A question for my fellow pourers .

How many of you clean up the spruce, the piece of lead left from pouring in the mold, before you sell you heads? What methods do you use to save time while doing this? I have been using a small diamond file to clean up where I break or cut off the excess lead myself. This is not that bad of a problem on small jig heads (1/64, 1/48, 1/32 & 1/16). Where I am running into the pain in the tail end is on larger pours and on sinkers. I pour everything at this time from 1/48 to 8 oz, in various sinker and jig heads. I guess I am basically asking if anyone has any better ideas than using a file for this time consuming job. I have actually thought about using my bench top grinder and changing one of the wheels out to something finer, but I am open to suggestions.

Thank you all,


Bobo


PS. as far quantity of lead goes. I have been known to sit down and melt, clean and pour over 50 to 75 lbs of lead at a time. I keep all of my bulk lead in 8 oz bank sinkers. It makes it easy to keep track of how much lead I have and use.

Roloc Gasket Removal Disc Pad Assembly 07715, 2 in - Shop3M
Find these called Rolloc gasket remover. Maron color works best. Need a adapter for drill. Not sure but 3M may even have one to fit bench grinder. If you have Harbor freight it's a good place to start looking.

I wear gloves when cleaning up jigs, I use a small file then a fine emery board, then wipe with a cloth and they're ready to go. Using any type of grinder or sander is going to produce dust.

Watch the grinders. You will have a hook in that finger and it will hurt! The pro molds have a lot smaller gate and we break off everything. I use a pocket knife some but not very often. Cleaning sprues is the pourers nemeses and we let a lot got at the shop. The girls paint with a torch and that melts and evens out most imperfections. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Part of the biss !

I have heard of some bad experiences about flash and spru left on from the sellers end. I use the gate cutters and a set of single ground side cutters designed for circuit board work as they can get very close, but are very expensive. Had I not gotten mine surplus I couldn't have afforded them. A moderately sharp, rigid blade knife is a good tool, and if it's pointed it helps even better. Sanding or grinding isn't an option I will even consider due to the inhalation hazard. I don't need anything else to deal with. I haven't tried the torch to soften the rough spots but that sounds like a good option. I make sure that all of mine go out clean and therefore have more time invested than most and charge a little more for it. Better molds and custom molds have almost no excess left and are worth the money for that alone. Do-it pro molds I have pour much better than the average one of this or 3 of those type of mold. One of my molds has to be held tight or it flashes some.

If you saw these with a 1/16th high pour spout piece still on and falsh all around the jig would you buy them?? Quick clean is the way to go!!!

[IMG]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...2/100_4968.jpg[/IMG]

I don't let anything like that go out. LOL I am not that lazy. hehehehehe


Bobo

I just have my cutters in my hand the whole time im breaking and cleaning up the heads. Once you've done enough of them it doesn't hardly take any time. I figured if someone wanted sloppy heads that had to be cleaned up... They would just go get some junk from big box stores!

I have been keeping my cutters and a small diamond file with me the whole time. It really doesn't seem to take a lot longer and I have my name on the product. I just was curious how everyone else was doing it.

Thank you everyone for all of the input.

Bobo