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HELP!!! better shotmaker.what am i doing wrong?

7K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  plinker611 
#1 ·
i have a better shotmaker black max 220 volt 7.5 double dripper unit.i just bought it and can't get it to make round shot. lots of dimpled shot,lots of flat shot,but nothing that resembles a round sphere.i have tried wheel weights,which were recommended,bullet lead too.i'm using laundry detergent as recommended coolant liquid. the lip is one quarter inch from the liquid.coolant tank is 20 inches deep.please help me!!!
 
#3 ·
Im new to shot makeing also have a single bowl.

What I have noticed is flat shot seems to form with to long of a drop between lip and coolant. I have mine set closer to 1/8.

Dimples seem to form from slighty to thin coolant. Also coolant temp seems to affect the size shap of the shot and dimple. I run mine at less than 120'F, thats as cool as my set up will keep it until I get a larger cooler.

I have a new problem, I was cooking along saturday and my drippers just slowed to spitting out big shot??? same batch of WWs I have been useing??
Can the machine get to hot? fun fun.
 
#5 ·
CALL JIM!!! He will pick up the phone!
I make shot and use crop oil. Temp and distance do not seem to be very sensitive but the oil is a bugger to remove from the shot. I am going today and buy some SUN detergent as recommended by a fellow from Birmingham that I met at Ark this weekend. He uses this full strength and has no problemsand it cleans up easily.

My shot, about a 55 gal drum full, is well formed with a very small amount of reject pellets, probably less than 2% total. I have found that ANY babbet will cause problems with drippers clogging and resulting in oversize globbs as you describe. Usually the clean out tool Jim provides will correct this at least for a while. If not, I have quickly flashed a torch across the drippers to loosen any trash material that may have stuck in the dripper.

FLUX YOUR MIX when you melt raw material and keep everything as clean as you can. If there is any flaky looking material on the top of your ingots when they cool, you probably have babbit in the mix and this is a a problem. If the ingot is slick and clean on all sides you should have excellent shot with no problems in a run of 500 pounds or more at a time.

For what it's worth, my last 500 targets scored a 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100 for a 98 average with shot that cost less than $600 a bag. I can live with that!
 
#6 ·
If you have not diluted the coolant, I would say it's to thin to start with. Thus causing dimples. Soap will normally thicken as you use it(evaporating the water) and this will help until it get to thick.

Move the lip as close as you can get it without splashing the soap up on the lip.

You were given the right advise with the wheel weights, but now so many have added other metal added to them. I would think you have run into lead with more Tin in it than normal. If that's the case try and run the heat lower and the level in the ladle lower than recommend. It seems to help the "grab" caused by Tin, that causes misshaped pellets.

I have never run a Stewart, so there may be some differences. Different batches of lead will run at different rates. As the lead comes off the lip on my Littleton's I look for two little bounce mark and a roll. If I don't find that, I adjust the angle of the ladle.

I agree with Jim Porter, if I owned a Stewart I would call and talk to the maker. He may have some advise that may be unique to his machines.

BTW if it was costing $600 a bag as Jim says, I would probably stop shooting! I couldn't live with that. LOL

Ajax
 
#7 ·
another thing to watch for are the ww 's that have mc-zn on them,they are a lead-zink mix and will act like you put a small amount of babbit in,i found that in my 100 lb melting pot 5% or moore of the mc-zn weights will give you fits,slow downs,stoppage blobs,the zink requires higher temps,and when they hit the cooler drippers the clog them up.ive gone to sorting all weights before casting ingots.(if they just say micro,p,al,mc,,, your ok,if they say mc-zn dont use them.the straight zink weights(fe-zn,honda) require 900+degrees to melt and will float to the top,watch your casting temp,keep it around 650 degrees)one thing to try when it happens is heat the bolt head(dripper) up with a blazer torch while running,and tap ladel,keep adding good lead untill you run it through,as far as dimples i find if i goofed up and left my brake fluid in the tank during humid weather it picked up moisture,after 100 lbs it usually burns out the moisture,thats why i try to drain my tank(15gallons harbor freight parts washer)after every run,i like the dot 3 because its free,and it rinses with water(get used stuff from service shops with brake flush equipment,so if your adding water cut back on it,mark jones
 
#8 ·
I've been making shot now for three years and have easily made 4 tons. I have a littleton and a Stuart. Advice is right, call Jim (he's always there to help) I drop my shot in Brake fluid (once temp gets to 105, I stop)I wash it with simple green and water, drain and rinse with water and then it goes on the drying table. I have to repeat babbit is a problem and one cant spot it easily. I try to keep my drippers clean and take them out often to clean thouroughly. I very seldom tap to make it run and I have never used a torch to heat the drippers, if anything I turn the machine off for a minute once in a while. My coolant level from the lip varies from day to day between 1/4" to 5/8". The only thing I can say that I do differently that no one else has mentioned is at times I raise the back of the machine putting a shime from 1/4 to 1" depending on how its running. Also I think its a must to flux your ingots with wax. I scim the laddle continuously.Once you get the hang of it, one can tell if your ingots have that right color
 
#9 ·
is it the high tin content of babbit that causes problems? Babbit melts at a very low temp. I have used nothing but sorted wheel weights, the zinc does take a lot more heat, my burner does all it can to get to 750ish degree, a little breeze and its cut down to 700. im going to flush out my better shotmaker and try another batch of WWs..........
 
#11 ·
Your lead is screwed up. I just bought a better shot maker and ran 200 pounds of 15 year old wheel weights. Great shot and about 5 pounds of screenings. Thought this is easy. Dumped about 200 pounds of recent weights in the cleaner pot and thought I would skim off the iron, etc. WRONG. Now have about 300 pounds of crap mix with zinc. Gives about 15% decent shot and must get too hot to run. I am going to hand sort my wheel weights from here on. NO ZINC. Got ahold of some linotype. Going to try some linotype and soft lead as soon as I get AC in my shop. Anyone have suggestions of how to clean the zinc mix?
 
#12 ·
reply to org post you have a bad mix of lead. car weights only and any thing less than 1 stamped is most likely zinc.
Next if you get a thermometer you can get the zinc out but its still going to be a problem in a shotmaker used moter oil helps but it smokes and will catch fire. I used up about 200 lbs and got good shot but had to do it outside.
Last note do NOT buy lead ingots for shot making If you do you will get a mix buy raw only and sort your self..A little time will save your hair pulling
 
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