KBear Posted January 26, 2016 Report Share Posted January 26, 2016 Does anyone here own a spin cast machine. I am having problems. I have built lots of molds but now have built molds for tube inserts (3/4 and 1 ounce)(Lake Trout up in Canada)and cant get them to go. I am thinking my lead mixture could be wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also what mixture of hard/soft lead do you use. I have been using 95% soft lead and think that could be a problem. Thanks so much. KBear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 whats the other 5% ? I use 94 lead 5% antimony. It could be the lead; more info would help. a pic of the mold showing the problem. I'm not sure what a tube insert is, but I am assuming it has a hook in it. do you have other molds that pour with the same lead? what percent of rejects are you getting? with my experience it could be any one of these things or a combination of, lead temp, rpms, spin direction, gate location, the speed the way you pour the lead in, etc.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I have poured a lot of bank sinkers with soft lead, so i am guessing that it is not the lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 the suspense is killing me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty's Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 What does "can't get them to go" mean? Can't get the mold to fill? Have the molds been vented? What temperature you pouring at? Have you tried reversing direction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBear Posted February 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) OK sorry for the late reply. I have been plowing snow and then rebuilding my furnace in the shop. What a pain in the butt. of course. Thanks for your interest in my post. I have attached pictures of the molds and the jigs I am making. These jigs are for 4-6" tube bodies with a 4/0 410 Eagle Claw hook, used for lake trout in the lakes in NW Ontario. (I am in Kenora, Ontario at the head of Lake of the Woods). I mix my lead about 90-95 percent soft lead and 5-10 percent hard lead from wheel weights. I was told that the hard lead would help it flow in the molds. I have no source for new lead and travel 120 miles to buy scrap lead to use. I melt it all in a big pot and make my own bars for the lead pot. It is clean when it goes into the big pot. I have tried pouring the lead into the spin cast fast, slow and in between. I have spun right from 5-10 on the machine. I have not however spun in the opposite direction. I have vented the molds. I keep my lead at about 750 degrees. I do pour other jigs and get about a 95% success rate. After thinking about this I wonder if my gates are too short. Any help would be appreciated. I cannot post pictures but if you send me your e mail I will forward them Bruce Edited February 2, 2016 by KBear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted February 2, 2016 Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 you can send you pic to david at hooksolutions dot com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 If you're smelting wheel weights you probably have contaminated your lead with zinc. It can cause problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
