sdsaw Posted December 27, 2010 Report Share Posted December 27, 2010 ...Use a light coat of baby powder or talc. I know this is not new, but today I was pouring with a do-it mold that I've had for years (Shad #9 in 1/2 & 3/4oz) I've had trouble off and on with incomplete pours over the years in the barb area with this mold. Today, it just wouldn't fill with all the tricks that I've learned since joining this forum (lead being hot enough, mold being hot enough, candle soot or mold release spray, fluxing the lead, shimming the mold halves, etc) I remember talc powder being mentioned by fellow member "dlaery" and others. I tried some Johnson's baby powder in the cavity and barb area and it did the trick The one negative is it needed to be re-powdered every 3 heads or so. Oh well, better that getting a bunch of incomplete pours in a row Give it a try when you come up against one that just won't pour right for you. Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCD Posted December 27, 2010 Report Share Posted December 27, 2010 (edited) Was it all of the cavities that were coming out incomplete? Or just certain ones? I've noticed that if I pour on a cold and/or windy day, the cavities on the ends will be incomplete more times than not. I know this is from the mold cooling inbetween removing jigs and loading hooks for the next pour. When this happens, I just leave the hooks out of the end pours... but still pour the cavities to keep the mold hot. It takes a little longer to pour a batch of jigs this way, but they all come out real nice. Edited December 27, 2010 by GCD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdsaw Posted December 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2010 GCD, Come to think of it, the end ones do tend to give me more trouble than the other ones but the other ones will still act up. That is something to take into consideration. Thank you. It very well could be my lead not being optimum since I'm using a mixture of WW's (clip on type and flexible) The point that I'm getting at is it really did make a difference and kept me from walking away out of frustration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WidowMaker Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 The cavities that give me the most trouble with short pours are the ones ill pour blanks shots through in order to keep the core temp of the mold hot. Every third shot ill pour straight lead (no hooks) through the problem cavity and wont pour any lead into the other cavities. Another technique is to hold the mold so that the barrel of the lead pot literally extends down into the gate of the mold. This keeps the air from cooling the lead as it enters the mold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogajiga Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 "trouble off and on" suggests a variable which might be alloy composition. If very soft lead like 100% stickon wheel weights won't fill out the barbs, I'd suggest modifying the the barb faces into flats, like modern Do-it tapered barbs. Those older style multi level triangle barbs give me problems too so I avoid them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUCBOS Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 The cavities that give me the most trouble with short pours are the ones ill pour blanks shots through in order to keep the core temp of the mold hot. Every third shot ill pour straight lead (no hooks) through the problem cavity and wont pour any lead into the other cavities. Another technique is to hold the mold so that the barrel of the lead pot literally extends down into the gate of the mold. This keeps the air from cooling the lead as it enters the mold. I use my heat gun that I use for power painting to blow through the gate to heat both hooks and mold at the same time. Then you can pour all molds each time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dchance Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I use my heat gun that I use for power painting to blow through the gate to heat both hooks and mold at the same time. Then you can pour all molds each time I do similar except I will blow a torch into the gate for a couple seconds and it heats it up quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
