Bad night with RD mold.......

[rbertalotto]

So, last night was the first time I had ever cast a lead boolit........I cast a bunch of 255g .452 (6 cavity) and a bunch of 405g .458 (2 cavity).......I'm pretty proud of how they came out. I posted about it last night.

Tonight I decided to try my Ranch Dog .460, gas check , 6 cavity mold.........Oh boy...Not good. After casting over 100 boolits, 29 were usable. Same lead as last night, same temp settings (although I tried many different settings on my Lee 20 bottom pour).

Bases came out all deformed, boolits were very frosty, lots of wrinkles..........pretty nasty.

BTW, this is not to blame the mold. They are a thing of beauty. It's something I'm doing wrong.

I'll try again tomorrow night........

[mebe007]

I'm new to casting so my advice isn't scholarly, but my understanding of wrinkled bullets means your mold is running cold. Pre heat and pick up the pace some is my best guess. I'm sure the experts will chime in

[Ben]

rbertalotto :

Can you describe the cleaning technique that you used on the mold prior to any casting ?

[RobS]

Frosty and wrinkled don't usually go together unless there is contamination in the mold, maybe oil left over from the machining. Did you clean the mold prior to casting?

[mooman76]

Those 6x can be a bugger especially for a new guy. Need to get your mould hotter and the sprue plate is heavy and think. It needs to get hot too and it's harder to get it up to temp. but that's probably why your bases aren't turning out.

[iron mule]

First advice is to clean the mold with hot water and dish soap using an old tooth brush scrubb it good and rinse it good
it may take two or three scrubbings to get the cutting oil out
one thing you can do to heat up a 6 cav mold is to cast using the first 2 cas about 4 times then use the first 3 for about 4times then repeat using 4 cavs then repeat with 5 cavs then the 6 cavs
get in a steady rhythm
each mold has a mind of its own and you just need to find what it like s best
i have had molds that did not do well till the 3rd or 4th casting session then they did better than expected
mule

[jmsj]

rbertalotto,
I don't know if you preheated your mold and how hot your alloy was but if you are getting frosty bullets, I am going to assume (very dangerous) your mold and alloy were hot enough. You say you had deformed bases and lots of wrinkles. The deformed bases on frosty boolits sounds like you may have a venting problem or you are not leaving a large enough sprue on top of the sprue plate. The wrinkles on frosty boolits sounds like you may not have cleaned the mold well enough or you are not filling the mold fast enough.
There are lots of possibilities but these are the ones that come to mind.
Good luck, jmsj

[captaint]

rbert - I normally make my sprue plates a little on the loose side. Mine will move very easily. Other than that scrub the daylights out of that mold with toothbrush and good dish soap and do it like 3 times. Rinse each time in very hot water. Sometimes they just take a couple of sessions to get right.. Stay with it. enjoy Mike

[JIMinPHX]

Frosty and wrinkled don't usually go together unless there is contamination in the mold, maybe oil left over from the machining. Did you clean the mold prior to casting?

Those were my thoughts exactly.

[rbertalotto]

Can you describe the cleaning technique that you used on the mold prior to any casting ?

I treated this mold just like the other two.......I sprayed them down with brake cleaner and then with alcohol.

I didn't scrub them with a brush.........

After I wasn't getting proper boolits, I decided to blacked the cavities with my acetylene torch. This seemed to help a bit.

Revisiting Ranch Dogs web site, he has some hints on dealing with these big six cavity molds........He says I need more heat. Tonight, I'll crank up the heat a bit and see what happens. But I'll scrub than mold until operating room clean first.

Thanks

[Ben]

Unfortunately , it often takes several rounds of cleaning on some molds to get the lub cutting oils out of the pores of the metal. Cleaning the mold while it is hot with soapy water will help.

Once it is 101% free of all traces of oils, dial the heat up !

[btroj]

That 6 cav 460 mould is going to get hot and fast. Don't let it get too hot or it will go from frosty to having bullets with voids due to excess heat.
Like others have said, clean it really well. Might take a few sessions to get all the oil out of the pores.

[rbertalotto]

Has anyone put these mold blocks in a dishwasher?

[462]

Clean it conventionally with a toothbrush, Dawn dishsoap and hot water. Do a short casting session. The next day clean it again.

