6 Cavity LEE-358-105-SWC

[DeadWoodDan]

My first 6banger attempt and experiences. I purchased this mold second hand, but appeared to be hardly used. My first hurdle was the handle for the sprue cutter assembly. I just assumed it was on corrrectly and after I started casting, quickly found that it wouldn't cut the sprue's. So after i left a few "beauty" marks on the end of it trying to cut the sprues and realizing there was no way it was designed this way did a quick youtube search and discovered my mistake. Keeping my alloy at 750 degrees found I had to adjust the LEE 20lb bottom pour so the alloy would flow faster and fill the cavity quicker. Finally i started getting decent boolits except for what I believe to have narrowed down to two cavities. I'm getting "flashing" on the base of the boolit almost like the sprue plate isn't flat? Also am curious as i started to get round bands if my mold was starting to get hot? Figured i was able to keep 50% of the boolits droped once it was warmed up.

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[captaint]

Dan - YES, those are some UGLY boolits. Look like something I cast up back in the day !!!
Looks like your sprue plate is either warped, too tight, or too loose. How's that ??? Seriously, check to see if it will lay flat when completely loose. If it will lay flat, try putting the bolt back on and tightening a little at a time. That way, you should be able to see it the plate is warped. Mike

[runfiverun]

if the flashing ones are close to the sprue plate bolt it needs tightened a little.
if they are away from the bolt loosen it a little.

the rounded bases are probably from the ones opposite the flashed ones.

[tward]

Not trying to pirate the thread but I think you will really like the Lee 105's, they are my go to light Boolit, cut nice holes and are accurate! Tim

[DeadWoodDan]

I did play around with tightening/loosening the plate that day, not sayin i could have missed the "sweet" spot, as i was concentrating on dropping boolits. will attempt again soon i hope.

tward,

what are you shooting them out of? I have a BH and recently added a Rossi M92 20" to the collection. The BH shoots anything hoping the Rossi will enjoy these also.

[MtGun44]

Needs to be hotter a bit, too, it seems. Lots of wrinkles, might be the low flow
rate, too. Did you scrub the cavities with a toothbrush and Comet, too?

Bill

[Alan in Vermont]

IME, it is common for Lee sprue plates to "hump up" along the long axis and develop some really major flash issues on the bases. It takes a while to happen as it has not shown up on new molds until they get a bunch of heat cycles on them. I don't see sprue tension as an issue on the Lee molds. Both ends are held down under spring tension when the shoulder bolts are snugged down.

A member here did a group buy, for steel plates, a while back. I'm just getting to use one of them now and so far it is staying flat.

I tried draw filing one of my warped plates. Ran out of patience by the time I got it almost flat. There is still a tiny bit of light showing, right around the two center cavities, when holding a straightedge across it. I may try a little more filing on it if I get really bored. I would be interested in seeing if it continues to warp further or if it is now so well heat conditioned that it will stay flat.

My 357-105-SWC mold has cast a bit over 4,000 keepers. Once heated up, it takes a while for that little bit of lead to heat all that aluminum, you may need to use a pretty fast cadence to keep it in the sweet spot. This one and the 311-93-2R are alike in that respect, I figure it is becasue they are such small boolits. The 401-175-TC and the 200-SWC and 230-TC 452s have enough metal going into the mold that they heat up quickly and once hot you may need to cool them about every other cycle to keep the waiting times reasonable.

[Shiloh]

Needs to be hotter a bit, too, it seems. Lots of wrinkles, might be the low flow
rate, too. Did you scrub the cavities with a toothbrush and Comet, too?

Bill

I'm going with this advice.

Shiloh

[garandsrus]

750 as mentioned in the first post is more than hot enough! Probably need to clean the cavities some more.

[warf73]

If you have a wet stone that will hang over the ends of the spur plate(width wise). Take off the spur plate and run your stone over it and see what you get. I'll bet the middle of the plate won't be touched, mine just cleaned the ends only. I had one doing the same thing with the flashing on the bottoms, I honed the plate flat and the problem went away. As for the wrinkles in the boolits make sure your mold is up to temp since the alloy temp is hot enough to make good boolits.