Need help with side gate mold

Shoemoo

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Nov 1, 2011
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I bought one of the new minnow head molds with recessed eye sockets. It's the half and half 1/32 1/16 mold. Those are the sizes I use most and I hoped having four of each would significantly speed up pouring jigs over the walleye mold where I only really use two cavities. I got the stuff out last night and poured up a bunch.

I found I'm getting a lot of incomplete pours, even when the mold is warm. All of the molds I've used previously have the gates that lead into the cavity from the top down. This mold has gates that lead into the side of the cavity and I'm finding it tricky to get a good pour on all the cavities. I don't think I had a single pour where there wasn't at least one that didn't need another shot and it's really slowing me down.

Any advice?
 

Hawnjigs

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Mar 23, 2010
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I notice your herring pours exhibited hard lead characteristics, so switching to soft might solve your problem. If you still have voids you can use a ruler and sharp pointed tool like an awl to scribe an air release vent. If that still doesn't work, tricky for first time, you can smooth the cavities and inlet gate VERY CAREFULLY with the thought in mind to facilitate lead flow. If all that doesn't work, and I've done this a few times, get a new mold.

Or, as Cadman suggests, mold release spray might be a quick fix.
 

Ron Don

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I have the mold. Soft lead is best. Leaning mold does help. When all else fails, hold mold up to pour spout to "inject" the lead.
 

LedHed

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"I have the mold. Soft lead is best. Leaning mold does help. When all else fails, hold mold up to pour spout to "inject" the lead." X 2

Doesn't hurt to use a mold release....
 

Shoemoo

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Thanks. I started out the pot with soft lead, but I've been topping it off with some old sinkers a buddy made and never used and I'm not sure what the source was. I only have a few left, so I guess I'll pour from the top down molds for awhile until I can restock it with soft lead.
 

Kdog

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Shoo, sorry I missed this earlier, but when I first got my mold, I had a lot of the same issues. First was to tilt the mold a bit to help metal flow. Id did but not to my liking, I then tried a dusting of talcum powder on/in the cavities..... viola, nice clean casts. Since then I have aquired drop out and treat most of my molds with it and the minnow heads in particular. Really helps for small run pouring. Also, its been said before... Clean Lead, Clean lead, and pure soft is a good idea. Frankford arsenal has a really good flux, odorless and a little goes a long way (Frankford Arsenal CleanCast Lead Flux) and Brownells BROWNELLS - MARVELUX® BULLET CASTING FLUX is another very good product. Both work well, but after using both repeatedly, prefer the Brownells even though I currently have the Frankford on my bench.
 

QPassage

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Nov 20, 2013
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Kentucky
I've had issues with my herring mold, poor collar pours. I read on the mold it recommends ladle pouring. Pouring with a ladle allows the lead to fill in faster and hotter. My problems went away after that, other than the mold gets hotter than heck after about 25 pours. .
 
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