken

 

[hoochiepapa]

Looks good! Anxious to see the finish.

 

[larry wv]

Good job. :thumbsup: Thanks for the photos and lesson. Larry

 

[Glenfilthie]

What kind of sorcery is this??? I have never heard of this being done...do you fellers have any links to the tutorials? And pics of finished rifles that had this done? How do you do it WITHOUT having a fire?

There is some really cool stuff on this forum...

 

[Zonie]

"...How do you do it WITHOUT having a fire?..."

Don't pour molten aluminum onto your wood or paper dams. :rotf:

 

[ny griz]

:thumbsup: looks like it's comming along pretty good.Griz

 

[Bill Hall]

It looks like you wrapped the barrel in paper. I've done a bunch of those and never covered the barrel with paper. Is there a chance the barrel can solder to the pewter? Or is the paper there to add a little gap? Bill

 

[jerrywh]

To prevent the barrel from soldering to the pewter just smoke the barrel with a candle or torch.
By the way that's a real nice first class job of puoring a nosecap.

 

[mikemeteor]

Yes, I wrapped the barrel in parchment paper - I wasn't really sure what sort of mayhem might occur between the barrel and the liquid pewter, so I figured better safe than sorry.
Jerry's smoke tip sounds even better.
Seems like at the end of the day, you would want a perfect mating (no gap) at the barrel/nosecap interfaces, and smoke would be better than even one thickness of paper.

thanks all for the encouraging words- I'll see if I can keep from bungling it up as I file to final dimensions.
/MM

 

[Glenfilthie]

Awww...don't say that Meteor Man, such talk invites darkness. Think positive!

 

[gonzomann]

Way to go, Meteor! It turned out great. Thanks for documenting and posting the pour.