kmw1954
Member
Thought I would start a new post so as not to get convoluted.
Today I lost my casting virginity with that new Lee 356-102-R1 mold and my first reaction is WEW! It was a bit breezy outside to it seemed to take the pot a while to melt the ingots and get up to temp. Next I put the new ladle in the molten to get it hot. Pot partially froze up until it came back up to temp. Then placed the mold on top to heat and again the pot froze up some.
After I felt good about the lead temp and it was pouring nicely from the bottom of the ladle I took a deep breath and poured.
What a novice was my first thought as there was lead everywhere. The sprue plate was completely covered and there was lead running down both sides of the mold. But the cavities were filled out and the bullets dropped out reasonably well. This repeated pretty much most of the first 10 minutes.
As I was progressing the sprue got smaller and more well formed only then I started getting incomplete fills and what looks like separations from starting and stopping and starting again.
Good thing is that everything looks to have good sharp fills but there were a bunch that looks like I didn't get the mold closed squarely as the lube groove was misaligned.
I can see where this is going to take some practice and a good repeatable technique.
The GOOD, The BAD and the Ugly!
Today I lost my casting virginity with that new Lee 356-102-R1 mold and my first reaction is WEW! It was a bit breezy outside to it seemed to take the pot a while to melt the ingots and get up to temp. Next I put the new ladle in the molten to get it hot. Pot partially froze up until it came back up to temp. Then placed the mold on top to heat and again the pot froze up some.
After I felt good about the lead temp and it was pouring nicely from the bottom of the ladle I took a deep breath and poured.
What a novice was my first thought as there was lead everywhere. The sprue plate was completely covered and there was lead running down both sides of the mold. But the cavities were filled out and the bullets dropped out reasonably well. This repeated pretty much most of the first 10 minutes.
As I was progressing the sprue got smaller and more well formed only then I started getting incomplete fills and what looks like separations from starting and stopping and starting again.
Good thing is that everything looks to have good sharp fills but there were a bunch that looks like I didn't get the mold closed squarely as the lube groove was misaligned.
I can see where this is going to take some practice and a good repeatable technique.
The GOOD, The BAD and the Ugly!