Author Topic: Anyone make their ingot molds? (Read 2347 times)

Steve P · « **on:** March 28, 2003, 03:05:03 PM »

I have a huge old cast iron canning cooker. Melted 150 pounds of lead in it last weekend. Less than half full. My problem is my two rcbs ingot molds heat up and then the ingots take too darn long to cool. Spent a couple hours making ingots and watching my propane bottle go down just keeping the lead liquid. Anyone make their own ingot molds? I need the ingots to fit in the Lee casting pots. Muffin tins don't work. Messed up two of them tinny buggers trying. Don't want corn cobs from the corn bread molds. Can't seem to find anything else to knock out a few hundred pounds an hour. I want to be able to stack or box the ingots. I have several hundred pounds cast up at a time. The pot will melt it, Just need something to put it in to form the ingots.

Steve :roll:

Leftoverdj · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2003, 03:34:07 PM »

They make cast iron muffin pans. That's what I use. Works great.

Mine is an old one, but Lodge makes something they call the straight side muffin pan in cast iron. Sells for about $12.

I'm not gonna put much effort into making something I can buy cheap.

hammerhead357 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 28, 2003, 06:22:25 PM »

I have resorted to turning the ingot molds upside down and cooling them with a spray from a water hose to cool them. Just don't get them to cool or get any water on the inside after they are cool. Wes

hammerhead357 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 28, 2003, 06:23:51 PM »

I have resorted to turning the ingot molds upside down and cooling them with a spray from a water hose to cool them. Just don't get them to cool or get any water on the inside after they are cool. Wes

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #4 on:** March 28, 2003, 10:26:17 PM »

get some of the mini muffin pans they make about one pound ingots.

Leftoverdj · « **Reply #5 on:** March 29, 2003, 01:53:14 AM »

The Antimony Man has what looks like a fine one. Casts eleven half cylinders weighing 1.5 pounds at a go and he wants $26 for it.

# 566 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 29, 2003, 05:45:38 AM »

If you can weld or have a friend that does you can use angle iron, cut to the length and use the size you want ^^^^ use the non welded ^ and use angle or flat bar for the sides, BUT make it to big and it IS HEAVY

# 566 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 29, 2003, 05:52:10 AM »

^^^^ like this :roll: so much for large font size

Turbo · « **Reply #8 on:** March 30, 2003, 06:30:58 PM »

I pour my lead into muffin pans, making sure I don't fill each cavity too full. I try to make them no more than 1/2 full so the ingots fit into my Lee production pot easily.

Be sure to find muffin pans without any seams. If they have seams, the lead gets hung up and the only way to get the ingots out is to destroy the pan. I buy seamless aluminum muffin pans at Good Will and other thrift stores for about $1.50 to $2.00 each. Buy lots of them. The ones with a non-stick coating are best if you can find them.

Also be careful not to dent the muffin pans. Dents can make the ingots hard to get out.

I partially fill each cavity in the pan and let them cool a fairly long time. I then grab them with gloves and flip them upside down on a piece of plywood. If you have lots of pans, you can let them cool a bit longer before flipping them over.

Jon

markcl · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2003, 05:34:38 AM »

Pop cans work fine ,be sure they are dry,they hold up to 7 pounds full,let em cool and ripe the can off

Graycg · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2003, 08:59:09 AM »

A friend of mine does sand casts of brass parts for muzzleloaders and sailboats, I saw how he made his parts and stole one method that for making ingots. I use a pan filled with cat litter, make the ingots the size I want shaped out of aluminum foil and push them into the cat litter and then pour the ingots, when all the foil ingots are hardened, pull them out and reline the litter with more foil. This is a very good way to pour lots of ingots very quickly. You can probably substitute sand for the ingots as that is what my friend uses with his brass. I have quite a bit of cat litter around so it works for me.

regards,
Graycg

John Traveler · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2003, 09:11:52 AM »

Hey, GrayCG!

Is that fresh cat llitter or the USED stuff?

Just curious about the smell when that molten lead goes into the cat litter!

