I don’t ladle cast, and very seldom have metal go off the left side of the mould. Like Ian mentioned a slight raise of the handle directs any excess off the end. When I do have some run off the left side I just wait until I open the mould and pull any off with my gloved hand, usually when that happens it is attached to the spruce anyway, so it makes a good handle. I preheat on a hot plates with the brackets and pins down mostly, then turn it over onto the spruce plate for the last few minutes before I start casting. I have a piece of 1” tubular steel I put under the mould handles while it sits on either side of the mould that keeps the mould flat on the hot plate. I usually don’t even look at billets dropped until about four or five cycles. I just automatically dump them back in the pot. I believe that also brings the nozzle on the Lee pots up to temp some. Works for me.