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

[2A Georgia]

My PID is complete fired up and showed 27C in the room and rose to 29C with the TC in my palm, the default was 150C so the relay light was on.  Using the super glue trick I was able to strip the cloth insulation and mate the Male yellow plug to my TC.  Put the heat sink and rubber feet in the box and thermopasted the relay to the heat sink.  Last task will be to make a standoff/mount for the TC probe on the pot.
I should be casting NOE68 slugs and NOE217 Hunters this weekend.  That should cover everything I shoot except the two Gamos; 177 Pistol and the jumper likes lead free GTO and H&N.  Good news is the 177 pistol pellets go into the Gamo reactive trap and then the pot :-)

[avator]

You OK Bill or did GTA go on the blink ?

LOL.... I'm good.
I cast some sample of the WC and they varied 2gr from from the 4 cavities but the 17 and 18gr shot great from my fake 3622.
Today I'm going to pour samples from each cavity and keep them separate. I want to see if I need to do some fine tuning of the pins to make the weights closer among them all. I'll pour about 10 or so from each cavity.

[Back_Roads]

 What I do when checking mold accuracy, is fill the mold on the last pour, then let cool and inspect them as I remove them 1 by 1.
Good to see you ok and BL didn't feed you something not so good

[avator]

No, she ended up not making anything for dinner. We were both pretty full from that big breakfast. I had a big bowl of honey nut cherios before bed.

[avator]

Minor setback this morning....
I went into the Red Shed this morning with every intention of tinkering with the WC mold.
All of a sudden that dang Secret Squirrel showed up   
I noticed a Tupperware full of reclaimed pellets frm a trap I had cleaned out. I took the hood off the hot plate mold oven and poured that stuff in a pan. I got 3 nice shiny corn cob ingots out of it after scooping all the junk out and fluxing with some saw dust.
Then I decided to melt down and turn all those muffin pucks into corn cob ingots because they are much easier to add to the pot as cobs. I got 2 runs in the 8 cob cast iron mold and the 3rd started. It was halfway to pour ready when I noticed it was turning solid again. The hot plate was not glowing red anymore.
I plugged it into the pot PID to see if it was the hot plate or the PID.  Yeah, it's the hot plate... Maybe I burned the element or a wire. I'll open it up once it cools and have a look.... providing that dang squirrel don't show up again. 

[Madd Hatter]

[avator]

LOL...

I must be livin' right.
Nick was at the barn and I stopped in to see him. He told me he was going to pick up his new dog (Miniature Bully). Said he was going to build a kennel on the back of the barn and asked if I had any of those chain link kennel panels left. I told him I had 2 of them he could have.
We came up to the house to drag them out and the Red Shed was open so we went in and I was telling him about burning up my hot plate this morning.
He said he had a 2 burner hot plate still in the box.. he bought it for when he went to work on the pipe line but never used it. He is going to drop it off when he picks up the kennel panels later today.

[Back_Roads]

[triggertreat]

I guess love is in the air.  Today I went over to my neighbors to help him with his yard.  While there, I was gifted with some needed bamboo stalks for my garden along with a half bag of 13-13-13 which allowed me to get my beans in the ground.  Also, some very nice legs for my big slab of red oak I want to make a table with.

[avator]

That great..

I almost forgot...
When Nick saw all the clearing we had been doing around the place he said he has several bags of grass seed he would drop off. It's the good stuff they use for reclaiming on the pipe line.

[2A Georgia]

Maiden PID voyage cast some NOE Hunters dropped median of 19.4 with several 19.3 and 19.5.  I kept 19.2 to 19.8 but am real pleased with the consistency.  Still a lot of culls, but of course they just go back in the pot.  So the China model I have does not support Fahrenheit so Dr. Google says set point is 371C.  Will need to do some experimenting with the settings as we reached 400C peak and a low of 317C.  Pot level seams to affect temperature as well.  The Notos grouped well with these and the SPA pistola cycled them well through the Cooku clock...
Culls on the left in the photo

[avator]

I got a 50% cull rate on my first run of the 4 cav WC mold this morning.
If I look on the bright side, that would have been 100% on my 2 cav RF mold.   

