Heavy Metal Molds - new kid in town

[JTknives]

Well guys its time again to confirm some rumors. Tomorrow is my last day at my current employment. What does this mean you say? It means I'm going full time mold maker. This also means that I have made the decision to do more then just round ball molds. I'm doing pistol and rifle as well as round ball. We have a full shop I have put together and our mill is a very high speed machine built for production. It also runs macros so program set up for each style of mold will be simple. Just one master program and I tweak a few variables each time we run a new boolit style. With everything set up proper I should be able to load the new cherry, tweak the program variables, cut and test the first mold in under an hr. that's not bad for a setup of a new mold. This will allow us to take on small group buys and still keep production running on time. We also will be making everything in house except the laser cutting of the sprue plates. This will Insure top quality as well as very quick turn around times. Just to give you an idea of what I'm thinking in turn around times. My goal is "one month turn around" but most likely sooner. I am beating the bushes to source a inexpensive tool grinder for our cherries. My employer that I'm leaving does lots of boolit mold cherries for molds makers here in Utah. Makes a great product but is not cheep. So I'm looking around as better prices can be found for under 300 bucks. That's what makes group buys kinda tricky is the forum tool aka cherry. But if all goes well I can cut that price in half which means less people needed for group buys. Also we will have a phone number you can call and pay over the phone as well as talk with me and ask any questions you need answered. If all goes according to plan I hope to pump out at least 100 molds a week. Thanks guys and hope to be making product very soon.

JT - Heavy Metal Molds

[foxtrapper]

Good luck with your new business !

[PbHurler]

I wish you all the best of luck JT.

We can never have too many quality custom mould makers. We seem to lose a few, then gain a few. I for one, am grateful for those of you who can provide us with what we desire!

[Jim]

JT, any ideas yet on what you'll be asking for your molds per cavity?

[jmsj]

JT,
I wish you the best of luck. What part of Utah are you located? Many years ago I spent time in Ogden, Orem, SLC and Price for work.
There have been a couple of great mold makers leave the business lately (Babore and Ranch Dog). Just a thought but maybe you could make arrangements with them to bring back some of their great designs.
Once again good luck, jmsj

[Wayne Smith]

JT, are you planning on running a catalog of available molds (aka Lyman) or are you limiting it to group buys at this time? Can you come up with a post that explains your business model and prices? That would be most helpful.

[JTknives]

JT, any ideas yet on what you'll be asking for your molds per cavity?

My goal right now is to be around $100 for a 4 cav and $75 for a single. Remember this is just guessing and won't know for shure till I actually start cutting chips. But I will provide the best deal I can as long as we can keep the company profitable. There are things I'm thinking of streamlining and one of thoes is maybe onley offering a 1 and 4 cav mold. The more options that are added the harder it is to keep because all the different things you need to keep in stock. I would like to say 4 cav onley but I know a lot of people that love single cav molds. And maybe I will do a 2 cav depending on what you guys want. If there is a lot of desire for a double cav then I will make thoes as well. I just can't spend a lot of time on things that I'm onley going to sell a few of. Maybe I will just make the single cav block large enough to also be a 2 cav as well. There well be two heights of mold blocks. Some real long boolits will need a taller block so that the boolit nose does not cut into the locating pins and liners. I will have a drawing up later today showing the 2 sizes of mold blocks and there construction. You will love the sprue plate pivot design as there is nothing sticking above the top of the sprue plate. Nothing for lead to harden around and get stuck to. Well that's it for now, but if you have any questions let me know.

[Centaur 1]

Awesome, I wish you much luck with your new business. It's been said that if you enjoy your job, you'll never have to work again. Sounds like you'll be doing something that you enjoy. In 2007 I left my job as a tool and die maker to go work for NASA. I haven't touched a machine since then and I didn't start casting until about a year later. Every time I pick up a mold I think about how I could've machined the same thing, only better. I sure miss that old Mazak and it's capabilities, and I'd love to have a shot at making my own molds. Good luck and congrats.

[kir_kenix]

Can't wait to hear where you are going with this. Hope you get a website set up, like NOE has so we can order directly from that. I'd be willing to give the new guy a shot!

[41 mag fan]

Wish you lots of luck...If not already, you might think about becoming a vendor sponsor here. Then you could offer group buys, and quite possibly be backed up like Miha and NOE are.

Unless you are a vendor sponsor already, then forget the above part of post

[375RUGER]

What mould materials do you plan on offering?
Do you have minimum diameter you can cut?

[375RUGER]

Could you do 2 designs in 1 block. i.e. a .454 boolit and a .311 or 2 different profiles same diameter?

[dragon813gt]

If you can do small diameter bullets that would be a good niche to be in. Getting below a 30 outside of a group buy can be difficult. Get a website set up as soon as possible. It's nice to be able to browse through designs so you can pick one. And what material will the blocks be made out of?

[on1wheel01]

Best of luck. Could be interesting

[dverna]

My advice is to decide what your niche will be. You need to establish yourself and that is tough. Customers can be a PITA. You cannot do cheap, above average quality and fast. The ******** will want it all and that is not reasonable.

If I want a cheap mold I will buy a 6 cavity Lee mold to feed my pistols with blasting ammo. I will have it in a few days too.

I will pay a lot more for a quality mold for a rifle to be used for hunting and/or target work.

Be careful about phone time. You can spend a lot of time BS'ing and that does not make you any money.

Good luck. Starting a business is not for everyone but if you love the trade and are good at it you will succeed. Find someone to handle the books and paperwork if you can.

[btroj]

I hope things go well for you. We need another good source for moulds.

Don't let the negative Nanci's here get you down if wait time gets longer than you hoped for. A good product is worth the wait.

[MT Gianni]

Good for you. Have you decided to offer HP or HB designs or are you going just with standard mold designs for now.

[captaint]

JT - Best of luck in your new endevor. Mr. Smith mentioned business model a few posts back. I think what we need is a good description of how we do business with you. Also, what it is you want to produce - drawings, weights, etc. Maybe a poll run to see just what it is we are in the mood for - or maybe you have a preference starting out. I can assure you of this - quality is THE most important thing. Ask any of our current custom mold makers. Looking forward to seeing this thing get off the ground. enjoy Mike

[Cherokee]

JT - good luck in the new business. Keep us informed.

[Echo]

Best of luck, JT. I'm anxious to see further info on your endeavor

[Wayne Smith]

JT has been a vendor sponsor for a while and has already established an excellent reputation. I'm not currently in need of a mold or I would be all over this - humm maybe a 230gr 45 ACP mold? Lots of them out there, though.

[Moonie]

You do realize your website has been down for a couple of days at least? Some issue with the DB on it.

[JTknives]

You do realize your website has been down for a couple of days at least? Some issue with the DB on it.

Ya I don't know what's going on? I'm going to have to dig into the issue when I have time.

[Moonie]

A couple things to look into, make sure the db service is running, and make sure the username and password is correct in your code. I used to be a php/mysql developer in a previous life, now living the good life as a UNIX/Linux Security profesional...

[dragonrider]

JT, good luck in your venture.

[JTknives]

Tools are showing up tomarow. I will then start cutting blocks and showing you the proof that's in our pudding.

[**oneshot**]

best of luck

[Michael J. Spangler]

Good luck. I wish you the best.