John

Paul H · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2003, 01:05:34 PM »

I use a stack of ~5 red shop towels that are sopping wet to cool the molds down, works well enough with a pair of ingot molds, but I've never had more then 30-40 lbs at a time being turned into ingots.

If I had 100+ lbs to turn into ingots, I'd weld up some 1 1/2" angle iron as the other posted showed to make triangle shaped ingots.

Steve P · « **Reply #13 on:** March 31, 2003, 03:42:48 PM »

Lots of good suggestions. Thanks.
Went to 20 some goodwill stores one weekend. O cast pans or muffin pans. Been thinking on the angle iron home built one. Was worring about getting the welds clean enough so the ingots didn't stick.

Don't know who the Antimony Man is.

Looks like I might be welding something up. Have a session coming up with ingots, down rigger balls, and halibut weights. Will be a casting fool for a day or two.

Thanks again.

Steve

Graycg · « **Reply #14 on:** April 01, 2003, 09:10:11 AM »

John Traveller,
Between the Cat litter in this thread and toilet bowl wax rings in another it could get really stinky around here!!!

regards,
Graycg.

Robert · « **Reply #15 on:** April 01, 2003, 01:39:23 PM »

I am only making small quantities of bullets, but of course, trying to melt WW and pour them straight into the mold can get a little dirty with slag. I went into the junk shop today and found an aluminum meat tenderizer, and the sides are hollow. It worked excellent, wonderful little ingots without any slag. I am using little cast iron frying pans for melting. They are sold as ashtrays for camping and have an excellent pouring lip where the cigarette is supposed to sit.

Larry Gibson · « **Reply #16 on:** April 01, 2003, 02:33:03 PM »

Steve P

I use the top of GI mess kits. Each side makes a 3 - 3 1/2 lb ingot. 6+ lbs per lid (2 ingots). I use 3 of them as I use a 20 lb pot (cast iron dutch oven) on propane burner. They cool pretty quick and I use pliers to grasp them and turn them over so the still hot but solid ingots cool on the driveway. You should be able to find some in surplus stores or second hand stores. They are not issue anymore so they should be available. The ingots fit fine in most furnaces.

Larry Gibson

Flash · « **Reply #17 on:** April 01, 2003, 03:01:55 PM »

I use the soda can method myself. I just don't peel the aluminum until I am ready to melt them down. They are very handy to store too.

Leftoverdj · « **Reply #18 on:** April 02, 2003, 04:24:07 AM »

http://aolsearch.aol.com/redir?src=websearch&requestId=a3ba69d6109f1e53&clickedItemRank=2&userQuery=%22the+antimony+man%22&clickedItemURN=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theantimonyman.com%2Ffurnace.htm

Go to pricing, then ingot moulds. He does not have pictures, but I once ran across one of the half round ones in an "antique" store. They had it priced as an antique or I would have bought it. It may even have been an antique. Some cast iron patterns have been unchanged for 100 years. Anyway, it's a half cylinder about 1.5" x 5" or 6".

Bob/FLA · « **Reply #19 on:** April 02, 2003, 07:12:02 AM »

I took my router and made a 1x1/2 trench in a 2x4. made it about 12" long so it looks like a bread stick. Fill it with lead, let it cool...drops right out. Remember to have the bottom narrower than the top. I poured 100 pounds of lead before the wood charred through.

Kragman71 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 02, 2003, 04:38:51 PM »

Don't bother making those ingot molds from angle irons.
I did that about 10 years ago. A couple years ago, I was advised that the common muffin tin will make a nice ingot mold. I discovered that they are easier to pour into because they cover a larger area. They are also cheap.
I threw out the old heavy,cast,angle iron molds.
Frank

carpediem · « **Reply #21 on:** April 09, 2003, 06:51:59 AM »

Greetings from the Great White North:

I made up some of the triangular lead molds and they work fine. Be sure to fill the seams with weld or your lead will stick to the mold and you will have a bugger of a time trying to get the lead to drop from the mold. Don't ask how I know this.

Carpediem