[WobblyHand]

That sounds about right.  At least for me that rate wasn't confidence inspiring.  The small WC mold is not a good first mold for a beginner.  Fortunately, I had cast before, so I figured that something wasn't quite right.  On the other hand, having four cavities does mean that once you get the hang of it, you can crank out more.  In my case I needed a mold preheat, then yields got better.  Oh yeah, had to stay out of the wind.

Weather is crappy today, it snowed and now it's sleeting.  Hopefully it will all turn to rain soon.  Not a good garage day.  Looking forward to some nicer weather.

[avator]

Bruce...
I went back out and pulled the 2 cav 217 20 RF out of the toaster oven with the PID set at 130c. The pot was at 700f and I ladle poured around 50 drops (100 pellets). I had 6 culls and the rest dropped between 18.4 an 18.7.
Next run on the WC mold I will find the 2 best cavities and just pour those 2.

[triggertreat]

Sounds like you are well experienced now.  I don't even look at the first three or four pours.  I dump them in the recycle bin.  I know from experience those could very well be out of spec.  I do this to make sure the mold, pins and sprue plate are up to good temps.  With having a full 20lb pot to start it's not a huge deal.  I don't put any culls back in the pot until the flow gets too low, or the level drops below the temp probe.  This is to not disturb the top coating which keeps the lead from oxidizing.  I use the Frankford Arsenal CleanCast as the topcoat.  It's good stuff and only a pinch will do, so it will last a long time.

[WobblyHand]

Bruce...
I went back out and pulled the 2 cav 217 20 RF out of the toaster oven with the PID set at 130c. The pot was at 700f and I ladle poured around 50 drops (100 pellets). I had 6 culls and the rest dropped between 18.4 an 18.7.
Next run on the WC mold I will find the 2 best cavities and just pour those 2.

I think the issue is it's a bigger mold to get up to temperature.  The smaller weight of the pellet doesn't help much either.  Might need to up the oven or hot plate temp a little to compensate.

Really need the PID to work on the mold temp, not the oven temp.  How one would do that, not sure.  Put a thermocouple on the mold?  But getting and keeping the mold temp right would seem to be something to strive for.

[WobblyHand]

Sounds like you are well experienced now.  I don't even look at the first three or four pours.  I dump them in the recycle bin.  I know from experience those could very well be out of spec.  I do this to make sure the mold, pins and sprue plate are up to good temps.  With having a full 20lb pot to start it's not a huge deal.  I don't put any culls back in the pot until the flow gets too low, or the level drops below the temp probe.  This is to not disturb the top coating which keeps the lead from oxidizing.  I use the Frankford Arsenal CleanCast as the topcoat.  It's good stuff and only a pinch will do, so it will last a long time.

Good point on just dumping the first pours, those won't be any good.  (At least none of mine were.)

The Cleancast works quite well.  No smoke or flames, unlike candle wax!  I've heard that that flux may absorb water, so you need to keep it covered and dry.  Haven't had trouble with mine, but I've been keeping my powder dry.

[triggertreat]

Never had any trouble with the CleanCast getting damp, but thanks for the heads-up.  I find it works great and is clean and very easy to use.  I had trouble with sawdust clogging my particular spout, or at least I blamed it on the sawdust.

You're right.  I have used Gulf wax/paraffin wax.  I always have to prepare for the flame.  It has caused me to jerk at times and spread some lead to unwanted places.

[2A Georgia]

Fiddling with programing the PID adjusted to 365C set point as my Pot was having trouble getting to 371C.  It's a new to me so there may be an upgrade in my future (or overhaul). 
Already had the TC plug short out.  Had to re-wire and now running fine.
Took the drill to my $1.97 4 pack of wallyworld teaspoons and made a dross ladle...lol
Ran another 120 keepers of 217RF20 almost half 19.4 and 19.2-19.6 range.  I now have a 400 tin of hunters and two dozen for testing.

[Spacebus]

Fiddling with programing the PID adjusted to 365C set point as my Pot was having trouble getting to 371C.  It's a new to me so there may be an upgrade in my future (or overhaul). 
Already had the TC plug short out.  Had to re-wire and now running fine.
Took the drill to my $1.97 4 pack of wallyworld teaspoons and made a dross ladle...lol
Ran another 120 keepers of 217RF20 almost half 19.4 and 19.2-19.6 range.  I now have a 400 tin of hunters and two dozen for testing.

Are you using the molds I traded you? Glad to see its working for you if so!