Pouring Small 1/80 & 1/64 oz. heads

Been pouring jig heads for 4 or 5 years now, and allways have trouble getting the 1/80 & 1/64 0z. round head jig with the body to fill complety some times.
Allways preheat the do-it mold with a handheld propane torch to make sure it is good and hot, and even smoke the mold with a candle, but still get a miss-pour, even with the soft lead i got from a dentist office.
Dont have any trouble with heads 1/32 and up.

Any ideas what he touble might be. THANKS

P.S. mold works fine till i put the Mustad hook in the mold.

I have never poured smaller than 1/32 , but last time I poured I added a six inch peice of solder wire and a little peice of candle wax. these tips were learned on this site and it seems the lead poured better and stayed shiny.
also, when I pour 1/32 the fuller the pot is the better it fills the head,the extra weight in the pot causes a little pressure pour I think.

pre heat your hooks, also might want to vent the cavities to the outside of mold

yeah,
have one do-it mold with little vent channels off each cavity and it really pours good. think about it, when the lead goes in there the air in that cavity has to go somewhere, probly a good pointy metal object and a straight edge would be all thats nesessary to scratch a few vent channels in the aluminum. thought about doin that myself.

Use a hair dryer on the hooks to heat them up. Also you can take a piece of sandpaper and sand the pour spouts to get them a bit bigger. I wouldn't use a torch on the mold but just pour a bunch of jigs without hooks to heat up the mold.

Fatman

the biggest thing i can tell you about making 1/64 and 1/80 is pure lead and only use pure lead for them if your using wheel weights you will have probs geting them to come out right

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yodibuzz

pre heat your hooks, also might want to vent the cavities to the outside of mold

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Was thinking that i might be getting something like a vapor lock around the spur body, never thought about making a vent. Will try that. THANKS !!

Well checked my mold, and saw a small vent coming off each cavity, but decided to make it deeper, and used a box cutter knife to scratch it deeper, and re-smoked the cavity with a candle. Got the lead hot, poured a couple of jigs, and still could not get a full pour.
But i did notice that if i stoped the lead pouring into the mold, just when the lead started showing at top of the mold, i could not get a full pour. But if i let the lead over run into the next cavity, it would fill every time, and get a good pour.

Havent tried heating the hooks, but will try that next. But i dont like the idea of handling the hot little hooks.

BM

Use the hairdryer it warms them up but you won't get burned by doing it.

Fatman

I pour 1/80th and 1/100th with no problems. I do preheat the mold with the hooks in it. I'm pouring lead that is 600+ degrees. I've found that the hotter lead works better on the small pours.

Someone on another forum said he milled a groove probably 3/8" that connected the tops of all the sprues so he could run one pour. I would guess it also keeps the mold hotter for better flow.