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chaos
04-09-2009, 09:39 PM
So the mail man delivered me a lee 2 banger .38 caliber mould today. The rear cavity produces a beautiful little slug. The front looks real nice except for the base. Either the sprue plate or the mould block is warped or something. The gap is noticible between the plate and front of mould. The bases have a bunch of extra lead attached that puddles beneath the Sprue plate on that front cavity. About a paper thickness. My Rcbs mould dont do this. This mould also likes HOT lead. I tried to both tighten and loosen the sprue plate, but the screw wont budge. I dont want to get real agressive with the thing for fear of snapping those EL cheapo handles.

What to do?

docone31
04-09-2009, 09:51 PM
Send it back to Lee. They treat customers real well. I sent in some dies for a redo, and it was less than 14 days.

snaggdit
04-09-2009, 10:01 PM
I agree. None of my Lee 2 bangers have had issues like that. I'm sure they will make good on it. The kicker is you will have to wait for the replacement :(

randyrat
04-09-2009, 10:21 PM
I have a mold like your double. The front cavity produced a heavier boolit. Looking at it from the side i could see the sprue plate was a little worped.
I took the plate off, put it in a vice and bent it straight with my thumbs. Now it makes two perfect boolits same weight. I got lucky.... You can try to straighten it in a vice or ask Lee for a different sprue plate.
BTW I sanded the top of the mold and the sprue plate then checked to see if there was any space between the plate and blocks....proceed carefully when sanding, use sand paper on a hard flate surface.

Heavy lead
04-09-2009, 10:26 PM
I have a mold like your double. The front cavity produced a heavier boolit. Looking at it from the side i could see the sprue plate was a little worped.
I took the plate off, put it in a vice and bent it straight with my thumbs. Now it makes two perfect boolits same weight. I got lucky.... You can try to straighten it in a vice or ask Lee for a different sprue plate.
BTW I sanded the top of the mold and the sprue plate then checked to see if there was any space between the plate and blocks....proceed carefully when sanding, use sand paper on a hard flate surface.

ditto,I hate waiting for stuff

randyrat
04-09-2009, 10:46 PM
One more thing, when you sand you'll see the low spots on top of the mold blocks. Sand until the low spots are gone and use fine sand paper with even strokes. Do this before you try to straighten the sprue.
There will be a low spot where they reefed the sprue screw down hard.
Chances are they reefed it down good an hard then backed it off and left a low spot also a warped sprue plate.

Hang Fire
04-09-2009, 11:55 PM
One more thing, when you sand you'll see the low spots on top of the mold blocks. Sand until the low spots are gone and use fine sand paper with even strokes. Do this before you try to straighten the sprue.
There will be a low spot where they reefed the sprue screw down hard.
Chances are they reefed it down good an hard then backed it off and left a low spot also a warped sprue plate.


Any hand lapping (sanding) for a true flat surface, should be done in a figure eight configuration (8) with equally applied pressure to insure is is done true.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=hand+lapping%2Bfigure+eight+motion&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

j20owner
04-10-2009, 02:06 AM
Is it a 358-158-RF mold? I got one a couple weeks ago and never got around to really checking it out until yesterday. The exact same problem you describe is my problem. I got the screw out, kind of buggered it up a little, but it's still usable. I might try and find another 'bolt' that fits and then also drill/tap a locking set screw for the sprueplate screw. I'm planning on a little vise action on the sprue plate along with lapping.

44man
04-10-2009, 08:04 AM
I read a lot about lapping mold tops and plates. Even strokes, figure eights, etc. In my opinion it can't be done and get a flat surface.
A tiny bit just to smooth high spots or remove a burr can work but no more then a few strokes.
I make my own plates and every now and then one will give me trouble. I have tried everything from fine sandpaper glued to glass to lapping compound and no matter what I do it makes things worse.
The edges ALWAYS cut more then the center! :confused: If done enough a plate will rock if set on a flat surface. I have never solved this with any flat material.
My solution always results in setting the metal back on the mill.
A belt sander will show what happens a lot faster. If you set anything on a belt sander platen and try to get it flat, good luck! [smilie=1:

chaos
04-10-2009, 08:14 AM
Is it a 358-158-RF mold? I got one a couple weeks ago and never got around to really checking it out until yesterday. The exact same problem you describe is my problem. I got the screw out, kind of buggered it up a little, but it's still usable. I might try and find another 'bolt' that fits and then also drill/tap a locking set screw for the sprueplate screw. I'm planning on a little vise action on the sprue plate along with lapping.

As a matter of fact, it is a 358-158-RF Mould. If I pay shipping both ways, to get this to lee and back.......... It's damn near going to be the price of another mould. It wasn't but $17 brand new. I wont need to lap mine. Its throwing at .3595 with a straight wheel weight alloy.

JW6108
04-10-2009, 08:17 AM
If you have a bottom pour pot, you might try injection casting and exert some upward pressure on the pour spout with that cavity. It could close up the gap enough to work.

They hardly ever work smoothly right out of the gate; usually some break-in time of a couple of hundred casts is needed. Just my .02 worth; sending stuff back is a pain.

j20owner
04-10-2009, 09:18 AM
My Lee 452-200-RF cast good boolits once I started using my bottom pour pot instead of a spoon to pour lead into the mold. Also, I was able to control temperature a lot better with the pot than with my turkey fryer.[smilie=1:

supv26
04-10-2009, 02:48 PM
I noticed one of my Lee molds was loosing it's handle pin from one side of the mold. I can see they just deform the hole after the pin is pushed in and this one hadn't been deformed. I just gave it a real light tap with a small hammer near the side of the hole to make the hole out of round. The pin no longer wants to fall out and the mold works perfect.

hdugan
04-10-2009, 05:51 PM
I just received a LEE 452-252-SWC double mold a couple days ago. It has the same problem described here. There is a large gap (~.02") over the front cavity. It looks like they had a problem with the surfacing cut. The back of the mold is smooth but the front half is very rough with tooling marks.

jdgabbard
04-10-2009, 06:36 PM
Had the same problem on my 124g RN TL. Front cavity. If you look at it from the side you can see that it has a little stump on the bottom of the boolit where the plate was raised during casting. It likes it hot too, around 750-800. I haven't messed with it yet. Shoot well enough.

MT Gianni
04-11-2009, 10:21 AM
Are you sure it is the plate and not the top of the mold? If the gap throws a "paper thin" base of expanded lead what is the weight difference between the two cavities? How about running it through a lee nose first sizer, does it come off OK and what is the weight difference then? It may involve an extra step but if it is less than 1 gr difference you might leave well enough alone and shoot it assuming it is a plain base not a gas checked mold.

j20owner
04-12-2009, 09:50 PM
I was actually able to fix mine by removing the sprue plate, 'lightly' sanding the sprue plate with fine emery cloth and then reassembling after adding a set screw for the sprue plate screw. I don't have a high enough capacity scale, so I can't weigh any. Also, it seems like this mold likes to be ran hotter than my Lee 452-200-RF mold.