Looking to start casting slugs

C

Cactus

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Thunder Bay ON
Hi guys,

I am gathering the supplies to start casting slugs. Got some lead this morning and have a Lee 1oz Key Slug Mould on the way.

My question is about the melting pot and the heat source. I noticed a single burner hot plate at Walmart for 13.00 with temp control and was wondering if that would be good for heating?

I also looked at a small stainless coffee cream container to use as a melting pot. Would this work or should I be looking for somthing a little more heavy duty?

Cactus
 
Hello.... I also use the Lee 1 oz slug mold , it works good.. Lately I have also been using a product called "Mold Prep" and coat the mold with a q-tip , and it helps alot , the bullets/slugs drop out nicely...

As for a melting pot , what are the dimensions of the S/S cream pot?... And the thickness of the metal?.. I would be concerned it might warp under the great heat.... When I was wanting to melt down a pail of wheelweights , I looked around at the Sally Ann , value Village stores until I found a heavy cast iron pot , it works great , it's a 2 quart size , large flat bottom too. You don;t ever want to use a small bottom pot (what I mean is narrow and tall) as when your melting lead , stirring and fluxing you want stability in the pot used.

I have a 1 quart size cast iron pot which would be almost the same as the RCBS type melting pot , look around for either one is my suggestion.

To melt the W/W's by the way , I use my propane Coleman stove , it works....

I've heard of fella's using an electric hotplate , but I can't comment on it as I not used one... However , a casting thermometer would be a good help to regulate the temp of the alloy....

I'm not an expert on casting , but I hope these comments helped some...

All the best.........

Bob
 
"...a single burner hot plate..." Probably won't get hot enough. Forget the SS creamer. Too light.
Like M1Garandfather says, a cast iron pot will be easy and not terribly expensive to find. Look in the camping section of Crappy Tire or Wal-mart. Mind you, both are incredibly seasonal. They're busy changing their stock to Fall/Winter stuff now.
The really important part is the room you're casting in. Must be well ventilated.
 
I used a Coleman stove for years and a cast pot that was made just for lead. It takes about 30-40 minutes to get the lead flowing and you have to have a dipper to fill your mold. My suggestion(this is what I finally did) is to invest $60-$70 in a "Lee" lead furnace and you won't be sorry. The lead is flowing in 10 minutes or so and you can't beat the bottom pour feature. I cast 200+ slugs the other day in about 1 hour. I am sure you can find one on the E+E exchange and any of the big sporting goods stores will have one. BELIEVE me...it is worth the $$...
 
Use Lee slugs loaded down for action shoot and loaded hot for hunting. I am with the other guys buy the furnace it is well worth it....
 
I have cast dozens of slugs with the Lee mold. I was under the impression that you had to use pure lead only.

I use a camp stove for a heat source. Adjustable, portable, and provides plenty of heat.
 
Thanks for the insite guys,

I was looking for things that I could get locally to get started. The cast iron sounds like a much better idea, I will look for one of those. As for heating, I have a single burner propane heater in my garage (just thought of it when a camp heater was mentioned) so I'll give that a try as well.

My casting will be done outside when there is a nice breeze to get rid of the gasses that are produced. I'm a little superised that a hotplate on high may not be enough heat to do the job, for 13.00 I will try it.

One last question, looking at the box of wheel weights, I notice that there is a bit of tin or steel in the middle of the weight. Do you just put the whole thing in the pot and pick the pieces out when the lead starts to melt or let the whole thing melt and skim it off with the other crap when you flux?

Thanks,
Jamie
 
Cactus

I'm just getting myself set up for casting, so take my advice for what it's worth. I have the $13 hotplate in question, and have used it for melting wheel weights. It gets hot enough to melt lead, but is under the temperature to melt zinc. Using a 10"(I believe) cast iron pot from value village, I can max out at 16 pounds of melted lead. I put a lid over it with 3 layers of aluminum foil.

I'm sure it would work fine on a small scale until you could upgrade to a production pot. If I had bullet molds already I'd have tried it. My .02

If you try smelting the wheel weights, stack the pan heaping and settle it with your hand. Cover it with the foil and a lid, set the temp on high, and go find some grass to mow/eat sammich for about 40 minutes. Use a dollar store slotted spoon and stir the wheel weights, and all the clips and zinc wheel weights will be ready to scoop out. Flux with some old candle, and don't set the lid down on it after dropping the wax. The poof might suprise you! If it's cold out or you doddle, your molten lead might start going to slush around the edges. But you'll get it figured out with a little trial and error.
 
Cactus said:
Thanks for the insite guys,

One last question, looking at the box of wheel weights, I notice that there is a bit of tin or steel in the middle of the weight. Do you just put the whole thing in the pot and pick the pieces out when the lead starts to melt or let the whole thing melt and skim it off with the other crap when you flux?

Thanks,
Jamie
Click to expand...

Exactly. I recommend you get the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, it's a great resource.
 
I haven't read all the posts, but I have certainly "been there."
The coleman stove works, but takes careful control to keep the temperature right.
The single burner hot plate with a control is much better. Actually, about as good as it gets. Because, the heat must be reduced as the metal goes down in the pot. I have used a Lee melting pot for years and it always required the heat to be lowered as the pot emptied.
I will guess this statement will be controdicted, but I have used it too much to have my mind swayed on the matter. If you don't lower the heat the metal gets too hot.
With the external heat I too, use a cast iron pot made for melting lead. It's heavy weight over a hot plate, or Coleman stove, or kitchen stove, or wood heater, makes it easier to keep the proper heat, than does a Lee aluminum melting pot.
 
I don't know where you live, but Princess Auto had a single burner butane stove for $20. I picked one of those up and I already have a 10lb pot for melting lead and was using it for melting range lead and then pouring 1lb ingots for use in my Lee 10lb electric pot. I could melt about 4lbs of lead in under 5 minutes once it was all up to temp and get about an hour of run time at full blast from a $4 can of butane.

I may have been lucky or just careful enough that I didn't spill any lead onto the stove itself. I will not use a stove I use for cooking food for cooking lead though. For $20 for the stove from PA it was well worth it for me.
 
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