New To Jig Pouring

[Slammingjack]

I have been painting raw jigs for awhile and enjoyed it. So when somebody give me about 10 lbs of free lead. I thought I would start pouring my own. I have a few questions. I looked at  A lot of posts but can't find the answers.

 

First the lead is called sheet lead. Guess it has something to do with house building. How hard is this lead? I guess it better then WW, but not sure.

 

I got an old Colman stove that still works fine. I know I need a pot to melt and clean the lead. Does it matter  what kind of pot it is? (steel or cast iron) 

 

I read about using mini. muffin pans for pouring ingots. But I have read not to let it cool all the way or it won't come out. One guy sprayed it with Pam. So what's up with that? One guy said to heat the pan first, one guy said don't. So what do you do?

 

Thank you time guys

[gone2long]

I use sheet lead from a roofer friend and it works fine flux and your set. Cast iron is best as it holds the heat and temp can be controlled better but it's not the end of the world if you don't have it. I used a non stick mini muffin pan without issue I don't think a release agent will hurt as it will most probably burn off quickly.

[cadman]

There are a lot of answers to a lot of your questions from a lot of guys. So I'll give you my input for what it's worth.

 

Sheet lead is usually very soft and excellent for pouring. Sheet lead is made in sheet for roofers, for aprons that they put on people when they take x-rays and for x-ray rooms. Get all you can if it is free.

 

As far as steel or cast iron, cast irons is better but it is heavy. Also remember, that when you put lead in a cast iron pan. Pouring it to ingots will be a challenge as it is very, very heavy. I would suggest, getting a ladle and use that from your pant to your ingots.

 

Mini muffin pans are the way to go. I have some old black(I assume non-stick) and some aluminum ones. They both work and I don't use any mold release, pam or anything. ladle the lead into the mini-muffin pan, and let cool. Once the lead cools in the muffin pan, turn it over, tap it lightly and they all fall out. Done

Edited June 29, 2014 by cadman

[smalljaw]

I will echo Cadman's response for the most part but I will tell you something you may not want to hear but you need to. I do not recommend melting lead on a Coleman stove using a cast iron pot, the main reasons are the jigs themselves and safety. The lead you got is good lead so it should pour well but you will have a hard time getting consistent pours as it will be almost impossible to maintain a constant temperature and ladle pouring takes time to get down, I ladle poured for 2 years before I got my first bottom pour. The safety aspect is a major concern, if you are melting large amounts of lead on a turkey fryer with a cast iron pot with a large propane tank, that is different as the tanks will be able to stand some molten lead should you accidently spill the pot. If you spill the lead onto a propane cylinder then you are going to have trouble and 10 pounds of lead in a cast iron pot on a camp stove is a lot of weight, too much can happen. With that said, you don't have to go out and buy a $60 dollar bottom pour, you can get a small 4lb precision melter from LEE for $35 that you also use a small ladle with, if you are pour 1/2oz jigs and less then 4lb of lead will keep you going and you simply add more and you can easily cut the sheet lead with tin snips. Please be careful if you do the stove method and remember to wear safety glasses and gloves, cotton mill gloves are what you want to use.

[Slammingjack]

Thank you for posting guys. I know The stove is a bit on the weak side. I don't plan to get a big pot. Just something to get me going. I don't know if I will enjoy making jigs as much as painting them. The whole reason I wanted to try it was the free lead and I had a stove already. Hopefully I won't get as carried away with jig heads as I did soft plastics. LOL But you never know.

[Oldfart9999]

You were given some advice, I'll add just this; you'll hear about fluxing, if you run a search a lot will come up. I recommend fluxing, you'll get cleaner and better pours with more consistency and it's easy to do.

Don't worry, you'll be hooked.LOL

Rodney

[Ogajiga]

Propane camp stove will get plenty hot to melt lead to a working temp, say 900* on the outside. I agree with the importance of the grate setup being sturdy enuf to take the weight. I would consider that setup temporary, as the flat smooth grate could invite a catastrophic bump and dump.

 

I use a coupla flat bottom 6" cast iron cook pots, but heavy gauge stainless steel works fine too. I'd advise avoiding aluminum as the 1,200* melting point isn't much of a safety margin - iron is over 2,700*.

 

I'd recommend a cast iron ladle designed for melt pouring at least 2" diameter. The smaller thin steel ladles tend to dump rather than flow a stream of melt which doesn't work with molds I commonly use.

[Slammingjack]

Just to let everybody know how things turned out. I looked and looked for a used cast iron pot and no love. So I got a high walled cast iron skillet. Small one about 10" for only 6 bucks. It worked fine. So did the Coleman stove. Worked great for a stove over 30 years old. Guest they made them better back them. Used small candles as a flux. Got the flat grub mold from Barlows and EC 635 hooks and picked up eyes and a ladle. Mini muffin worked perfect. Dropped right out.  Poured about 50 jig heads using a ladle. Now I know why people buy lee pots. Got to be easier then a ladle. Out of 50 are so jigs only about 37 came out without voids or something wrong with them.

 

I know if you have a jig that does not come out right, you can dip the head into the hot lead and it will melt right off. What about the hook? is it junk now with the lead all over the hook?

 

Does Dross every go way? Seems it would form every few minutes and I would remove it and them pour the jig heads. Only to remove it again.

 

I got some more very thin sheet lead and some that was used to seal some kind of pipes. Melted it down fluxed it and instead of getting a clean looking lead color. I ended up with lead with a rainbow sheen to it. Was also the way the ingots look.  Is this stuff useable or is it junk?

 

Thank you again for your time.

[Kasilofchrisn]

When you remelt the jig head hold the hook with pliers. When the lead has melted off inside the pot give the pliers a good thunk on the side of the pot and thehook should be clean enough to reuse.

I have had sheet lead give me the rainbow sheen. It still works fine for me though it does seem to give me more dross even after fluxing. I am guessing there is an alloy in it causing the problem but I can't say for sure.

To get the molds to fill out better try spraying the cavities with Frankford arsenalt's Drop out. It is a graphite mold release spray. http://www.barlowstackle.com/Casting-Release-Spray--P361C62.aspx

[Ogajiga]

Rainbow lead in my experience is pure or very close to - congratulations! Its the easiest lead to pour.

 

As a commercial 100% ladle caster, I would guess your incomplete pours might be caused by:

1. Since your (soft) lead is already optimal for pouring, melt might need to be hotter. Try increasing the heat a bit at a time until your pours approach 100%. If that doesn't work...

2. Re-read my last post about the ladle.

3. Ladle pouring takes practice. Ideally, you eventually want to be able to control your melt stream volume, speed, and placement into an optimal position of the inlet gate. A quick dump into the gate could flood it, causing the excessive amount of melt to stall long enuf to cool against the mold surface causing premature hardening in the cavity or gate before 100% fill out.

4. Some molds are more difficult to pour, for example minimal gate Do-it Pro round head molds are impossible to ladle pour, but the Flat Grub looks user friendly with its vented triangle collar barbs & elongated pour gates. With practice, you will notice that with proper pour tekneek the melt will continuously flow thru the gate without backing up and pooling prematurely.

 

If mastering ladle pouring proves too frustrating, get a bottom pour for instant relief.