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- Sep 19, 2017
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Have any of you encountered this in your lead pots, and WTH is it? How do you stop/get rid of it?
It’s really messing with my bullets. They still shoot ok, but I am after perfect.
You can see in the bullet, some inclusions, and the base isn’t perfect.
I melt down plumbers sheet lead in a cast iron pot and flux, and skim, and flux, and skim, until I have a nice shiny surface. Then I cast into mini muffin tin ingots, mix with 50/50 solder to 35:1 alloy (17-1/2 lbs to one pound 50/50 solder) melt in my Lee 10 pound bottom pour pot, and then get all this crap stuck to the sides and on the valve rod. Of course it decides to come off in the pour.
I use candle wax as a flux, have used cedar sawdust also and tried leaving it on top of the melt after stirring it thoroughly.
I used to plug my spout with it too, all the time, until Lewis suggested drilling the spout out a little larger. Now it doesn’t plug, but after about 1/2 a pot, I start getting the crud.
I don’t think I’m running too hot either, it takes about 2-3 seconds for the spruce to solidify and there is no color in the bullet, I’ve gone too hot before and had some pretty rainbow colors show up, mostly purplish.
I had the same thing there too. Crud in the bullet.
I stir and scrape the sides of the pot also while I am casting and seem to always get a little more of it to float every time I do. At a loss....
It’s really messing with my bullets. They still shoot ok, but I am after perfect.
You can see in the bullet, some inclusions, and the base isn’t perfect.
I melt down plumbers sheet lead in a cast iron pot and flux, and skim, and flux, and skim, until I have a nice shiny surface. Then I cast into mini muffin tin ingots, mix with 50/50 solder to 35:1 alloy (17-1/2 lbs to one pound 50/50 solder) melt in my Lee 10 pound bottom pour pot, and then get all this crap stuck to the sides and on the valve rod. Of course it decides to come off in the pour.
I use candle wax as a flux, have used cedar sawdust also and tried leaving it on top of the melt after stirring it thoroughly.
I used to plug my spout with it too, all the time, until Lewis suggested drilling the spout out a little larger. Now it doesn’t plug, but after about 1/2 a pot, I start getting the crud.
I don’t think I’m running too hot either, it takes about 2-3 seconds for the spruce to solidify and there is no color in the bullet, I’ve gone too hot before and had some pretty rainbow colors show up, mostly purplish.
I had the same thing there too. Crud in the bullet.
I stir and scrape the sides of the pot also while I am casting and seem to always get a little more of it to float every time I do. At a loss....