Kurt wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 9:11 am
The alloy mix you're using makes a difference with this.
I pressure/vibration cast and I use a low temperature with my lead/tin/antimony alloy or I get vent hairs casting over 725º. After my last Waage gave out again (#2) I went with the RCBA Easy Melt that has a PID Wayne made a review on several years back and it holds the temp very well.
My weight results are like what Ian is getting.
Vent hairs. That’s a really good name for them. I built the PID that I am using. I have 6 pots ,I think, all with different alloys. I just plug in the pot with the alloy I want to use and let the PID do it’s thing. It makes a cheap Lee pot hold a very consistent temperature but they don’t hold very much alloy compared to my Waage.
And if I get those vent hairs stuck on the mould I don't scrape or try to brush them out using a brass brush or picks. All of those things will put a burr on the sharp cavity edge and you will see the bullets sticking on the block when you drop them.
I use what puts the vent hairs on (hot alloy) to clean the grooves. When I finish casting I turn the heat up and get the alloy hot as well as the mould so the hairs in the vent lines get soft and I pour the hot alloy on the face of the block and let it set up and I pull the set alloy off and reheat the mould and do the other halve. Works for well for me but I have to be careful not letting the alloy get down into the pin holes that makes them hard to get it out.
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Sometimes those "vent hairs" can just be mold vents cut a little too deep. One of my more recent BACO molds, bought for my bull barrel 45-2.6" gets them just a little, and I'm pretty confident the vent lines are just a little too deep. I've got dozens of those molds and this is the only one that does it. Mold is perfectly clean and it'll make little fins at any temperature that's hot enough to get decent fill out. Luckily they are very small and can easily be scraped off with a thumbnail.
desert deuce wrote: ↑Sun Dec 24, 2023 2:09 pm
Maybe I should send a half ton of alloy to Ian and let him cast my bullets.
I need to catch up on my own needs first. Hey DD since I have your ear……. I am going to attempt a ladder test again. I have not been very successful with them in the past. How do you do yours?
Coltsmoke wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 11:28 am
The vent hairs on the bullet is caused by pouring the alloy into the mold cavity too fast
Overly deep vent lines and a melt that is too hot can and do contribute to the fins. Some of my custom molds have the vent lines cut unnecessarily deep, a notched nose on ladle lets the air out. I always go for a large sprue puddle so the base fills out square at 805F.
kw
I can get them at 750 with a 5 second flip and a 20 second cool down. At 670-680 I still flip at about 5 seconds but I can cut the sprue almost as soon as the puddle is solidified. Casting for 2 people, if I can find a way to make quality projectiles quicker then I am going to do it. These things look like they are made out of chrome and are SMOOOOOOTH. Bases are as sharp as the were with the higher temps so I am very pleased with this.
I gave this a try today and what a difference. I had been having trouble with vent hairs and slight finning at the bases that was driving me crazy. Some fellas I shoot with were saying they were getting best results at 800 deg. F. I had been getting reasonable results at 750 deg. F so I was thinking my cadence was off, sprue plate maybe too loose on and on.....I still have to weigh and give them the evil eye yet but I virtually doubled the amount of bullets I saved in one casting session......I set my PID to 680 deg. using a Lyman thermometer ,poured the melt a little slower ,and lengthened my time in the mold after flash off from 15 to 20 seconds in front of a small 12v fan I have. Bullets look good and come out of mold pretty good but not every time. Will have to play around with this a bit yet....I had been procrastinating on getting this years' stock in place but am Gung Ho now !!!!!!Thanks for the tips as I had been going in the opposite direction after I had built my PID controller....
I cast at 862 degrees with 20:1 alloy outside when it is around 10 F.
I need the mold that hot for faster pouring under cold tempatures.
I pour as fast as I can and do not have whiskers in my air vents.
When it is cold outside when I pour I do not heat up too much and the bullets are not in a too hot in the mold for any length of time.
I pour fast and open the sprue immediately to shear off my bases with the back side of my sprue plate.
Shearing must be done rapidly while the lead is soft so as not to push the edge of the bullet in.
This provides perfectly flat bases with extremely square bases and more consistent weight variations of the bullets poured.
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bandanaman wrote: ↑Sat Jan 27, 2024 3:08 am
I gave this a try today and what a difference. I had been having trouble with vent hairs and slight finning at the bases that was driving me crazy. Some fellas I shoot with were saying they were getting best results at 800 deg. F. I had been getting reasonable results at 750 deg. F so I was thinking my cadence was off, sprue plate maybe too loose on and on.....I still have to weigh and give them the evil eye yet but I virtually doubled the amount of bullets I saved in one casting session......I set my PID to 680 deg. using a Lyman thermometer ,poured the melt a little slower ,and lengthened my time in the mold after flash off from 15 to 20 seconds in front of a small 12v fan I have. Bullets look good and come out of mold pretty good but not every time. Will have to play around with this a bit yet....I had been procrastinating on getting this years' stock in place but am Gung Ho now !!!!!!Thanks for the tips as I had been going in the opposite direction after I had built my PID controller....
I have been casting at 680 all weekend this weekend. Going to try to do a 1200-1500 bullet weekend. I use a welding glove to open the sprue. Almost as soon as the sprue hardens I use a gloved hand to open the sprue and then dump the bullet. Close it back up the go again. The ladle is in contact with the sprue plate. I’ll turn them with about a 3 second count and then hold the ladle and mould upright for another few seconds. When separating be sure to leave a healthy sprue plate. I have made probably close to 2000 this way now and I’ll never go back to my old temp