Use a hot plate to pre-heat the mould while the pot is coming up to temperature. Mould temperature is more important than pot temperature. If a 6-cavity mould is pre-heated properly, the first boolits cast will be keepers.

There is no need to smoke a mould. All smoking does is mask a problem -- in your case, a mould that is not clean enough.

[geargnasher]

Clean it like has been said. Heat it up to casting temperature on a hot plate or on your kitchen range if it's elecric, then let it cool completely. Do this twice more, clean it again the last time it's cooled down, then try reheating and casting with it.

You have oil contamination issues here.

Gear

[Centaur 1]

The hot plate makes a big difference with a 6 cavity mold. I had my lead so hot that the boolits were frosted, but the tl bands were rounded. I started using the hot plate and the boolits came out great, and I even turned the heat down on my pot.

[rbertalotto]

Thanks folks! I'm on my way out the door right now to buy an electric hot plate......I have one somewhere around here, but do you think I can find it when I finally need it!

I stopped by the hardware store and bought a nice small soft brass brush, boiled up some water and using Dawne dish detergent I scrubbed the snot out of the molds. Tonight I'll fire up the pot again and have another go at it.

[Moonie]

Brass brush on a lee aluminum mold?

[Doby45]

A toothbrush works perfectly. Get the firm one.

[EMC45]

Advise against the dishwasher idea. Some dish powders will etch aluminum.

[RobS]

I personally wouldn't use a brass brush on an aluminum mold, especially the cavities.......an old tooth brush is what I use.

[Cadillo]

Brake Part Cleaner is your friend! Use before each session.

[Doby45]

Why? I mean why clean your mold before each session? I clean mine once and that is when they come out of the box. After that I just pre-heat as normal and cast boolits.

[462]

I agree, once it's clean, it's clean. Unless, of course you do something to it so that it needs to be re-cleaned.

[Centaur 1]

Advise against the dishwasher idea. Some dish powders will etch aluminum.

Dishwasher powders maybe, but Dawn or Joy dish detergent is fine. Also, keep that brass brush away from the aluminum mold, you'll ruin any sharp edges and scratch the cavity. Whenever someone in the house gets a new toothbrush, place the old one in the dishwasher with the silverware to clean it. They're not only good for cleaning molds, but they can be used for cleaning gun actions or stock checkering. I also use one to put an even coat of lube on screw threads before installation.

[JIMinPHX]

After I wasn't getting proper boolits, I decided to blacked the cavities with my acetylene torch. This seemed to help a bit.


I would expect an acetylene torch to throw a rather heavy soot. That might give you a thicker coating than you really want. It may cause undersized boolits. It may plug up the vent lines on the mold & cause poor fill out. I hardly ever smoke my molds anymore, but when I do, I use a butane lighter & just apply a thin coat.

[JIMinPHX]

Brake Part Cleaner is your friend! Use before each session.

If you do that, just be sure to get all the brake cleaner off the mold before you put the heat to it or else very bad things can happen. Google Phosgene Gas.

[sgtbear]

I scrub my new Lee 6 cavity molds with liquid detergent as explained before. I move away from my casting area and soak it COLD in acetone and wipe it dry with a soft cloth. If I need to smoke it I use a plumber's candle or wood matches. I leave a mold with bullets poured inside and the overflow uncut by the sprue. When starting I pre-heat it across the top of the pot. I will cast for while and sort out after cooling. When the base fills out well, the rest is usually OK.

[Ben]

I don't think the brass brush would be a good idea.

Ben

[rbertalotto]

I don't think the brass brush would be a good idea.

Oopps! Before I read these posts I used it VERY lightly........

[casterofboolits]

Do not! I repeat: DO NOT use a brass brush on any mould, espeially not a Lee, soft aluminum mould!

Voice of experience, I ruined a nice Saeco four cavity mould I had modified to cast 200 grain round nose boolits with a "soft" brass brush.

Use a tooth brush with a thinned solution of Dawn dish washing detergent. You can blast a lot of dirt and oil off a mould with a break cleaner, but you still should scrub the mould. If you have stubborn mould release on the mould, use Bar keep's Friend, then scrub with Dawn to remove all residue and rinse thoroughly in hot water, blot with a paper towel. I then use canned air to make sure all the water is gone.

[rbertalotto]

OK, back at it tonight!

I scrubbed the heck out of my molds. Even used a brass brush before You folks informed me not to.

