robbor Posted December 19, 2008 Report Share Posted December 19, 2008 (edited) I just bought a hilts 2lb cannon ball mold off of ebay. I was thinking if just getting some SS wire and making the eyes. Any idea what diameter wire is used on heavy eyes? they take a bse3 id guess it the same as a do-it #3? Edited December 19, 2008 by robbor im retarded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 What will you be using them for? We use a lot of 2 and 2.5lbers here on the West Coast for salmon and halibut. If you want to make the eyelets yourself, don't buy wire until you receive the mold. Use the thickest copper wire that will fit into the eyelet recess. That will be approximately 0.075-0.080" which I believe is the same wire thickness as the BSE3 eyelets. Copper wire is inexpensive, commonly available, and easy to form into eyelets. Stainless is needlessly costly and requires considerably more effort to form eyelets with the required tolerance to fit the mold consistently. If you try 0.075" stainless for eyelets, you will soon see the chore you've created for yourself. You could use 0.050" soft stainless mending wire, but that may be hard to find in your neck of the woods, and is no better than 0.075" copper anyway. A tip from someone who's been there: The most user-friendly eyelets for heavy cannonball molds will be ones that have a slight friction-fit or 'spring-fit' and are able to hold their position within the eyelet recess. Loose-fitting eyelets will usually fall into the cavity upon closing the mold, and are generally a pain. I would also advise that you pour these weights at as low a temp as you can. Good luck, hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbor Posted December 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 thanks for the tips sagacious. Why low lead temp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagacious Posted December 20, 2008 Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) thanks for the tips sagacious.Why low lead temp? So you get complete fill-out. Pouring several pounds of lead per casting is subject to conditions not encountered in pouring small weights or jigheads. Lead expands as it is heated, and 2lbs of lead will-- if overheated-- exhibit significant shrinkage upon cooling. That often causes a large shrinkage cavity (looks like a large, deep dent) to appear on the side of the casting. Sometimes the hollow forms inside the casting, and the shrinkage causes a large dent and crack to form on the side of the casting. This is fairly common. The proximal cause is failure to pre-heat the mold properly, which then causes incomplete pours, or causes the sprue to become quickly clogged and blocked with solidified lead. An inexperienced caster may then assume that the problem was insufficiently hot lead, and will crank the heat up until the lead flows into even an insufficiently pre-heated mold. Shrinkage cavities are the result. Adequate mold pre-heating is mandatory-- same as with smaller molds. However, you're best off if you don't try to pour very large weights at a very high heat. 2lb cannonballs take a while to cool down, and repeated pours with large shrinkage cavities will quickly overtax your patience. Just a few words to the wise. Are you useing these weights for something top-secret? Edited December 20, 2008 by sagacious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbor Posted December 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) Good to know, i guess its always a good thing to know why you have ball shrinkage:lol:. Top secret, I dont think so. My fishing buddy likes salt fishing and i had someone recommend a bottom bouncer/flasher halibut rig so i got him one for Xmas. At the stupid tackle shop I had to drive an hour to get to for the $30 halibut rig, 2# weights were 6.99 each and i have 300lb of lead so i figured a $24 mold was a better investment than buying 4 weights for $28. I dont know if it makes a diff but im only planning on using wheel weights for this big stuff. Im also going to powder coat them, maybe make some shot-puts. So i personally like fresh water and obsquire detail oriented stuff. Im working on making my own crappie jig molds. I use alot of ice fishing stuff and other odds and ends usually way big or way small. I just finished a plastic body mold in the soft area. I also made a wire bender that i still need to finish by adding the stop blocks so this would be a good excuse to finish it. Edited December 20, 2008 by robbor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
