Mud daubers in my mold

[fecmech]

I have done very little casting over the past year and a half so when my supply of Lee 125RF's ran out I went out to cast some. Mold has been on a bench in the garage the whole time. Opened the spru plate to find all 6 cavities full of mud dauber cocoons! Soaked overnight in Dawn and water and that got a lot out. Those things are really tenacious. Whatever the excretion is nothing seems to cut it. Used alcohol,carb cleaner and finally Barkeepers friend with an old tooth brush. Next up a bunch of tooth picks for the edges and grooves. Tried casting. Still some fill problems like the mold is cold but it's not. Sprayed some carb cleaner in the hot mold and things improved but still some minor fill problems. Dauber spit seems to be acting like oil in the mold. At this point I'll just run the mold hot and see if things clear up. Sure wont be leaving the molds on the bench in the future!

[Scott.M]

They will get into EVERYTHING. Don't leave the wife underappreciated for long in the summer.

[Winger Ed.]

Soaking in soapy water will help dissolve the old dirt dauber spit they made it out of..

And be glad it wasn't yellow jackets that claimed it, they have a real attitude problem.

[Paper Puncher]

Was going to go shooting after work. Put everything on the work bench the night before, rifle on top of the gun case. Got home from work and checking the rifle there was a mud dauber cocoon in the barrel. I hate them things.

[poppy42]

Mud dauber’s make there nest from the side or the bottom ( typically, there’s always an exception) so if you leave something with holes in it, facing up they generally won’t make a nest in it. Kinda like a bat always enters a hole from The bottom. Another piece of useless information I gained with all my entomology classes!

[Bazoo]

Get the mould not quite hot enough for casting, open the cutter, fill the cavities with lighter fluid. It will boil in the cavities and really does a good job on scrubbing. It won't drop the temp like brake cleaner does either. I've not done it on dirt dobber nests but it works wonders on other contaminates.

[Bloodman14]

Harbor Freight sells a collection of engine cleaning brushes. Use one of the smaller nylon ones in a drill, and scrub the mud out that way. Use some soapy water as you do so.

[GregLaROCHE]

I once had a weed wacker the wouldn’t start one spring. Turned out mud daubers had filled the muffler.

[Gus Youmans]

fecmech,

I allowed the dirt daubers to get into two molds, one steel RCBS and one aluminum NOE. I cleaned them with everything available around the house, even Comet and a tooth brush, but the inside of the cavities were still damaged. In my case. it appears that the secretions were corrosive and actually removed metal from the affected cavities because the raised edges that should be sharp are now more rounded. I don't think my molds can be salvaged. Hope you have better luck.

Gus Youmans

[curioushooter]

Another place mud daubers like...the air chuck of an air compressor.

Yesterday I started up my table saw and some mud daubers were very upset.

They have a very potent sting by the way, but I they are a beneficial insect to farmers/gardeners. They eat a lot of pestilent bugs, so I don't intentionally kill them.

[mdi]

Haven't had any mud daubers visits but for some really dirty or contaminated molds I've lapped them with a Comet/oil paste. Pretty aggressive, but won't remove any metal...

[trapper9260]

The mud dauber are good for spiders. They use them to lay there eggs in them when they put them in there nest. There larvae feeds on the spider. Till they are mature . to hatch from the nest.

[Texas by God]

As a kid I would take a nest to the pond with me, carefully break it open and use the larvae and spiders to catch fish with my cane pole. All my barn guns are muzzle protected from them. I’ve never killed an adult dirt dauber on purpose; I’ve never been stung by one- we seem to have a deal going.

[mehavey]

Boil the mould in as big a pot as req'd to submerge everything metal.
Couple drops dish soap -- enough to act as surface tension breaker/surfactant/not boil over all over the place.

Let it slow boil for an hour.
Then scrub out/oil immediately

[Geezer in NH]

Poor care on your part it what it says.