Whipped a BAD mould into a GOOD mould today

[10 Spot Terminator]

I am probabally singing a song many of you have heard before but I am so pleased with myself I just had to share . Bought a used Ideal 358311 single mould for a very good price not long ago and decided to try it out last night. The mould was in overall very good condition but the maiden voyage to the casting table was enough to really try a mans patience. First off trying to pour some 20/1 alloy at first just sent the lead rolling over the top and maybe one drop into the cavity... What the ??? I tried several different pour stratigies with no luck... Hmmmmm.... never seen this before... A mould you cant fill. Pulled the sprue plate back and it filled fine but cant cut the sprue ... Now what I asks myself ??? Lets clean the buhjeebers outta this thing and see if it helps. I took it all apart and found every screw to have an oily substance on them. Into the vinegar dish soap and hot water bath they went and got the tooth brush and comet cleanser scrub afterwards and a good rinse. Back to the casting bench we go ! Turns out the gases from the mysery oil were venting back into the cavity blowing the lead out, but we arent done yet with trials and tribs ! We got slight nose wrinkles and poor fill on just the crimpimg band on the boolits. I played with adjusting the sprue plate and it got better but not 100 % there. Tried every pour technique I knew of and a few I just invented, but NO GO ! :groner: So I notice this mould unlike all my other Lymans and Ideals has no vent grooves,,, Hmmmmm again. Time to think outside of the box. I dont want to start scratching away on the mould an totally ruin it which I am more than capable of so I put my thinkin beanie on and came up with this.... If a mould can be beagled to increase diameter why not semi-beagled to vent it ??? Went and took a small 1/4 in, x 1/4 in. piece of tinfoil an placed it on the mould block just above the bullet nose, closed it up, preheated it on my hotplate and proceeded to cast a perfect bullet !!! [smilie=w: Now to figure out how to keeep the foil in the mould as it drops out when shakin the boolit out :veryconfu So as I am settin at the bench I notice some of my over pour spatters from pour test #1 on the bench that oddly enough looks like helter skelter foil !!! Yessir !!! I trimmed a tiny little piece of this lead foil, put it inside the mould where the tinfoil had been and set the mould on the hot plate. Some 20 Minutes later we started casting around 150 flawless boolits !!! :happy dance:

10 Spot

[Catshooter]

Ani't it great when a plan comes together.

I love bringing an old mould back to life, or making better in some way.

Welcome to the madness by the way.


Cat

[462]

I have an ancient, 308291, single cavity Ideal that is ventless. Don't know where the air goes, but it casts perfect boolits that spring out of the cavity.

[geargnasher]

Ventless moulds tend to do be different in two ways in my experience: They drop boolits more easily without special deburring work on the edges of the cavities, and they require just the right stream size and fill rate to fill out well. Tilting the mould with the handle end lowered about 15 degrees and directing the stream through the the hole right at the very right or left edge will set up a vortex inside the cavity which will pull the air to the middle, then up and out the sprue hole as it fills. After getting on the far side of the learning curve, I actually prefer ventless moulds, they invariably drop booits more easily and have cleaner part lines.

Gear

[GP100man]

That`s exactly what I did to this mold ,I use automotive shielding tape ,bout .003"

Though about placing a boolit in the mold & spraying the faces withdrop out & then scratch some "vents" in the drop out .

Any way here a pic of my mahem:

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/xx110/GP100man/102_0504.jpg

[runfiverun]

bet a ladle would make good boolits from/in it.

[MtGun44]

Beagling - "reinvented". With an emphasis on the "vented" part. ;-)

Bill

[geargnasher]

Beagling - "reinvented". With an emphasis on the "vented" part. ;-)

Bill

:groner:

(This pun brought to all of us by the same guy who just made a couple of in-depth, multi-paragraph explanations of the mathematics of physics and engineering.)

Bill, I always enjoy you're posts, you're one of the cornerstones that makes this place what it is, thanks! :drinks:

Ian

[mdi]

OK, I understand the OP doesn't want to put any vent lines on/in his mold, but if one wanted to, how would one go about it? How deep (.002", .010"?). Spacing? Jeweler's file? Scratch awl? I understand "beagleing", but just wanna know.

Don't plan on doing it, just want info. to add to my casting "knowledge":roll:

[10 Spot Terminator]

GP100

Like the idea of the drop out coating and venting it rather than the mould. May try that at some point too.

10 Spot