Sprue plate direction?

[pergoman]

I just noticed a picture of a Mihec mold installed 180 degrees from the direction I use mine. That got me wondering......which direction does everyone fit their molds into the handles? Is the part of the sprue plate that gets tapped with the wooden tapper positioned toward the handles or away from them? Could I have cast thousands of boolits backwards over all my years of casting? LOL.

[hermans]

For me it is the way that you cast, if you open the sprue plate by gloved hand on a 4 cavity mold like my Mihec, I have the sprue plate facing me since it is easier that way around. On my RCBS double cavity molds, I open the sprue plate with a mallet, so that faces the other way again. So I do not think there is a right or a wrong way on this.....just the it works best for your way of casting?

[hickfu]

I have all 5 cavity molds and hold the mold in my left hand so the sprue plate opens at the front, just easier for me.

Doc

[snuffy]

I use ALL molds the way Lee positions theirs. I use a mold knocker, I do NOT wear gloves while casting.

I commented once when somebody showed the sprue plate to the front of the mold, with the sprue plate pivot screw positioned closest to his hand. I said that looked backwards. His reply was that's how he started. Whatever floats your boat, it's still a free country.

Molds made to be mounted in removable handles can obviously be used either way. Again a personal preference thingy.

[dragonrider]

I mount my molds in handles so that the sprue plate extension is pointing away from the handles. In this way I can push it open against a piece of lead that I have bolted to the edge of my bench, as it opens the sprue drops into my glove right hand and I immidiately drop back into the pot.

[Hardcast416taylor]

My best advice is to try setting up your mold and try using it is either way to see which way best fits your casting. Robert

[runfiverun]

I have the cutter facing me.
I open the 4-6 cav molds by hand with the heel of my palm and the sprue drops into my hand.
if I open it with my thumb [like I do on 2 cavity molds] I just drop the sprue right off the plate in to the pot.
I have a cover on my pots so the sprue hits the edge of that and slides in.

[Fluxed]

I keep the sprue plate extension on the far side from me and tap it on a chunk of lead to cut the sprue.

[MT Gianni]

Gloved hand moves the sprue plate which faces me.

[wlc]

Personal preference. Mine are all set up with the sprue extension facing away from me. I hold the mold in my left hand and I open the sprue with a gloved right hand and the sprue falls on the table next to the pot. When I take a break, I put all my sprues back in to re-melt.

[Larry Gibson]

Come on guys, you all are trying to be too logical. Those "in the know" or "those that can" assure us the sprue plate must rotate (what's this "turn" stuff?) counter clockwise to be in synch with the cirolious effect or the boris aureallus or what ever it is. That's in the northern hemisphere. The aussie's and kiwi's, being in the southern hemisphere, have to to rotate the sprue plates the same because if we could see them they'd be upside down and the sprue plates would be rotating clockwise....to us anyways which is just the opposite to what we do.....the cirolius effect or boris aureallous or whatever...... Since we are pondering the question it's all about how we see things anyways.........

Larry Gibson

[Dennis Eugene]

ohh oh! Larry's starting to make sense to me.

[fcvan]

Ok, now I'm waiting to hear from our brothers down under to see if the galena swirls in a different direction south of the equator.

[mroliver77]

Every time i read about opening sprue plate with gloved hand I think about one of our members admitted that he didnt know that there were handles for a mold and cast holding the mold in gloved hand for some time.:lol:

[Frozone]

Plate away from me so I can use a gloved hand and push the plate open with my thumb (palm part) and using fingers on the mold for leverage.
That drops the sprue into my palm for return to the pot.

[cbrick]

The aussie's and kiwi's, being in the southern hemisphere, have to to rotate the sprue plates the same because if we could see them they'd be upside down and the sprue plates would be rotating clockwise.... Larry Gibson

Yeah but ya still need to feel sorry for the casters down under because using left hand wheel weights in a right twist barrel causes all sorts of problems with everything being upside down.

Rick

[Shuz]

The design of the sprue cutter dictates which side the cutter handle is facing me. The Lyman 4C's with the nice angled sprue cutter are easiest to whack with my leather mallet when the cutter handle faces me. The flat Mehec cutters are turned 180deg. "Whatever floats yer boat!"

[williamwaco]

I mount my molds in handles so that the sprue plate extension is pointing away from the handles. In this way I can push it open against a piece of lead that I have bolted to the edge of my bench, as it opens the sprue drops into my glove right hand and I immidiately drop back into the pot.

That is a great idea!
Thanks.

[Kull]

I've tried it both ways and I prefer to have the pivot point away from me.

[Iowa Fox]

Come on guys, you all are trying to be too logical. Those "in the know" or "those that can" assure us the sprue plate must rotate (what's this "turn" stuff?) counter clockwise to be in synch with the cirolious effect or the boris aureallus or what ever it is. That's in the northern hemisphere. The aussie's and kiwi's, being in the southern hemisphere, have to to rotate the sprue plates the same because if we could see them they'd be upside down and the sprue plates would be rotating clockwise....to us anyways which is just the opposite to what we do.....the cirolius effect or boris aureallous or whatever...... Since we are pondering the question it's all about how we see things anyways.........

Larry Gibson

Uh Larry,
Easy on this old guy you're making my head spin.

[MikeS]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I mount my moulds to the hinge is away from me, and the extension that gets used to open the sprue plate is facing toward the hinge of the handles. This is how H&G mounted their moulds (as shown in their manual). I like to open my moulds with a gloved hand rather than using a mallet, but occasionally I need to use a mallet if the mould isn't up to the proper casting temp.

The nice thing about moulds that have removable handles is that you can mount them either way, and they're both the right way to do it!

For moulds that have lots of cavities (more than 4) I really like using a cam lever mounted to the sprue plate. This is one of the things that Lee really did right! I have cam levers mounted on a couple of Lyman 4 cavity moulds, as well as one mounted on a SAECO 8 cavity mould (these are levers made from plate steel, not the Lee sintered ones), and they really do make it easy to open the mould.

[Smoke4320]

I rotate my wheel weights every 3000 casts :) :)

[mold maker]

As long as they go down the bore right, nothing else matters.