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charlesterry
Hello, this my first post and I need a bit of help. I have a TL359-178-RF-AI5 2 Cavity RG2 GC and I’m having trouble getting consistent bullet weights. Of the 38 usable bullets I cast the weight ranged from 161.8gr to 165.9gr.this seems like a larger spread than I would be think it should be. I am using wheel weight as the casting material and I have the hollow point pins in the mould. I am not an expert caster! The bullets are not frosted but not shinny either. I have ordered the mould thermometer and probe from NOE hopping mould temp consistency might help. Any other tips or direction would be appreciated.
Thank youCharles
charlesterry
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Mike B.
The HP pins in the NOE HP design do tend to have a tiny bit of play in them in order for them to work properly … It is what it is..
Thus the way one consistently sets the pins orientation after dumping out the cast product may potentially come into play.
Closing the mould with the HP pins facing downward will tend to orient that play to make the next cast slightly less in volume.
Thus one might possibly wish to try to setup a consistent method of opening and then reorienting the mould, (& thus the HP mould pins to reset them into basically the same position a tiny bit more consistently)…
The up & down orientation of the HP pins will basically be dependent on the way that you tend to open and close the mould up for the next fill… Try dumping the mould then rotating the mould back up to attempt to seat the HP pins in the same orientation that you plan to do the next fill… & then close the mould and sprue plate… to see what you get…
Lastly it also tends to help a tiny bit to flux your alloy melt every now and then… as the tin tends to want to separate out & float at the top… of the mix… that will also affect the final cast products weight…
Take Care, & Stay Safe…
You might want to set your mould on top of the pot and let it heat up with the pot once you apply power… I have a separate horizontal arm next to the pot to balance the handles on … So that the mould body itself is flat on the top of the mould pot, to heat it evenly… With HP pins I make sure that the bottom of the pins are resting directly on the pot…
That way the mould will be hot, enough, & ready to go once the pot comes to temperature … For my lead pots that is normally at least 1/2 an hour to 40 minutes… after I apply power… Otherwise , you might potentially some of the first fills with wrinkles as the mould heats up … My rejects overall are about 1% of the run… But then I tend to be a bit more picky on the QC side once the run is done, & I am inspecting the cast product …
A normal lead ladle and a pinch of lube about the size of a pea will help to flux the tin back in as you stir the lead alloy to get the tin mixed back into the mould… The burnt residue from the flux can then be skimmed off and the resultant mix will tend to look like almost a smooth mirror image… rather than a bumpy road… the bumps were the tin that melted first, & needed to be mixed back in…
If you are getting wrinkles in the cast product the mould is not hot enough… my normal rate of fill is about 4 to 6 per minute depending on how many cavities the mould has… Frosting means the mould is starting to get too hot… though some frosting tends to be acceptable … However too much and the lead alloy fill starts to shrink away from the mould cavity…
If you start to see some frosting that means the mould body is beginning to get too hot… You can slow down a tiny bit if you want to…
Last but not least If the HP castings tend to stick on the pins when you turn the mould 90 degrees to empty the mould of cast product … the pins are most probably not hot enough … or you are moving too slow…
Once you fill the mould watch the excess lead that has pooled on top of the sprue plate… when you see that cool on the last cavity that you filled … It is time to cut the sprue off and dump your cast product… Some people like a water pool to dump the product into to quick harden the alloy… I tend to prefer an old beach towel folded up in a low box.. It tends to be softer than a regular container…
Take Care, & Stay Safe…
Mike B.- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.