Custom Round Ball Molds - Heavy Metal Molds

[xacex]

Sounds heavy...

[rmaster14145]

How about a #1 buck mold?

Rm

[turbo1889]

Ok i have been fallowing this and a few things i will point out.

About a double sided mold, the pins and bushings are in the bottom end of the mold right in the area where you would put the pivot and stop pin.
Now on to the actual round ball size. the handle slots are .375 deep so this means that with the current block size if i cut a .680 RB cavity i will be .01-.02 away from the edge of the handle slot. I have never cut a cav that close to the edge before so i don't know how it would work. Now the block thickness could be bumped up to handle this larger round ball. Make the mold 1.5" wide not 1.375. This would give us a ton more options. If I made them 1.5" wide we could fit a .75 RB with .025+ wall thickness at the edge of the handle slot. the only issue is that all our sprue plates are 1.375 wide so you would see some of the mold block on each side of the sprue plate. its not a big deal, just a cosmetic issue. but bumping up the block thickness would be easy. If this is something you guys are interested in lets get a group buy going.

In order for this to work well as a group buy and get a enough people involved to make it a go I think it would need to be set-up so that everyone could pick their own ball size. Something I think is possible without being a total PITA on your end with a good CNC program that asks for a size input in the form of three digits and then cuts the cavity with a spiral pattern with an undersized ball end mill.

I saw how much of a flop your tri-ball mold that make three 60-cal. balls was. Looked like it took quite a while for you to sell them off and I don't even know how many of them you did sell.

Reason is, because especially with larger size round-balls (stuff above normal buck-shot sizes) everyone seems to want their own size of ball and making up a bunch of molds all with the same size of ball and then trying to sell them off probably isn't going to work as well as giving everyone a choice of their own ball size within a specified range.

I for one wouldn't be more then willing to pay in advance of the molds being cut for the benefit of getting my choice of ball size for my mold(s), and with the good reputation you have been making on this forum I'm sure others would feel similarly.

My suggestion would be to run a group buy in your 3" long blocks with a choice of ball size ( 0.###" ) from 0.400" to 0.750". Smaller ball sizes within that range will be four cavity and the larger ball sizes within that range will be three cavity all cut in slightly wider blocks as you suggest. I for one know that I would want four molds for myself, in order of importance: 0.680", 0.735", 0.625+", and 0.410+". (When I use the "+" there I mean all tolerance on + side, other two are split tolerance. If I know how your setting the tolerances I can order with just three digits accordingly. If for example your using +/- 0.002 tolerances I'd just add two to the ones I want on the plus side, or if your running all your roundball tolerances on the plus side I'd back off slightly the size on the ones I want centered. Etc . . . you get the idea.) I've got the money right now to cover the first two in my list at your normal $125+S&H prices and give me a few more weeks and I could scrape together the rest to cover the other two.

If I know a group buy along such lines is coming along then I'll start scraping and pinching the money together to get all I can including possibly more then one in a couple of sizes (0.680" especially). I have dreams about a big molds with a huge number of cavities but I understand most other people wouldn't go for as many cavities as I would like. I think most people would go for a 3-4 cavity mold though, small enough for some and still enough cavities to attract buyers like me and with your normal block length and the size of balls we are talking about that is about what would fit.

My main point is that if you set it up for a choice of ball size then you will cover just about all round ball users with all the muzzle loader boys and the shotgun boys who all have their own preference in ball size for their different applications all jumping into the group so you can get a decent size list of buyers. Go instead with just a single ball size and you only hit a narrow slice of the round ball market. Heck you might even have a couple people order a .666" size mold just to say they have a truly wicked mold.

[jmort]

.678 to .680 would be sweet. No bigger than .680.

[JTknives]

my program is set up the take ball diameter. I spent 2 months writing a round ball program that would cut any size ball i want using standard cutters.

[BABore]

I once cut a full bore 12 ga cavity into one of my standard 1.5" wide blocksets. Little did I realize that I was 0.030" from each handle cut. It casted well, but I had a real fugly band on each side of the boolit that took me a bit to figure out. That thin section on each side was flexing with the heat and pressure big time. Wouldn't even think of having less that 0.06 to 0.08" of meat on each side. I went to a 1.75" wide set to fix the issue.

[jmort]

JT you should check out the interest for a .680 Round Ball mold. Thanks

[alfred2000]

do you have a 4 cavety RB .454 yet?

