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Well, bought mine new about a 2 months ago and made about a 100 ignots with it. Then I got busy about a week and a half ago and have made about 1000-1500 ignots. I noticed the wood handle cracking a couple days ago and coming loose. I emailed lee and they will send me a new $2 replacement for $6.95 shipped or I could send it in. Well the metal arm snapped today. Thank god the lead cooled enough so it didn't splash when it hit the ground.Attachment 198753
I have two that I bought about 15 years ago. Still going strong. I do not handle them roughly. When hot they are at their weakest and slamming them down to dump ingots is a no-no. Handle them with care and they should last for years.
I've cast about 2000 pounds of ingots in my 4 Lee ingot moulds and they are still working fine after several years.
Most ingot molds don't have handles. You should have enough left to use a vise grip:redneck:
You may be able to send it in for a replacement.
I've given up on the little molds and almost exclusively use the 1 1/2 x 5 3/8 angle iron molds I made, they hold Apr 2 # of lead.
Having 8 of these I can empty a smelting pot fairly quickly.
I don't know how long they last as I'm only 13 years into the ones I bought used.
No idea how long they last. I have had mine over 10 years now.
ive got two of them and it happened to both. still use them with gloves.
Now you have a set of molds just like my Lymans!!!
I use one for a 'drip tray' under my Lee pot...it wouldn't matter if it had a handle or not.
BUT, I have a couple Lee ingot molds, bought in 2010, and have cast countless ingot, and haven't broke one yet, wood still intact and uncracked.
Haven't broken mine yet, a few handles cracked and I repaired with jb weld. I'm a fairly slow caster compared to most guys here I think though, I don't mind spending a whole day just alloying ingots and marking them for future use. For me, any scrap gets cast in muffin tins, I only use the lee mold once I've added tin.
I've got one I picked up in the 90's still going strong.
Handles are for new casters. J/K
My casting buddies have all collected up our mutual ingot molds, and we have quite a collection of them that we use when doing a major smelting session (typically 1200 pounds and more.)
NONE of them have handles on them.
We wait for the alloy to cool enough to dump them, and then do a quick flip with a leather gloved hand. And, refill as needed. Don't waste any more $$$ with Lee. Just grind off the sharp handle remainder, and use the same way most of us use them. Some of our collection ingot molds are 30+ years old, and not a one of them has a handle on it.
BTW, with a 20 pound casting pot (RCBS Pro Melt, specifically), we are also using a LOT of cupcake pans for round ingots. Not a single one of those has a handle either.
So, rejoice in being unbound from the handle!!
I have 2 which have cast 100's of ingots over the last 10-12 years and are still going strong.
ukrifleman
I sent lee pics of it to their customer service dept. They said need to send it back with my receipt and they'd replace it.
Love how you have to ship their **** back on your dime, just so they can replace it!
Bought one about the same time ago. No issues for me so far. I do not know for sure how many ingots, but I do know it was more than #100 of COWW & Pure lead .
Bummer to hear ya had an issue.
Hope it all works out for ya in the end.
G'Luck!
:)
I'm glad the lead had cooled to the point that you were not injured. With a new cost of 12-14 dollars I can't see investing the shipping cost to get it replaced. You could grind that broken piece off and bolt a piece of angle on it for a handle. I have a friend that welds aluminum and I would get a piece of aluminum angle welded to it if it was mine. I understand that welding may not be an option for some. I wonder if its truly aluminum or if its some form of "pot metal"?
I went to a couple antique stores today. Found a corn cob mold for $18, a sectioned cast iron pie plate mold with a hole in the middle for $16, and another pie sectioned cast iron pan that was heavier construction for $12. I bought the $12 one and I bet it will never brake. If I can send the broken mold back in a bubble pack for $3-4 it's going back. I like my little lee ignots but this is going to make casting go way faster than having one little ignot mold.
Attachment 198887
An ingot mold isn't a "working" tool. It is just a container for molten lead being formed into ingots. If it was never handled, it would last for eons. Possibly your handling caused the handle breaking. Perhaps the repeated heating/cooling caused a stress crack. Perhaps it was dropped at some forgotten time. Or maybe you just got the one in ten thousand with a faulty casting...
Mebbe the casting gods did it just made to feed some Lee Hater's ego and unreasonable feelings about inanimate tools...(post 15)
The material used is ``pot metal`` be very careful when carrying it with molten lead.