What have I done to my Accurate Mold

[dbarnhart]

It was my fourth session with with my new Accurate mold and after a couple hundred bullets I started to notice a faint parting line on the bullets. I held the mold up to the light and sure enough I could see light between the two halves.

I stopped, unplugged everything and let everything cool down, figuring I had managed to get something between the two have and needed to clean the mold. Unfortunately I cannot see anything. I have been over it with an 8-power loupe and cannot see anything. I checked the edges for dings even though I have not dropped the mold.

The problem seems the worst at the lower alignment pin. No matter how hard I press the two halves together I can see light there. I've inspected the alignment pin and socket several times under the 8-power loupe and I cannot see anything wrong.

What have I done?

[ColColt]

You're doomed and cursed for the rest of your life. Seriously, have you jerked the two halves apart trying to get the mold to open after cutting the sprue? Is it brass or metal?

[dbarnhart]

Brass mold. I've never had any trouble getting the mold to open or the bullets to fall out. The sprue plate works so well that I open it with a gloved hand.

I was going to turn 40 lbs of lead into boolits today but only got thru about 10 lbs when this happened. bummer.

[PacMan]

just a thought.Have you checked the pins in the handles to make sure they are tight and also that the mold halves are free on each handle side? make sure that you do not have any lead or other forien matter on the handle slots that might cock one side.
Just fishing here as it seems that the mold faces and alignment pins are clean

[dbarnhart]

That actually was my very first thought, Dwight. So I removed the mold from the handles. If I didnt know betterr I would say that ther is something in the alignment pin socket but even with an 8X loupe it looks clean.

[Bill*]

could the pin be pulled out a bit making it longer than its hole is deep?

[Little Big Oz]

I had a similar problem with my Accurate mold. Turns out the set screw which locks down the sprue plate screw had backed out just enough to keep the mold from closing properly.

[dbarnhart]

I think the problem is the alinment pin. If i use that pin as the pivot point and rotate one of the two halves 180 degrees The two halves will not mate flush. Did that make sense?

[longbow]

My suggestion is to contact Tom and send photos or ask him what to do. I suspect that if it is any sort of problem with the mould he will fix it. Best to let him know before doing much of anything other than removing any lead build up between the blocks which you have already checked for.

Just my thoughts.

Longbow

[TomAM]

Brass warps if you take it way over the temperature that the blocks normally achieve while casting. You cannot get carried away with preheating. No torch, no uneven preheating, no overheated hotplate.

[Sonnypie]

Ah-Hah!
Operator error!

You will have to send it to me.
I'll give it a good home.

[dbarnhart]

As a test today I set my hotplate in Medium and left the mold on it for 30 minutes or so. I have one of those laser infrared remote thermometers ($39 at Harbor Freight) and it said that the mold was a bit below 200 degrees, so I don't think I warped it.

I've talked to Tom at Accurate and I'm going to send to to him to look at. I'll let you know what he says.

[hoppy]

Hi barnhardt,
I had the same concern on my mold that I have made about 100 boolits to date. It is a BACO mold that is a blend of copper alloy and pearlitic iron(I got that description from the website and can't splain it any further) but when I first got it I preheated it with a benzomatic torch and all went well. The last time I used it I held it over the torch a bit longer to speed up the heating process. Some of the boolits had a very fine line on the side that extended the full length of the boolit. When the mold cooled down I could see a fine line of light through the mold at the nose. It seemed to cast okay. I am going to cast some more just to see if it is okay.

[ColColt]

Do yourself a big favor and get one of these. Set on medium and place your mold on top while you're waiting on the lead to liquify(watch that temperature) and your mold should be about right for casting perfect bullets from the get go.

http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AHP-303S.../dp/B001A2E53A

Oops-didn't see the part about you already having a hot plate.

[dbarnhart]

That's exactly the one I have ColColt.

[nanuk]

... Is it brass or metal?

hmmm.... and here I thought Brass WAS Metal!

that is why I love this site, I learn something new every day!!!

[leadman]

Seems like lately more have been using a torch to preheat a mold. This is a bad idea. Much safer to use a hot plate or just cast and dump the boolits to the side until the mold gets to temp.

[dbarnhart]

To me the hotplate makes more sense. If the doorbell rings or I have to scratch I can just set the mold on the hotplate. And it cost $16.

[GaryN]

The first thing I would look for is lead specks in between the halves. Since you already did that I would check the alignment pin depth. I just use a set of calipers and see how close the pins are to each other.

[grubbylabs]

Seems like lately more have been using a torch to preheat a mold. This is a bad idea. Much safer to use a hot plate or just cast and dump the boolits to the side until the mold gets to temp.

I have been wanting to get a hot plate, right now I set the mold on top of the pot and then cast and dump till I get good bullets.