Mold question

[Possum]

How do you determine which older single cavity molds need the small lyman handles and which singles can be used with the large handles.

In other words, how do you determine what are the old single cavities and which are the new?

I have two single cavity molds that seem to work with the large handles, but they seem to be casting a little out of adjustment and I am curious as to which handles I should be using.

Thanks for any input.

[9.3X62AL]

I have used the older single-cavity Lyman blocks on RCBS handles with good success. The double cavity handles don't allow these S/C blocks to fully close in back.

[montana_charlie]

I have two single cavity molds that seem to work with the large handles, but they seem to be casting a little out of adjustment
There us usually a little bit of play in the fit of the screws that mount the blocks in the handles. When you close the mould, you should be able to feel a little more handle movement after the two halves come together.
Do you have that little bit of 'slop'?

To have a chance at answering your question more accurately, perhaps it would help if you described the indications that make you think your moulds are 'casting a little out of adjustment'.

Whatever it is you are seeing...you can bet that somebody here has seen it, too.
CM

[NVcurmudgeon]

I have found that old Lyman SC handles (of which I have several) can be easily modified to fit DC blocks, while still being good for SC. Heh, heh, just give a Kraut a file............

[Possum]

What I was seeing was the block not closing all the way. Now after a thorough cleaning, it is closing tight. However, I did notice that after miking the bullets they were out of whack. One measurement was running around .427max and turning the bullet and measuring was running .410. Really small. I am wondering now if the vent lines were causing it to somehow cast smaller than normal. On the lower bands is where it was really noticable. This supposed to be a 429244 mold. However, all I can make out on it is 29244 (and a 930 in the bottom of each mold side). I am casting with straight WW and some tin added.

Fixing to go cast a few in 100+ degree weather. Let you know in a little while how it turned out.

[BPCS]

I've had good luck using the Lee 6 cavity handles on Lyman moulds. They are longer and don't retain the heat like the older Lyman handles with the thinner wood.

BPCS

[Possum]

Okay, call me stupid. On a whim I changed the battery in my caliper. Wow, that made a difference. I am throwing between .430-.431 on the 429244 and .359-.360 on the 358156 bullets. Whew, and I thought I had a problem.

Cast some tonight and got the mold good and hot. That fixed most of the problems. I still had some trouble wiht the 429244 in that after around 75 bullets the bottom pin started having trouble going in the hole. I will take it apart tomorrow and try to isolate the problem area. Must be a spot of lead somewhere around the pin.

Montana Charlie, this alignment problem after I have cast a few is what is giving me trouble. Like I said, it was fine until after it cast around 75-100 bullets. Maybe I need to stop and relube the inside and pin area well after every 75 or so.

[floodgate]

Possum:

Going back to your original question: "How do you determine which older single cavity molds need the small lyman handles and which singles can be used with the large handles?" - first, there are (or were) two basic sizes of Lyman blocks: the "small" ones, used for single-cavity moulds up to about .45 caliber, measure (with the blocks held face-to-face) a hair short of one inch front-to-back, about 1 3/16" side-to-side, and about 1 3/8" tall, not counting the sprue-plate. The "large" blocks, used for larger single bullets and all double-cavities, measure about 1 3/8" both front-to-back and side-to-side, and 1 1/2" tall. I believe Lyman has now dropped all the small blocks.

The older handles are a real crap-shoot. I have fifteen or twenty of them, about half of them came with each size of blocks, but as often as not, I still have to do a bit of "fine-tuning" with a file to get any of them to work with a particular block set (I keep blocks - about 125 pairs - and handles stored separately). Basically, the "large" handles may bind at the outer ends in the block slots, when fitted to "small" blocks, while the "small" handles will bind at the inner end of the slots on large block sets (plus they sometimes give an awkwardly wide spacing for gripping). By now, though, I have "adjusted" most of my handles so they work reasonably well with any of the block sets I have.

To do this "fine tuning", first hold the cleaned blocks together, and do the usual "line of light" and "wiggle" checks to be sure the blocks themselves close tightly and solidly, checking for lead spatters, burs, and pin "wallows" and fixing them as needed.

Then mount the handles (don't over-tighten the mounting screws; that can bow your blocks, or warp them permanently, or so some of us have found), squeeze them together as you would for casting, and check again for a line of light. As noted above, if you ease your grip slightly, you should still see no light, but should feel a slight motion if you wiggle the blocks, due to the clearance of the screw holes in the handles. If you can't get them tight together, peer at the front and back of the handle slots and note whether the handle jaw appears to be touching the inner face of the slot; ideally, you should be able to run a piece of 0.002" shim stock or a slip of waxed paper clear through the slot inside the handle jaw on either side.

If the jaws appear to be binding, take a 10" mill file, clamp the handle jaw in a vise, and file a slight bevel, starting at zero next to the mounting screw holeand deepening to as much as 1/16" towards the inner angle (or outer tip) of the inner face of the jaw, as needed.

The current Lyman handles (and the great ones we just got from Canada), while designed around the "large" blocks, seem to have enough "relief" on their inner jaw faces, and a long enough reach, front-to-back, to work OK with the small ones as well.

I could probably have tuned up two or three handle / block combinations in the time it took me to type this.

Comments, anyone?

Doug

[BruceB]

Like floodgate, I store my moulds mostly without handles. I do have a fair number of both older moulds and older handles, and when setting up to cast I generally just fit-and-try until I find a working match. It doesn't take very long.

If I was a bit smarter and also a tad less-lazy, I might number all the various handles and create a log, listing which moulds on hand fit which handles..... I think I'll go take a nap until the ambition passes.

[Bucks Owin]

I have used the older single-cavity Lyman blocks on RCBS handles with good success. The double cavity handles don't allow these S/C blocks to fully close in back.

That's kinda like what I ran into with one of the "group buy" handles. They wouldn't close DC Lyman blocks completely. Had to do an emergency "massage" with the ol' bench grinder...

But the "thin" set of handles work perfectly with my RCBS DC mowlds...

FWIW,

Dennis

[Possum]

great post Doug. I will check that out tonight. Thanks.