First Accurate Mold

[Little Big Oz]

43-240T. Ordered 10/11, arrived 10/17. Already cast first batch.
Fast service, beautiful mould, good looking boolits.
I'll be saving up for another.

[grubbylabs]

I just got my second one and will be getting a third one as soon as I sell my first one.

Tom has excellent customer service and builds a great mold.

I just got a .460 405B for my 45-70. The tumble is drying on the first batch and the sizer and gas checks are on their way.

[white eagle]

I congratulate you on a wise choice in mold makers
Tom is one of the best
you will find that is the norm with his molds
excellent

[onesonek]

That's a beauty! I also bet it's not your last AM !!

[geargnasher]

I see the secret's out! Lots of posts about Tom's excellent moulds lately, hopefully he'll be around for a long time, especially since BRP ceased operations.

Gear

[grubbylabs]

Ya I still have lots of molds on my wish list. 308, 54 cal, 44, 45, and the list goes on. I am in the process of selling one mold I bought from him so I can buy another from him.

[rmk]

Tom is surely capable of producing a fine mold. I got my first from him recently and thought I had found my mould maker. Finally able to replace/refine 7 Lee moulds. My Lee's have served me well for function but I have always dreamed of replacing them with more refined tools. I ordered another mould in brass as I have never used it and thought I might as well find out what I prefer. Mold arrived plenty quick but the workmanship and quality I expected was lacking in that mould. I e-mailed my disappointment, but only recieved a curt two word response from him. Anyhow...potential for a fine mould, absolutely, customer service if you don't get it, well... not so much. Maybe he was having a bad week or something but I have heard nothing more from him and don't expect to from his lack of concern. Hope your experiences continue to live up to his ability and not to his lack of consistancy or his disrespect for this customer. . Good luck and take care.

[warf73]

I see the secret's out! Lots of posts about Tom's excellent moulds lately, hopefully he'll be around for a long time, especially since BRP ceased operations.

Gear

????

I didn't know this, I have some boolit sampels that might be keepers and was going to have him cut me a mold.

[warf73]

If these boolits I have work out could Tom make a mold for me if I sent him a few boolits?

[onesonek]

If these boolits I have work out could Tom make a mold for me if I sent him a few boolits?

I'm thinking, no reason why not.

[onesonek]

Tom is surely capable of producing a fine mold. I got my first from him recently and thought I had found my mould maker. Finally able to replace/refine 7 Lee moulds. My Lee's have served me well for function but I have always dreamed of replacing them with more refined tools. I ordered another mould in brass as I have never used it and thought I might as well find out what I prefer. Mold arrived plenty quick but the workmanship and quality I expected was lacking in that mould. I e-mailed my disappointment, but only recieved a curt two word response from him. Anyhow...potential for a fine mould, absolutely, customer service if you don't get it, well... not so much. Maybe he was having a bad week or something but I have heard nothing more from him and don't expect to from his lack of concern. Hope your experiences continue to live up to his ability and not to his lack of consistancy or his disrespect for this customer. . Good luck and take care.

In my dealings of 4 moulds, with a 5th in the plans, I have had nothing but kind, if not above and beyond service, and near perfection if not flawless quality in product. I can't help but wonder what issue(s) is/are behind the "rest of the story", as there are always 2 sides. What I read here seems totally out of character from my experience!
I know in my work, I'm more of a phone guy when dealing with customers, whereas Tom tends to stay with e-mail's, but that really don't matter, as it's just personal preference.

[grubbylabs]

I too would like to know the rest of rmk's story. As I too feel this is out of character for Tom. I have had nothing but good service and quality workmanship from him. I wonder if rmk is a new caster like my self and does not quite understand all the workings like my self. When I have had questions Tom has been more that willing to answer them.

[white eagle]

I have gotten countless numbers of molds from Tom
and his excellence has carried through since the first
some like to nit pic
might be the case here not sure without more intell
might be new to casting as well

[TomAM]

Tom is surely capable of producing a fine mold. I got my first from him recently and thought I had found my mould maker. Finally able to replace/refine 7 Lee moulds. My Lee's have served me well for function but I have always dreamed of replacing them with more refined tools. I ordered another mould in brass as I have never used it and thought I might as well find out what I prefer. Mold arrived plenty quick but the workmanship and quality I expected was lacking in that mould. I e-mailed my disappointment, but only recieved a curt two word response from him. Anyhow...potential for a fine mould, absolutely, customer service if you don't get it, well... not so much. Maybe he was having a bad week or something but I have heard nothing more from him and don't expect to from his lack of concern. Hope your experiences continue to live up to his ability and not to his lack of consistancy or his disrespect for this customer. . Good luck and take care.

