Yet Another Sprue Plate & Mould Lube

[Ricochet]

Last night I got out a new Lee 6-hole TL356-124-TC mould for a casting session. My eye happened to fall on a bit of high-temp aluminum based anti-seize compound I've had around for many years. Thought "That just might be a good thing for this mould." Dabbed a bit on the locating pins and smoothed a thin coat on the underside of the sprue plate. Worked great! Didn't smoke when it got hot, nor did it bubble in the base of the boolits as oily lubes will. The sprue plate slid across the tops of the blocks like greased Teflon on ice, with no hint of galling. After 300+ boolits there was no sign of burnoff. I have no idea what the original brand of this stuff is, I just borrowed a glob in a pill bottle from a mechanic friend long ago. I think it's pretty generic stuff. Obviously I don't use a lot of it.

I know Bull Plate is the gold standard for sprue plate lube, but if you have some of this silvery anti-seize around, you might want to try it.

[runfiverun]

anti-sieze in the metal cans made by international-harvister.
works good on pump action shot guns in salt water areas, snow, all kinds of stuff.
the copper stuff does a pretty good job too.

[madcaster]

That Ricochet,he is one smart doggie!
Famous "John Boy and Billy Show" quote!
Jeff[smilie=1:

[randyrat]

I swear by Permatex anti sieze or Bullshop sprue plate lube.

[mtgrs737]

Anti-sieze is powdered aluminum and copper in a super high temp lubricant. Ricochet is right, as usual! Bull plate works well also and doesn't have the powdered metals in it.

[Whitespider]

High Temp Anti-seize, that’s all I’ve ever used as a mold lubricant. I use a cotton swab to apply a thin coating to the top of the mold and pins. It’s been used for years by the automotive guys to stop the galling and freezing between steel and aluminum.

[mtgrs737]

Anti-seize, I never install a sparkplug without it!

[looseprojectile]

of the Permatex persuasion, silver color, is what has become known to me as
nuclear grade anti-seize. Don't ever screw a stainless bolt into anything without it.
"Screw a cold stainless bolt into a hot machine and you will drill it out and pick out the threads with a chisel."
Old steam plant mechanic.
A drop will cover an acre.
Thanks Ricochet!
Life is good

[Ricochet]

I got the first of this stuff many years ago from the guys in the steam plant on the University campus, as a matter of fact. They had great big tubs of it around they dipped me out a jar from. Used a bunch of it on homemade asbestos head gaskets in old stationary engines that I wanted to be able to disassemble and reassemble without tearing up the gaskets. Worked great for that. I've used it mostly on spark plugs in recent years. Makes getting them back out an awful lot simpler. Doesn't take much for that, so it lasts a long time. The little bottle of it I have now is old enough that it's separating. (Probably about 22-23 years since I got it.) A bright green oil is seeping out. Whatever it is doesn't smoke at mould temperature. All I did was rub it in on the bottom of the sprue plate till it had a nice silvery color, no real buildup on the surface. Put a good dab on the locating pins. Boolit lube, Alox or grease has always quickly burned to a nasty crusty char on them, but this didn't.

[Whitespider]

I change wheels and tires on my pickup every spring/fall, aluminum wheels and fat tires for summer, steel wheels and narrow digger tires for winter. Ten years ago I put anti-seize on the wheel studs and it's still doing its job, I've not had to reapply yet.

I always have a tube or can of the stuff around. It should be used on the metal-to-metal threads of any fastener you plan to (or might have to) remove in the future. It makes life so much easier, no broken bolts, stripped threads, buggered screw heads, etc. Works good as a lube on the hinge on Lee mold handles, pop the bolt out and put a dab between the handles (don't forget the bolt threads also).

[Bret4207]

I use lots of it. I know it'll take high temps because i coat the exhaust parts on tractors where I need to remove the muffler to get the hood off. Good stuff. Never thought to try it on a mould.

[twotrees]

We use both, depending on the temp. for all our Creep testing at Ga Tech.

We have some tests running right now that are at 871 Deg C. and Every thread is lightly coated with the Nickel stuff. If you don't, you get welded parts.

Never thought about using it on molds, will have to try it.

"Creep testing: Specimens held at high temp with stress applied at a constant value"

The Nickel stuff works up to 1000C, so our uses here are mild.

Thanks for the heads up Ricochet !!!

TwoTrees

[MT Gianni]

of the Permatex persuasion, silver color, is what has become known to me as
nuclear grade anti-seize. Don't ever screw a stainless bolt into anything without it.
"Screw a cold stainless bolt into a hot machine and you will drill it out and pick out the threads with a chisel."
Old steam plant mechanic.
A drop will cover an acre.
Thanks Ricochet!
Life is good

I pay $6 for a can at the parts store. It stays on clothes like nothing else and as a co-worker claims "if you get any on you it'll show up on your next-born child". It is a great lube but in the cavitys takes a long time to get out. Gianni

[Ricochet]

That's very true about it being impossible to get out of clothes! Discovered that when I was using it on head and ignitor gaskets.

