From: bobd@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: bullet casting residue
Date: 11 Sep 92 14:05:33 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

In article <1992Sep10.211801.14617@bbxrbk> bbx!bbxrbk!russ@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Russ Kepler) writes:
#In article <1992Sep10.121156.29522@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> bobd@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula) writes:
##I don't cast indoors at all. One reason is the possibility of a pot
##explosion (see my previous detailed posting on the issue in this
##thread). The other reason is ventilation (no greater ventilation can 
##usually be had than the great outdoors). 
#
#I cast indoors, and use all of the equipment in the post that I've
#included.  I've got better ventilation indoors than outdoors - I
#control the airflow inside and can be sure of clean air at my
#workbench.  Outdoors the air can blow from pot to my face and there
#isn't much I can do about it.
#

True, but prevailing wind direction can usually be taken into
account (now the random bird dropping is another matter...).
Forced air for ventilation is definitely a good idea indoors
(and perhaps sometimes outdoors). A lot of folks cast in a garage
with the garage door open and a fan blowing across the pot.

#If you want to cast indoors and not worry about lead pot blowups all
#you have to do is to do the primary melting outdoors (if you're
#casting from wheelweights) or to use clean ingots.  

You're right, using refined alloy which has been stored under
controlled conditions is a different ballgame.
I'm still working my way through 500# or so of outdoor range pickups
(circa 15 years ago). I also have some wheelweight ingots
and an order for 400# of linotype (I'm stocking up on it now, just
in case the new "lead bill" makes it through Congress and the price
of lead tripples due to tax). I have a friend who is exceedingly
cautious who still had a pot explosion indoors (you can
see the embedded lead in his basement rafters). If that ever
happened with me, I'd have to flee the state to escape 
the spousal rath. Your precautions of storing lead under
closed environment dehumidified conditions certainly do far exceed my
friends precautions at the time. I am not advocating any absolutes
by any means. Whatever works & is safe for you is the order of
the day.

I was primarily concerned about the possibility of a neophyte 
casting fresh range pickups or junkyard wheelweights on a 
cast iron pot on the gas range.... (You'll find this mentioned in some
casting books as a way to get started and indeed Lee sells
a cast iron pot with no built-in heat source (or did)). With the
price of the Lee Production Pot IV being what it is, I would  definitely
recommend springing the price of a couple of cheap moulds for 
a PP IV to anyone starting out.                

One of these days I'd like access to a *large* furnace so that
I could melt down all this stuff and get it into convenient
ingots (no to mention getting the raw cleaning of the alloy
out of the way :-).


	[MODERATOR:  Later Bob posts..... ]

From:           bobd@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula)
Subject:        Re: bullet casting residue

In article <1992Sep10.121156.29522@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> bobd@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Bob DeBula) writes:
#
#Saeco moulds are also very popular and I believe they can be
#had in Aluminum, Brass, or Cast Iron. Definitely, Saeco is
#a much more deluxe way to go than Lee for Aluminum moulds.
#I'd like to try a brass mould some time for comparison.

Correction here, I believe I meant to say "NEI" rather than 
Saeco (although Saeco does/did indeed make casting equipment).
-- 
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              Disclaimer: These are my views, not the U's

        "If it's in the paper it must be true!" --- D. Doright