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I'm looking into getting a magma master caster and have been wondering what's involved in converting molds, from 1 cavity old ideal's to mp's 4 cavity hollow point. do I have to get all new molds? I only have about 50 moulds but some of them I wouldn't trade for anything.
Small block molds are a no go. Large block Lyman require Lyman (I call them ears or tabs) and drilling a 1/4" hole all the way through the block vertically in a specific location, so the magma sprue plate can be used. RCBS molds are more difficult. The slots for handles are narrower than Lyman molds. I recommend sending them to Magma for conversion.
I'm having problem connecting to magmaengineering web site, last time I was able to access the web site was about 2 weeks ago. I understand the magma moulds are aces and Miha is now offering his moulds configured for the casting machine. but the expense of new moulds is substantial. Its taken me many years to accumulate what I have. I've yet to hear any bad reviews of the master caster
Once you start your going to need a drill press and lots of time I find RCBS molds easiest to mod.
I have molds from Lyman, RCBS and Saeco converted for use on my Master Caster. All are double cavity, since that's what my orifice is, and I have no need for a single cavity orifice.
The small block Lyman molds heat up pretty quickly, which slows down production, but they will work. The RCBS and Saeco mold blocks are closer in size to the Magma mold blocks, and work well. You won't be able to use your four cavity molds on the Master Caster, though.
Hope this helps.
Fred
farmbif,
I already had about 12 or thirteen molds when I purchased my master caster. Most were Lyman single and double molds, the rest were RCBS single and double molds. I sent them all to Eric for conversion. Now, here is the only thing you have to keep in mind if you do this, you will not be able to use them for hand casting without removing the bolt that is inserted with the new conversion. So you will have more time if you tear them down to use again as a hand casting mold. What I did was determine which molds were in the mass quantity area, and those that were more of a specialized group. As an example, I decided to only convert those I would be casting in the higher numbers like in the hundreds, Those that I would only be casting in the 20-50's I decided to keep those form hand casting only. The molds I converted were 9mm, 22, 243, 30, 312, 375, 40, 41, 45.
https://i.postimg.cc/mDk9yJsQ/20141025_101122.jpg
I converted my Lyman DC's , by making the wings, ( for lack of a better word ), spacers on ea. side and set for a lite , loose fit , and added the sprue cutter from a magma 45 cal. mould. Really not that hard,,,,,,, but as been said ,,, the Lyman's heat up pretty quick, but i'm slow anyway.
coffee's ready ,, Hootmix.
Hey guys, has anybody converted LBT molds for use on a Master Caster? I talked to Veral and he doesn't recommend it. Says it will beat up his aluminum molds. I was thinking about just adding the "wings" so the molds position and drop correctly, but keeping his spru cutter and working it manually with a mallet, 'cause it's spru cutting that's the "violent" part. Anybody out there with any experience with this, please share!
The "wings" are called mounting keys. Aluminum molds will work, but it's hard on them. I have a couple of them, but they heat up too fast and slow down production.
As for using a mallet on a conventional sprue cutter on the Master Caster, you don't really have room to do that conveniently, especially if you have the safety screen in place. I personally don't use the safety screen, but I did build myself a sort of short "wall", for lack of a better term, across the front of the machine out of Lexan. I also made a barrier wall for the right side (looking at the machine). Both of these are to keep hot sprues from hopping out and landing where you don't want them.
Hope this helps.
Fred
Thanks, Fred. I've had a Master Caster for 3 or 4 years. I've gone to not using the front safety screen because I end up having to rotate the spru cutter a little bit with a mallet after it cuts so the second boolit drops free. It's allowed me to be a lot more gentle during the casting process and, although I occasionally get spru on the table, it never goes very far. I have a Lee 20lb bottom pour pot but its spout diameter seems to be a lot smaller than the Master Caster's and I've gotten better results with the MC. I'm not good at pouring by hand. Is it the spru cutting that beats up the aluminum mold or does the action of the MC opening/closing the molds also worse than by hand? Your thoughts are appreciated!
Jim
The molds going together and the action of the sprue cutter combined seem to be a little rougher on aluminum molds than steel molds. I work my Master Caster pretty hard, and when I'm in the mood, my casting sessions may last up to eight hours, with small breaks for lunch and to stretch my back. When I cast, I like to make enough of my more common bullets to last us awhile.
This is what I meant by making a small "wall" and side shield:
https://i1134.photobucket.com/albums...ster%20001.jpg
If your second bullet isn't dropping free with .35 caliber bullets (9mm/.38), then you can adjust the arm that rotates the sprue cutter just a hair to get the clearance you need. I sometimes have that problem with .45 caliber bullets and I just rotate the sprue cutter with my gloved left hand enough to clear the base of the second bullet after opening the mold.
Hope this helps.
Fred
Great advice.
MOA made a valid point about converting only your most used bullets if money is tight. When I got my unit, I only had one each single and double cavity mold as I hate hand casting so always had 4-6 cavity molds. What I have done is bought used molds as they become available. Most have been about $50. But I shoot common calibers and bullets.
RF made a good point about productivity as well. They whole point (for me) with the MC is to produce a lot of bullets as easily and quickly as possible. When I hand cast, I can touch the sprue plate onto a wet towel to speed things up when the mold gets too hot. With the MC, air cooling is all we have. It is one reason the smaller calibers/bullets can be produced at a higher production rate...less lead to cool.
I cast for 44-40 & 40-60 cal. , the first few casts are what's hard on the mould's as they are not up to temp yet. I wait until my pot temp is close to pour temp then gently start hearing my moulds w/ a benzo torch ( don't put flame on mould but at it ) that way I don't have to SLAM down so hard on the first few casts .
coffee's ready ,, Hootmix.