Mike2
Active Member
Full Member
- Messages
- 568
- Reaction score
- 73
John, I had seen this all the time when I was doing PTM's. I used Microstar and I used to pour 900g's at a time. The rep told me I was crazy because I shouldn't be mixing such large batches. Anyhow, it was very common with the 300g ring to have hairline cracks before pressing, but they wouldn't split in the pressing cycle. When I did encounter this issue it was always to short of bench set outside the rings. My parameters were 15min in ring and 1 min out for 100g, 20mins in ring and 2mins out for 200 gram rings and I believe 25mins in and 3mins out for 300g rings. I would place all my money on steam cracks as the culprit. As a sidebar, are you sure that the powder isn't settling out in the machine, how often is it added? I like the single serve, they can be shaken and all components are mixed before adding to the liquid. One other possibility is the liquid, sometimes there are bad batches, I know you had done some alloy rings, but were they as big of rings and were they full casts? More to burnout ='s more expansion. I know you probably know all this but I would try a little longer bench set outside the ring. For the money, I think Microstar is by far the best investment out there and you can count on Jensen solving these issues for you, Terry is a great guy and very knowledgeable. If you want, you can call me and discuss further, I am sure somebody knows how to get you my e-mail???