Come to think of it, I have no idea if the stuff I have contains nickel or aluminum. I'd assumed aluminum because of the silver paint color.

[montana_charlie]

Put a good dab on the locating pins. Boolit lube, Alox or grease has always quickly burned to a nasty crusty char on them, but this didn't.
EXACTLY ! !
I have never understood why people continue to think that charred carbon is a lubricant.
CM

[quasi]

I think I will stick to bullshop lube, I have 10 bottles of it and it works great!

[monadnock#5]

Richochet, Oh Great Boolit Lube Experimenter of The Highest Order....You know where I'm going with this, right?

[Ricochet]

Monadnock5, are you the guy that had a problem with White Lightning (bicycle chain lube, someone's also using that name for a proprietary bullet lube) in the Glock?

I still use that stuff some and haven't had a problem with it yet. Don't have a clue why that Glock had a buildup problem in the end of the chamber, or why somebody else's .38 J-frame S&W leaded badly with WL. But people do report problems when using other lubes as well, for a variety of reasons. I've recently read several reports about Glocks (which most likely weren't shooting boolits lubed with WL) leading, having problems with jammed cartridges failing to fully chamber and allow return to battery, firing out of battery and going kaboom. (I started by Googling the words "Glock Kaboom," in fact.) But that experience did make me cautious about saying something I've used for a little while is the best thing since sliced bread. May not be so good under other circumstances.

What I've done here is to report exactly what I did. Followed the "rules" Molly set out in his "What Makes You Think So?" thread. It's not something I've tested extensively for every condition someone might put it to. Tried it on a new mould and cast a bit over 300 boolits. Found it worked well for that session and suggested others might want to try it. Found out others are using it already, and what I've "discovered" is old news. If you want to try it for yourself, do. YMMV. Like I said, Bull Plate is the gold standard.
:-D

[theperfessor]

I use silver grade anti-seize compound on the screw threads of all my indexable tooling. It keeps them from galling up from the heat and makes it a lot easier to change tools. I also use it on mold screws but I'll stick to Bullplate lube for under the sprue cutter and around the mold cavities.

[looseprojectile]

I'm going there also. How bout a light swab in the bore?:drinks:

[montana_charlie]

The first time I tried antiseize compound on a mould, I applied it a little too generously.
I really tried to be thrifty, but when the mould got hot there was enough 'excess' for a little to find it's way into the cavity...where it played all kinds of games.

That's when I decided that only pivoting points and alignment pins need lubrication to prevent wear...and the mould screws deserved to be seize-free.
Those are (now) the only areas where antiseize is found on mine.

Outer surfaces of the blocks, and both sides of the sprue plate get spray-on graphite.
It prevents galling at the plate/mould junction...and keeps lead from sticking to other areas.
Works for the handle jaws, too.

My mould faces, and cavities, see no foriegn substances of any kind...and the graphite can't migrate from the sprue plate into the cavity.
CM

[Ricochet]

I'm going there also. How bout a light swab in the bore?Why not? It's already been done with Bull Plate. :mrgreen:

[montana_charlie]

How about this stuff?:

I wonder if it will combine with beeswax!!
I saw no price data on your first 'find', but the second one can be had for $1207 for 48 pounds.

I think, at $25 per pound, I don't really care if it will combine with beeswax...
CM

[SWIAFB]

When I first started casting I did not know this site even existed. I started with Lee molds and during my first sesion the sprue plate was getting galded, I let it cool down and reached for, anti-seeze. Used it till I found out about Bull Plate. Haven't openned the anti-seeze since.

[uncle joe]

stays on clothes like nothing else and as a co-worker claims "if you get any on you it'll show up on your next-born child". It is a great lube but in the cavitys takes a long time to get out. Gianni


stuffs great but warning if you open a jar of it, it will get all over everything in the room, stuff has legs:mrgreen:

[monadnock#5]

Monadnock5, are you the guy that had a problem with White Lightning (bicycle chain lube, someone's also using that name for a proprietary bullet lube) in the Glock?

No Sir, That wasn't me.

The only pan lube I've tried so far is home made Dar Lube. Other than it's smoky, sooty and makes a filthy mess, it's great stuff!

I did have failure to go into battery issues with my Glock 9mm for a while when using OAL data from the Lyman 45th edition. Once I started using data from the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and their 48th edition manual, there have been no further issues. Lyman's latest manuals give an individual seating depth for each boolit style. I'm a little unhappy that Lyman didn't see fit to include all the current styles under one cover, but what the heck, it's a great marketing technique for Lyman.

No KB's so far, life is good!

[Ricochet]

That's a nice thing, giving the different seating depths or overall lengths for different styles. Usually takes some creative interpretation. And with pistol cartridges the interior case volume can vary considerably with different styles of the same weight seated properly.