Newby on the block... well, to casting anyways.

[avator]

As one adjust to their needs their systems become custom. Mine is conveniently located by my indoor pellet trap for easy reclamation, sometimes I get a lucky ricochet right back into the pot

LOL James....
My trap is 35yds away... I'd have to get real lucky... or would that be unlucky?

[avator]

But yeah... I realized when I was working on the reclaimed mower that the casting adventure had completely taken over my workbench. It had to move and that corner was nothing more than a catch all space. So Betty Lou and I went on a scavenger hunt this morning and rounded up wood for the bench, legs and shelves.

[avator]

It's a beautiful 76* outside. It's 68* in the Red Shed and 100* in Betty Lou's hot house. She's been in and out of there all morning. It's like stepping out into A/C.

[Back_Roads]

It's a beautiful 76* outside. It's 68* in the Red Shed and 100* in Betty Lou's hot house. She's been in and out of there all morning. It's like stepping out into A/C.

Just a FYI plants grow best from 70- 85 degrees, over that they shut down to protect themselves, work out some mid day ventilation. Solar fans

[avator]

I mentioned that to Betty Lou on a couple occasions James. I guess she'll just have to learn.

[avator]

Just cast another tin of .25. (200 or so) They are being happy tumbling around together with some BBs in the tumbler.
I'm getting pretty quick at it. The new bench is nice because it's 6" or so taller and make the pot at a more comfortable height.

[Firewalker]

Just cast another tin of .25. (200 or so) They are being happy tumbling around together with some BBs in the tumbler.
I'm getting pretty quick at it. The new bench is nice because it's 6" or so taller and make the pot at a more comfortable height.

Any chance you could get a closeup of the pellets before you tumble them and another after they are tumbled?

[avator]

Right now you won't see much difference aside from being smoother.
Interestingly, if I just tumble the pellets alone they will take on a dullish finish and if I tumble them with the steel BBs the come out shiny like a chrome finish.
But, right now I'm dealing with alot of flash around the skirts of the pellets. I'm adjusting temps to see if that is causing it. I'm also wondering if I need to adjust the pins.
I'm looking into a resizer as well.

[avator]

Guys...
I'm getting flash around the skirts of my pellets.. what's up?

[Spacebus]

Guys...
I'm getting flash around the skirts of my pellets.. what's up?

The pins are probably set too low.

[brewbear]

Guys...
I'm getting flash around the skirts of my pellets.. what's up?

Either Temps are too high or you have a tiny bit of crud caught in the air channels or the pins. Lasttime I had a tiny piece caught in  the lineup pins not the skirt pins.
Or what DJ said.

[avator]

Thanks guys.. Imma shut things down for today and let it cool... I'll have a go at the cleaning up the mold and have a look at the pins tomorrow morning before I fire it up.
I really need to consider a temp gauge.. I have no idea where I am with temps but I've tried at different rheostat settings from 4 to 7. I set the mold on top of the pot to heat it up before casting but I think I'll change that to the hot plate instead.

[triggertreat]

Cast as cool as you can on pot temp without having spout sticking issues.  From my experience, you'll probably find this eliminates a lot of issues like wings and such. 

[Spacebus]

Cast as cool as you can on pot temp without having spout sticking issues.  From my experience, you'll probably find this eliminates a lot of issues like wings and such.

I find it to be mold material dependent. My aluminum molds like a cooler melt, but the brass mold wants it HOT. I get more hairs with a cooler melt. However, I'm casting outside, so my experience may not be relevant.

[Insanity]

Cast as cool as you can on pot temp without having spout sticking issues.  From my experience, you'll probably find this eliminates a lot of issues like wings and such.

I find it to be mold material dependent. My aluminum molds like a cooler melt, but the brass mold wants it HOT. I get more hairs with a cooler melt. However, I'm casting outside, so my experience may not be relevant.

But it is relevant as we all cast in different environments. Like I cast just outside my shed door with a fan at my back. So knowing how you do it may help in some way.

[Madd Hatter]

Guys...
I'm getting flash around the skirts of my pellets.. what's up?

I've had that happen when I got a little bit of lead sticking to the pins. I've also had it happen with the pins set to low. I also polish the pins with 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper. Nothing sticks to those pins, nothing!

[avator]

Got the mold all cleaned up and I think I found the problem....
I have a hot plate for melting down lead into muffins for the pot. I also wanted to use it to keep the molds hot between pouring sessions but I didn't want to put the molds directly on the hot plate coils. So Betty Lou donated a small cast iron skillet. It fit perfect upside down over the coils and I can rest the molds on top, which would be the bottom of the skillet.
Well, I never considered the grease and oils that were baked into that skillet and I think the put a coating on my mold.

[avator]

Anyways.... I have a test pour of about 100 pellets in the tumbler now.

[triggertreat]

Cast as cool as you can on pot temp without having spout sticking issues.  From my experience, you'll probably find this eliminates a lot of issues like wings and such.

I find it to be mold material dependent. My aluminum molds like a cooler melt, but the brass mold wants it HOT. I get more hairs with a cooler melt. However, I'm casting outside, so my experience may not be relevant.

But it is relevant as we all cast in different environments. Like I cast just outside my shed door with a fan at my back. So knowing how you do it may help in some way.

All good points.  My casting experience is only from casting in my shed with a fan drawing the ugly outside and me behind the fan so there is minimum wind hitting the pot.  I am a fair-weather caster mostly but do cast during the winter months as well.  I like getting all of my casting done before the heat hits.  I cast using a 20lb Lee pot that is controlled by a PID controller that I built.  I typically like casting at 735° while using some scrap wood as a makeshift enclosure around the pot.  This allows me to still get a good flow out of the exposed gravity spout.  I used to cast much hotter but that caused me more issues like shrinkage and fins/wings to form on the cast.  I suppose I could cast at 750° and could eliminate the enclosure but I think I get the best results at 735°.  Having the PID allows me to play around with different temperature to find, at least what I consider, the sweet spot for my setup.

[avator]

Yeah, I think if I'm going to continue casting I'm going to need to invest in some way to monitor temps. If for no other reason than to remove the guessing game.
I've complyely removed the cast iron skillet just to remove that from the equasion. I may invest in a brand new unseasoned one... or maybe just a flat iron. We'll see down the road.