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MY BALLS ARE WRINKLY

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WI Smoke

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Just tried making RB's from a Lee mould I recieved today and they almost all turned out bad. Is the lead to hot/cold Is it the mould temp?
And I realized If I am going to keep doing this an electric lead pot will come in handy!!
Thanks Wi Smoke
 
WI,

I think your balls are wrinkled because the mold is not hot enuf. Aluminum molds heat up quickly but will cool off fast too. You might try turning up the heat of your pot and casting a bit faster so the mold stay hot. Good luck. :grin: GW
 
First I'd say penicillin :haha: but it's really a mold that's not hot enough. Just cast some more till the mold heats up.
 
Wes/Tex said:
First I'd say penicillin :haha: ...
That was the first thought for me too when reading the topic.
Immediatly to a hospital! :rotf:

And of course you´re right, casting some more til the mold is hot enough is the way to success.
 
I set my aluminum Lee mold in the solder pot for a few minutes to get close to the lead temp. Lead melts around 625-650 degrees F. Fear not, aluminum(pure) melts around 1100 degrees F. Your casted balls should come out nice shiny round, no wrinkles.
 
You need more heat and need to cast faster. I like to see just a bit of frosting or some fill in the vents. If you start to see some "wiskers" and frosting your temp is about on target.
 
I cast for years on an old Coleman stove and a $10 lead pot. Worked fine. Now I have an electric bottom pour furnace. When the bottom spigot works it is great, but sometimes it doesn't and I have to disassemble the thing to clean it out. Pro's and Con's both ways.

I usually throw the first 15 or 20 cast balls back into the pot because of the wrinkling. After a while the mold will heat up and start producing shiney balls.

By the way, it is important to keep a pool of molten lead on top of the mold if you are casting the larger calibers. When casting balls in my .735 mold, the lead will chill and shrink, you need a pool of lead for on top of the mold so that the chilling lead will pull in more lead to fill the void inside. If you don't you will notice a tiny black spot in the sprue when you cut off the excess lead. If you cut the ball open there can be a pretty big cavity. Cavities in a projectile will really hurt your accuracy.

Many Klatch
 
Make sure your mold cavities are clean. Gegrease them with brake cleaner or wash them in very hot water with dish soap. If you use the water method make sure to heat the mold on a stove burner or something to completely dry it before casting. Smoke the cavities with a sooty candle or something similar. I use stick matches. After your mold is clean it should cast smooth and shiny balls as long as it is pre-heated. I keep a small electric hot plate next to my lead pot to set my molds on to keep them hot. Good luck.

HD
 
i think everyones got it, mould or lead isnt hot enough, Try dipping the corner of the lee mould in your melt until its warm enough lead wont stick to it. if that doesnt help try running your melt hotter, that way it will take longer to cool and give the ball more time to fill out.
experiment with pouring technique too, Both my lee and lyman molds like to be poured fairly quickly with a good puddle left on the sprue, and in the case of the lee, ive found keeping my dipper in contact with the sprue plate helps the mould hold the heat a bit longer giving the ball a chance to fill out more completely.
As a last resort, try some different lead if you can, i experienced this with a few lbs i acquired, that had been melted down from shot. Not only was it extremely dirty, i assume from the graphite used as lube, i like to never got it cleaned up, but it seemed to be more prone to casting imperfect balls from both moulds. After i got that batch of lead gone, and moved on to some other ingots ive got, the problem went away as long as everything was up to the proper temps.
 
flashpanner said:
I set my aluminum Lee mold in the solder pot for a few minutes to get close to the lead temp. Lead melts around 625-650 degrees F. Fear not, aluminum(pure) melts around 1100 degrees F. Your casted balls should come out nice shiny round, no wrinkles.


Also, better for mold to be too hot, than too cold. If balls come out a bit frosty from too hot mold, it is no big deal, they will still shoot great.
 
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