I didn't put any smoke or spew plate lube on the molds. I had at it totally nude....(Well the molds were nude, I was fully clothed.....)

My two cavity Lee mold dropped the most beautiful shiny silver bullets you ever did see! No issues what so ever. My regiment was to cast three times with the mold, then wave it back and forth and count to 30, cast another three times, repeat. This procedure kept the mold at the proper temperature.

I also backed down the heat on the Lee-20 to number 7 with a 3/4 full pot of lead.

I dropped 120 boolits..........and then I pan lubed them with a concoction that one of the folks on this board sent me. House smells like the inside of a bees ass, but the boolits look great!

But here is a couple new questions.........

#1 How long do you wait before you whack the spew plate open?
#2 Once you open the spew plate, do you wait a certain amount of time before you open the mold and dump the boolits?
#3 Was it OK for me to lube these boolits on the same night they were cast?
#4 Do I need to wait a certain amount of time before I shoot these boolits?
#5 I pan lubed the boolits. Once you remove the boolits, how do you deal with the remaining lube in the pan? Is anyone using a microwave for this part of the fun?

THANKS!

[RobS]

OK, back at it tonight!

I scrubbed the heck out of my molds. Even used a brass brush before You folks informed me not to.

I didn't put any smoke or spew plate lube on the molds. I had at it totally nude....(Well the molds were nude, I was fully clothed.....)

My two cavity Lee mold dropped the most beautiful shiny silver bullets you ever did see! No issues what so ever. My regiment was to cast three times with the mold, then wave it back and forth and count to 30, cast another three times, repeat. This procedure kept the mold at the proper temperature.

I also backed down the heat on the Lee-20 to number 7 with a 3/4 full pot of lead.

I dropped 120 boolits..........and then I pan lubed them with a concoction that one of the folks on this board sent me. House smells like the inside of a bees ass, but the boolits look great!

But here is a couple new questions.........

#1 How long do you wait before you whack the spew plate open?
#2 Once you open the spew plate, do you wait a certain amount of time before you open the mold and dump the boolits?
#3 Was it OK for me to lube these boolits on the same night they were cast?
#4 Do I need to wait a certain amount of time before I shoot these boolits?
#5 I pan lubed the boolits. Once you remove the boolits, how do you deal with the remaining lube in the pan? Is anyone using a microwave for this part of the fun?

THANKS!

I think you may be a bit hot yet on the alloy as to what you discussed and the fact that you are waiting 30 seconds between 3 cast cycles tells me your mold is hot. It should be a rhythm with very little change. It sounds like you are getting a better hang of it.

1. 3 to 5 seconds
2. Open the sprue plate and dump them as quickly and carefully as possibly
3. No problems lubing the same night........be careful to understand case swage down when seating them in a case
4. I would wait a week before loading them to ensure they have age hardened (IIRC you are using WW alloy)
5. You can leave it in the pan and remelt it later on. I wouldn't use a microwave if it is metal of course.

[462]

Nothing more than one man's opinion:
#1. Don't whack the mould, but use a gloved hand to open the sprue cutter. Use of Bullplate allows for cutting the sprue as soon as it sets.
#2. Open the cutter and drop the boolits immediately after #1
#3. Wait at least a week, allowing time for the boolit to harden.
#4. See #3.
#5. I don't pan lube, so can't answer.

[MT Chambers]

Once the mold is completely clean, I use a hotplate to bring the mold up to temp., I treat the bottom of sprue plate with Bullplate lube with hot mold, then wipe of excess or it will get into cavities and cause bad fillout . I turn down pot temp. and use a small fan to cool molds as I go, you have to dev. a cadence to all this pouring and cooling, and every mold will be different.

[rbertalotto]

Thanks folks.......all great helpful suggestions.

I have a hot plate, but I thought my issue was the mold getting TOO hot, so I only used it when I set the mold down to do something else.

I ordered a thermometer from Swede. Just want to have an idea at what temperatures works best.

[RobS]

Even though a thermometer isn't necessary I use mine all the time; literally it's in the pot all the time. I don't trust the rheostat on the Lee’s to keep temps since it is in the housing body of the pot. I like to know when the alloy is up to temp before I start casting and for the mold I'm using. I have this info wrote down for each mold as well as the hotplate setting which makes for smooth sailing. It’s simply one less variable if you do stumble upon a stone when working up some boolits.