I have what I think is a Rowell bottom-pouring ladle. Nothing special or unusual about it and it has a cast ladle cup.
So, after several thousand bullets I've finally figured out how sweet life is when you can get a nice thin stream of lead to drop right into that sprue hole. Casting is fast, the fills are complete, and I can minimize the amount of lead on top of the sprue. This helps me control mold temp a little bit, too, and reduces splash when the sprue drops in my pot. Life is good.
The problem is that the bottom of the ladle cup gets wetted with lead, and that tends to pull the lead back from the spout when I pour. This makes for more of a 'sheet' of lead in the pour stream--a thick stream that won't drop into the sprue hole, but rather tends to cover the entire sprue 'funnel' area. Even with a hot mold, this leads to poor cavity fills, and general mess on top of the sprue plate.
My solution is to wipe the bottom of the ladle cup with my leather glove prior to dipping in the pot. But this has to be done about every two pours, and is time consuming. I have to set the mold down first, lead gets all over everything, etc.
Do (or did) you have this problem and if so what's a good solution? I'm thinking of modifying the ladle with a short section of tube for a spout, but I'm not convinced that will solve the problem of the pour stream wanting to cling to the outside/bottom of the cup.
Maybe coating the bottom of the ladle with mold lube or Permatex Anti Seize? Duh!