I have had only one interaction with a customer where my response was close to two words, so I think this is in reference to a complaint I received, quoted below:

“Greetings Tom, I received the brass mold you made for me (order #2407) and as was the case with my first mold from you I appreciate your response and promptness, a great mold by the way. I do however have feedback I would like to pass on. I may well expect more than I am entitled to expect but I have to say that I am very disappointed in the condition of the mold block. It has what appears to be a misdrilled hole ( I am not a machinist so I may be talking out of my wrong end). I can not, by looking, imagine what tool made it. At any rate it really gouged into the block. It may well not effect the utility of the mold and as I say it may be an unreasonable expectation on my part still, I am troubled enough by it that I will not use the mold. I have tried to cast with it but it just bothers me knowing it is there so I have never used it and likely never will. I build custom furniture and it gives me chills to imagine how my customers would react to a similar defect in their project. I assume you quality check your work so it was either missed or considered to be unimportant either one being unacceptable to me. Mistakes we all make, still You are building a fine reputation and I assume it matters to you so I pass it along. I doubt I am the only person who would be put off by such a thing. As I say, every one of my customers would. Thanks for reading my ramblings. I hope you take it the spirit it is offered as feedback.”

My response was these three words:

“What hole? Where?”

Does anyone here think it unreasonable for me to request details before recommending action?

[onesonek]

"Does anyone here think it unreasonable for me to request details before recommending action?"

Not at all Tom.
And had I questioned something in that nature, a pic would have been included in the email. As the adage goes, Sh!t Happens, but I couldn't possibly believe you would send out work that was questionable in any way. Maybe shipping damage???
I will be curious as to his answer and maybe a pic.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Does anyone here think it unreasonable for me to request details before recommending action?

Tom,
I agree with you 100%
You are great to work with...from my experience.

and here is my experience,
I have gotten one mold from you so far,
if you recall, after I received the mold,
I e-mailed you with concern and a photo of the mold face,
there was a tiny scratch on the mold face near
the tip of one of the cavities (not in a cavity).
it was much smaller than any of the vent lines.

You assured me that wouldn't be a problem,
and if it was, you would make it right.
I've cast with it several times and it surely was no problem.
thanks again,
Jon


Communication is a two way street and it appears
to me that the shoe is on rmk's foot to reply with
more precise details...and a photo if you have the capability.
that's my 2¢

[white eagle]

Just as I though
get him a new rope and look what they do
If you won't use the mold send it to me I will use it

[geargnasher]

My first thought reading RMK's first post was "Show us a picture, since you yourself say you're not a machinest and may not realize what it's there for, such as the drilled-through sprue plate stop bolt (which leaves an open hole on the bottom of one of the blocks) or any number of other possiblilities."

I've never seen so much as a scratch on any of the four AM moulds I have when they arrived. Not that it can't happen, but I seriously doubt he'd let one out the door that way, even if it was just cosmetic.

I see this all the time in my business, I think it's a form of Buyer's Remorse. A certain type of person will spend money for a service, then get it in their head (for whatever reason, previous screwings by other shops is a big one) that something simply MUST be wrong, and often come back with a completely different problem saying "it never did that before you worked on it" or similar tripe. This type is easy to differentiate from the straightforward customer who keeps an open mind, and if has a specific complaint, it is SPECIFIC, not vague like "ever since you.....", and often is accompanied by a detailed description of the perceived problem and a willingness to do whatever they can to help you identify and fix the issue. I had a customer (who has ZERO mechanical understanding or aptitude) e-mail me pictures of a fluid leak on their motorhome from three states away after I'd done a repair, turns out it was NOT the power steering leak I already fixed, but another leak entirely from the left front leveling jack hose, which uses the same red ATF as the power steering system, and was leaking only a couple of feet from where the power steering was. It wasn't leaking when it left the shop, but without pics it would have been hard to tell just what was causing the "puddle of red fluid like before".

I ask you, RMK, why didn't you follow up with pictures, or if you don't have a camera, send the mould back to Tom to have him check it out? You might have been able to talk him into paying the return shipping for you if he found a problem. Tom asked you a question, three words, which puts the ball in YOUR court. Sounds to me that you just let it whiz by you and off into the parking lot, rather than continue the line of communication. NOT Tom's fault. If you have a problem, do your part to get it fixed rather than grousing about it on this forum and making it out like Tom ignored you. You wouldn't want anyone running YOUR business down in public without first having had a chance to address the problem, would you?

As to the line of communication with Tom, as he explains on his website, he's just about deaf from a lifetime of being around machinery, so he uses email exclusively. I've never been more than two days without a response from him.

Just the way I see it based on the information available.

Gear

[ph4570]

The molds Tom has created for me are top-notch.

[onesonek]

Couldn't have said it better Gear!

also
"As to the line of communication with Tom, as he explains on his website, he's just about deaf from a lifetime of being around machinery, so he uses email exclusively. I've never been more than two days without a response from him."

Somehow I missed that, but regardless, I have always found email communication with Tom to be courteous, helpful, informative and seldom very long before replies with the exception of maybe weekends . Just a pleassure to do business with all the way around!!!