[turbo1889]

my program is set up the take ball diameter. I spent 2 months writing a round ball program that would cut any size ball i want using standard cutters.

Sorry to hear it took you so much time and effort to write, but I'm glad to hear your already set-up to handle custom sizes so everyone in a group buy can get their own choice of size, that makes a group buy much more likely to attract a broad spectrum of buyers.

I once cut a full bore 12 ga cavity into one of my standard 1.5" wide blocksets. Little did I realize that I was 0.030" from each handle cut. It casted well, but I had a real fugly band on each side of the boolit that took me a bit to figure out. That thin section on each side was flexing with the heat and pressure big time. Wouldn't even think of having less that 0.06 to 0.08" of meat on each side. I went to a 1.75" wide set to fix the issue.

Yes, the handle slot clearance issue is certainly an issue. Pretty much from what I've seen from outfits like Mountain Molds (MM) and Accurate Molds (AM) that let customers pick their own diameter about 0.02" to 0.05" clearance on each side is the minimum. MM mold blocks are 0.750" thick between then handle slots and the largest diameter size he will accept is 0.650" accordingly. For AM his standard blocks are 0.77" between handle slots and the largest diameter size he will accept is 0.740" which does work and has worked for his other customers without complaint (at least none that I've seen on this board and I have had personal correspondence with at least two of his customers who have ordered 12ga. slug cuts in the 0.730"-0.735" size range) but is a little too thin for my blood and I've had him do a custom "machine wide block" molds for me that fit in a modified automatic casting machine with a width of 0.83" between the slots because its his wider standard width block cut with the magma machine slots that aren't as deep as hand casting handle slots.

One should also realize that unlike a conventional bullet shaped projectile shape with a round ball mold the equator of the ball can often not be at the same height in the blocks as the handle slots. That is why the Lyman single cavity 0.735" round ball mold works with handle slots that leave a block thickness that is less then the diameter of the ball because the equator of the ball is well above the handle slots in the block.

From the pictures I saw of the run of 0.600 Tri-Ball molds he made up a while ago and had up for sale on this forum, with the HM^2 mold blocks I think that would also be the case, namely that the equator of the ball would be above the handle slot height which helps improve the clearance situation some.

With a 0.750" round ball (the largest proposed size) the equator of the ball (point of largest diameter) should be about 0.375" down from the top of the mold blocks. I doubt his handle slots are that close to the top of the mold blocks.

do you have a 4 cavety RB .454 yet?

Yet another post that shows that a group buy where everyone gets to pick the ball diameter they want for their mold (within a reasonable range) would work the best. I have absolutely no need for that size, and alfred2000 probably has no need for at least one of the sizes I want if not all the sizes I want, yet if we can pick our own ball size we can both be part of the same group buy.

As I said, I've already got the cash in hand to cover two of your molds at your regular prices right now and if this is something that is going to get off the ground I'll start scraping and pinching the $ to up that number in a few weeks time.

[nanuk]

I for one know that I would want four molds for myself, in order of importance: 0.680", 0.735", 0.625+", and 0.410+".

Let me guess:
0.680 for a ball in wad 12ga?
0.735 nekkid ball in 12ga?
0.625+ nekkid ball in 20ga?
0.410+ nekkid ball in .410 bore?

I think those, plus one for a ball in wad 20ga would cover every shotgun I want to load for.

would the 0.680 fit in a 16ga nekkid?

now, I'd just need to find $700 for more toys...

[JTknives]

We are getting really close to starting a group buy for custom Round Balls.

[turbo1889]

[jmort]

What turbo1889 "said"

[Blammer]

I want a 4C with 4 diff ball sizes in it.

[turbo1889]

I'm not so sure he is going to do multiple ball sizes in the same blocks. I was just hoping to get custom sizes period as in one size for all cavities but at least you get to pick the size.

[rhbrink]

I would be interested in a .315 4 C, .495 2 C, and a .457 2 or 4 C.

Any or all of the above.

RB

[simonjester76]

I would love a 2C .457" Round Ball mold in Brass. From your prototype it looks like it would take the Lee mold handles.

Simon

[OLPDon]

[QUOTE=boltons75;1892611]I would be in for a quality multi cav for my 54 cal. Muzzle loader.


Ditto for me on the 54 cal.
Don

[rxp46]

I would be in for a multi cav .495 and .58 in 4 or 6 cavity !

Gr Jan.

[JTknives]

Ok guys Round Ball group buy is started. I will start cutting them when I get back to the shop on Monday.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...51#post2790151