plain
lead 65-75%
printers metal ( a lead -tin alloy ) 35-25%
then add a touch of white bearing metal ( usually
high phospherous/ antimony ) to toughen the above mix.
A touch is a touch............too much white
bearing metal & the mix goes too brittle & will break when dropped.
The standard approach is to take your best guess
of the above
cool a casting , place in vice 50/50 exposed &
hit with hammer .
( don't test it warm..........it needs to be at
room/water temp ).
- If it snaps add more plain lead.
- If it bends too easily..........add more white
bearing metal.
- If it bends a bit & does not crack , you
have a good mix & cast the rest of the mix into jigs.
Metallurgy from a previous life coming to the
fore.
I cast a lot of lead slugs & jigs with this
mix for personal use.
Most car bearings these days are a thin white
bearing metal coat over a copper shell, so its no longer a suitable source of
the white metal.
The best source is lathe swarf from an engineering
shop that does Industrial machinery white metal bearings, but make sure its
clean white metal.
High phos lead powder can be obtained directly
from metal alloy companies you can find on the web, but its pricey that way.
you can get a tough alloy using just high
percentages of printers metal in the mix & no phos...............but thats
an even more pricey way of getting the end result & its very touchy as far
as brittleness .
The right mix is found in a very narrow range of
plain lead - printers metal percentage without using the phos to modify the
lead -tin alloy that results.
The best user-friendly alloy is a
lead-tin-phos-antimony alloy that results from the mix identified at the top.
Issues:
Mould making 101: There is quite a bit available on moulds, the main points being
mates of mine on the oil rigs catch kings on 200mm shifters with assist hooks
![]() Bog is ok for smaller jigs (<150g) but dosnt hold up for larger jigs, it melts/catches fire. It is also cheaper to just buy jigs if you are going to use bog. By the time you buy the bog , CRC, stainless wire, shell out a box of piss for a bucket of wheel weights, stuff up a few molds trying to time it going off, buy some more bog, spill molten lead over the driveway, splatter your shins, put on some pants, splatter your toes, put on shoes, pour 10 jigs, melt mold, clean up the driveway, pants, shoes, buy primer, paint, clearkote, holo foils, eyes, then spray the jigs, ruin all the holo foil, realise the eyes wont stick, sand em all off again, spray the jigs again, give em some clearkote, end up with some pretty **** homemade jigs, try to make a mold out of concrete (dosnt work), plaster of paris (dosnt work), concrete/POP mixes (dosnt work), placate the missus for all the concrete dust/splatter around the place and then go fishing and use all your favourite shiny store bought jigs anyway cos they will probably work better, it is probably cheaper to just buy jigs.
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![]() Yanks have a similar issue, too many toothy critters, not enough $$$ to feed them as well. http://www.360tuna.com/forum/f87/help-me-choose-butterfly-jig-mold-3823/#links
Was thinking of using a product like this to make the mold: Mold making method: |
![]() No, not really. Not many encouraging posts... |
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