Vapor Blasted Mould

[hansumtoad]

Some nice estate sale hound on E-bay sold a mould as "nearly new". What they didn;t know is that "neraly new" looked "nearly new" because someone had vapor blasted the mold and blued the sprue.

Screws sould like they've been to the beach when going in.

Big problem is they blasted the cavities as well. Boolits have a dull shine when mold was at temp. Lyman 311467. They are .309 on the groove bands and the back driving band is .311 with W/W. So, I've got a thou or so to play with.

What about lapping with 1000+ grit and see what happens?

Any thoughts.... any suggestions. I'm all ears.

[leftiye]

Cry maybe? I've got an RCBS 45-500 gcfp that somebody did that to. Works okay. All of my boolits are dull anyway - I cast for a mild frosting (better fillout). Unless your boolits are out of round, or too much the wrong size, It won't matter.

[Wayne Smith]

You gonna shoot them or take them to Ducone and have him make jewelry out of them? I really don't think the berm will notice nor your gun care if your boolits are shiny or not! Will they fit, that's the only meaningful question.

[Bill*]

HMMMMM..... Would vapor blasting leave a finish that would hold more Xlox ?

[dubber123]

If you did lap, I'd personally skip right to 320 grit. 320 leaves a finer finish than 99.9% of new moulds come with, and is all I use. As others have stated, as long as they release well, and are of a fat enough diameter, you really won't gain much.

[DLCTEX]

If the nose isn't close to being too big I'd lap it. The rest of the boolit will be taken care of in sizing. That being said, if it's dropping well the rest is just cosmetics.

[hansumtoad]

Anyone tried putting the lapping compound into pure lead?

Was going to put together a 1/8" thick balsa wood spacer bwtween the top of the die and the drive nut. Make the pour on the first cavity. Cut the spacer away. Drop the abrasive core. Oil the mold. Slowly rotate with a box end wrench for awhile.

Pretty bullets shoot better.

...and sincere thanks to the two GENTLEMEN on the thread who tried to help me.

[John Guedry]

'Scuse me whats "vapor blasting"?

[mdi]

'Scuse me whats "vapor blasting"?

Me too. I'ver done sand blasting, and bead blasting (glass beads) on metal parts but not "vapor blasting".

[BLTsandwedge]

Vapor blasting is done after tacos.

[Cactus Farmer]

Bad tacos! Good tacos just have a mild stinging at ejection.

[ANeat]

Vapor blasting is done after tacos.

And right before fire lapping :D

[hansumtoad]

Vapor blasting is essentially the same as glass bead blasting with a very fine water vapor which cuts down on the particulate and seems to further soften the final finish. Heck, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. They might have knocked the factory finish off with a handful of sand and a floor fan.

Bottom line is that, aside from making the bullets difficult to drop, they have a dull sheen regardless of how close to ideal temp I'm running the mold/alloy mix.

Frustrating.

[hansumtoad]

Sandwedge, I understand a bit of Bicarbonate of Soda sprinkled in with any of the taco ingredients will "soften the finish" ...if you get my drift.... of the post taco blast issue.:groner:

[leftiye]

Still set your pants afire. Kills any klingons or brown noses.