Cast Iron Open Ingot Mold for Melting Alloying Metals (500 gram)

I bought this specifically so I would have 1kilo ingots to use. First and foremost it does not hold 1000g. At the very most of any metal you can cast into this it runs about 880-920.My second complaint is that not only is the interior misshapen, it was so badly misshapen that the ingots would not come out of the mold due to a protruding undercut on the inside.Finally the cast iron has been painted with what appears to be a red enamel gloss that is in no way heat resistant. I don't really expect for these to have any paint job that lasts but this in particular was just awful. On the first pour I had to wait for literally all of the paint to burn off of the ingot mold before I could retrieve the ingot.

Great for small molds but the handle gets extremely hot

Great item second time ordered

Ive just started doing my own recycling of aluminum and copper and got one of these 1kg molds as a gift. It worked alright for about 10 pours. Each pour would use this mold twice, then Id let everything cool and do it again the following weekend.Well, like I said, it worked for 10 pours (20 ingots). The last pour of aluminum ate a hole through the bottom of the mold. I'm not sure if this is the normal lifespan of a cast iron mold, but my one crucible is holding up WAY better. Perhaps I should have gone with graphite molds instead.