Lyman sprue plate problems

[tommag]

I ordered a lyman 140 gr. .264 mold a couple of months ago and finally got around to using it yesterday. I am having to pry the sprue-puddle off the plate with every cast.
While looking at the plate, the bottom of the indents are not cut to the bottom of the plate. I measured the solidified puddle I pried off and find it has a .040 straight section. This is on both holes. Do I send it to lyman, or use a dremel on the plate? I think if I try to fix it myself, I'll make it worse.
I tried using Bullplate on top of the plate, but the sticking is in the hole, not on the top.

[dubber123]

I'd use a counter sink and deepen the holes. If you don't have one, but do have a belt sander, you could sand the bottom of the plate. Same effect, reducing the shanked portion, to release the sprues easier.

[leadeye]

+1 on the countersink method, had the same problem with an 8mm mold.

[StarMetal]

First off I wouldn't modify the bottom of the sprue plate as it's suppose to be flat from the factory and you might work it so it's not flat. Try this before you do anything. Take a No 2 pencil and pencil in both sprue cavities real good. Also do the bottom of the sprue plate. Then cast some see if that let's the sprue release. About the sprue hole having a straight portion rather then an edge, I believe the factory's thinking on this is that the sprue plate shears the sprue of rather then cut in as in a knife action. Try the pencil and report back.

Joe

[billyb]

One more vote for the counter sink. All of the lyman molds i have purchased are like your's. I use the counter sink to remove most of the straight section then polish the rest of the counter sink to remove the burrs. I take a file to the sharp connners on the sprue plate and the bottom of the plate to remove burrs from the bottom of the hole. Lite pressure with the file, just enough to remove burr's. Bill

[tommag]

I have a counter sink,and the profile pretty much matches the hole, but I think it was made for wood, althought I'm not sure, I've had it for a long time. It has two cutting edges on it. Are they universal?
I thought I had a 45 degree stone with my dremel stuff, but not even close.
I don't have any machine tools, other than a cheap drill press.
Removing that much material with a sander seems like a heck of a task, with trying to grind it parallel.

While posting, I had a brainstorm (at least for my feeble brain) I called Lyman and they apologized and are sending me a new sprue-plate.

[tommag]

First off I wouldn't modify the bottom of the sprue plate as it's suppose to be flat from the factory and you might work it so it's not flat. Try this before you do anything. Take a No 2 pencil and pencil in both sprue cavities real good. Also do the bottom of the sprue plate. Then cast some see if that let's the sprue release. About the sprue hole having a straight portion rather then an edge, I believe the factory's thinking on this is that the sprue plate shears the sprue of rather then cut in as in a knife action. Try the pencil and report back.

Joe
Joe, I just had them send me a new plate, and she said it was their new style.
I have to hit the road for a month or two tonight, so I'll take a look at the new plate when I get home. If it looks the same, I'll try the pencil/graphite trick. If that fails, at least i will have a spare in case my VERY amatuerish attemps at modifying one of them fails.
BTW-- Good to see you back.

[tommag]

Using a pencil in the holes helped, now it takes less effort to pry the sprue loose, but it's still not good.
I looked at a couple of older Lyman molds, and the couter-sink is cut much closer to the bottom of the plate. They are not quite a knife-edge, but much sharper than this new one. I think I'll try cutting them a little deeper when the new plate arrives and I have a little leisure time.