How to make consistent shot - drilled crucible? Slanted wood?

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No idea but that lesson surely can surely save one, and he went out of it fairly fine.
 
So how did his "shot" turn out? Thank God he blew/burned a hole in the hose to keep from starting a fire, and he could wash out the cut on his ankle, without turning on the nozzle. A true professional at work. Love the commentary in the back ground. Wife is probably looking for the spatula, as he skims off the dross with it.
 
Only shot getting made i seen are the ones done by sreetips, however the result on the vid i think is good to have in mind when doing such things.
I once had a drop of water fall in my furnace, it exploded, i were lucky it only had few grams of molten metal inside.
 
As I watched this I’m saying “ too much ice”, “not enough water, bigger bucket”, wrong pouring tongs not safe” and “not enough clothes”.

And sure enough bam!

Another thing I always like to stress is have a clear path to run! Clear as in not having to run past the bucket but room to turn and run. If you’ve melted enough you learn from it. Mistakes happen but this was destined for failure!
 
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What he used for tongs are sometimes called water pump pliers or slip joint pliers, either way not pouring tongs.

The weakest point on a crucible wall is the top edge and a pincer style pouring tong puts all of the stress where the tong points meet. I have seen many crucibles break while lifting when all of the stress is at one point.

The best pouring tongs wrap around the crucible so it is gripped evenly, much safer.
 
His technique is wrong in so many ways, the only thing he did good was video it so everyone can learn from his mistakes. He is one lucky soul to escape with only a bleed in his shin.
 
I once took a silver shower pouring a 1000 oz bar because a bead or two of sweat rolled off my nose into the bar mold on the first pour.

It hurt. Shirt looked like I’d taken a broad side from 30 yards with bird shot and some double aught. That was with an apron on the front. So it went up and came down.

Steam explosions are no joke,
 
Years back I went into the melt shop and the melt operator needed help lifting the pour cradle on to the tripods to pour. He was making copper shot. The crucible was quite large, a #40 and it had to be lifted with a crucible lifting tong and put into the pouring cradle so he could pour it by himself. We got the crucible set to pour without difficulty and I stepped back while he poured. He was pouring into a 100 gallon cold water barrel.

He started to pour and it poured too fast, before we knew it, boom, water everywhere and the tank was almost dry. Fortunately no one was hurt. I didn't notice while lifting the crucible but he had used the wrong crucible. For shotting directly out of a crucible we always used a crucible with holes drilled through the pour spout to emit thin streams of molten metal into the tank. He mistakenly used a regular crucible, not drilled, and tilted it too far and it poured out the spout much too quickly.

Copper seems to be more reactive when poured into water, no idea why. Lesson learned, you clean up the shop and move on. Lesson learned!
 
Poured investment and sand mold castings out of induction furnaces in 2 different foundries. Crucible erosion to the coil happened occasionally, screamed like a banshee and all contents went airborne, always impressive under full power. Had the bottom drop out of a 3 ton furnace that was fairly exciting, luckily the pit was cleaned out the previous week.
 
4metals said:
His technique is wrong in so many ways, the only thing he did good was video it so everyone can learn from his mistakes. He is one lucky soul to escape with only a bleed in his shin.
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I don't really understand what happened. My guess is that because he pours the copper in one place, some water is trapped and is then superheated causing a steam explosion. But interesting that it is projected outward and not upwards.
Is that because the copper hardens around the water as it superheats, making it into a sort of steam-powered copper hand grenade?
 
nwinther said:
I don't really understand what happened. My guess is that because he pours the copper in one place, some water is trapped and is then superheated causing a steam explosion. But interesting that it is projected outward and not upwards.
Is that because the copper hardens around the water as it superheats, making it into a sort of steam-powered copper hand grenade?
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All explosions follow the path of least resistance. Yes, it was a steam explosion. Water acts as a very good stemming medium. There are a few patents out for placing an explosive device on the side of a 5 gallon bucket. This bucket is faced to the outside of the member to be cut, or shattered. The weight of the water pushes the explosive towards the member to be cut, very effectively. This weighting is the impetus behind all good blast design. Water is used as it disperses readily, without throwing a solid shrapnel projectile a considerable distance.
So yes, he did make a grenade, and because he had more weight on top of the grenade, the path of least resistance, was out sideways.
 
I have seen this happen a few times with lead. It is never a very pretty aftermath. I have seen several more people who were burnt by molten lead as well. One person was pouring lead in his house on the kitchen stove. He would pour to a mold then drop them in the kitchen sink full of cold water. Once his pot got low (a large metal coffee can) he reached in the sink of water and lifted the deformed sinkers and drops them back in the can. Ugly is putting it mildly. I saw a glass of cold tea drip into a pot that was holding about 80 pounds of molten lead. Till today that guy will throw something large and/or heavy at a person who comes near his lead pot when he is working. Personally I do not allow anyone around when I melt lead, or even other metals. My guess is this happens a lot more than anyone will admit.
 
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I am glad I read this before assuming shot pouring was a simple affair. So if I got all that straight, the slanted board with a water jet and a pouring stand with a drilled crucible is the way to go? When pouring from a drilled crucible, would you use the same one to do the melt, or would you use one for the melt and transfer it to the drilled one somehow?
When working with shot, why are the flakes better? If the goal is surface area then powder seems like the way to go. I have seen electrolytic cells running on shot in an anode basket, but are there other uses for it? Could you run powder in an anode basket?
Thank you all, I love this forum.
 
Paul Allee said:
So if I got all that straight, the slanted board with a water jet and a pouring stand with a drilled crucible is the way to go? When pouring from a drilled crucible, would you use the same one to do the melt, or would you use one for the melt and transfer it to the drilled one somehow?
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It all depends on why you want the shot. For a digestion you pour shot to get more surface area. Melting the lot together, as in karat scrap, requires melting to get the alloy homogeneous. Pouring it on to the board in a bucket of water will give you "popcorn" shot (AKA Cornflake) without holes. Some refiners will pour through small holes drilled close to the pour spout for the metal to pour through in a thin stream. Either works.

If you want small uniform shot for sale as shot, you pour into a pre- heated shot box which can be a crucible with holes in the bottom sitting just above a circulating tank of cold water. No board, drop right into the water.
 

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