Ruined my mold, need a new one

[359caliber]

There is no reason to beat on a mold, but glad you were on a practice mold.

Once it is up to temp everything can be worked with your hands, including sticky bullets, just lift them out with your finger on the base of the bullet.

This is excellent advice. I have another mold on order and have sent (my foolishly ruined one) off for reconditioning. Next time around will be better. Thank you to the advice posted here and the top notch PM received.

[MaryB]

I keep an ice pick handy, if I get a real bad stuck boolit I use the pick to push on the lead only to get it out. Then I cool the mold down and look for why it stuck. Last time it happened I must have bumped the mold face into something and I nicked the edge of a cavity raising a small bur. Quick pass with a razor blade to trim off the bur and back in action.

[DLCTEX]

I still curious how the mould was "ruined".

[hickfu]

The only time I have had a mold that wouldnt close properly was a pin issue where it came into the center of the mold a bit (all I did was heat the mold back up and set it sideways on my bench and hit the side with a plastic mallet, pushed the pin back in) on another occasion some lead found its way into where the pins meet and was a pain to get out, exacto knife and a dental pick finally got it clean.

If I start to get fins for some reason (usually my hands hurt so bad I shouldnt be casting in the first place) I give up for the day and when the mold is cool I take a razor blade and carefully get all of the lead off the inside face of the mold using a magnifying glass.

Oh and during a casting session I keep a brass wire brush handy and every 5 or so casts I brush the inside of the mold real quickly so the boolits dont stick because of a little lead hanging on in the inside (works very well to keep my boolits from sticking)

I would like to see pics of the mold as well to see if it truly is ruined...


Doc

[Down South]

I still curious how the mould was "ruined".

Me too. I wish the OP could have posted pictures.

[Rustyleee]

The "mallet" I use for casting is a 10" long piece of hickory hammer handle. On the bottom where I hold it I have epoxied a bit from a straight bladed screwdriver. Once I start casting I seldom have to stop except to refill the pot. If a bullet is stuck I use the top of the mallet to tap the hinge pin. If it's really stuck the bit can be applied to the base of the bullet in question to pop it out of the mould. If my Lee pot starts to dribble a little the bit can also be used to wiggle the plunger via the slot in top to make it stop.

[lka]

Me too. I wish the OP could have posted pictures.

Me too, we need some pics!

[w0fms]

Hmm. It's a "new style" Lee.. if you get them really hot they will expand enough that the pins can get knocked out of alignment. I did this on one of the 2 cavity molds which seem very prone to this. Putting the mold in a vice, aligned properly, and tapping the pins back together fixed the mold fine. I've done this a couple of times with that same mold, and I always manage to fix it...

I'd bet that the alignment pins are out of kilter on the mold, and they can just be fixed by a realignment in a vice....

[farmbif]

NOE states in their instructions that they send with new molds that at 700 degrees an aluminum mold will be damaged, 700 is too hot for aluminum

[359caliber]

Me too, we need some pics!

It was in pretty bad shape, I didn't take any pics of it. The mold would not close properly, let alone close tightly enough to cast individual bullets. This is what it cost me to have it fixed (plus shipping):
90303 MOLD DC 358-158-RF $12.98
I will treat this one better.

[lka]

It was in pretty bad shape, I didn't take any pics of it. The mold would not close properly, let alone close tightly enough to cast individual bullets. This is what it cost me to have it fixed (plus shipping):
90303 MOLD DC 358-158-RF $12.98
I will treat this one better.

That's not too bad, just crappy having to wait, I get inpatient with these things lol

[Foto Joe]

NOE states in their instructions that they send with new molds that at 700 degrees an aluminum mold will be damaged

I don't have any experience with NOE molds but I do have a fair amount of boolits through Lee molds. Even if your alloy is running at 700°-725° there just isn't any way to actually get the mold up to that temperature, if you did the lead would simply run out when you opened it. I would venture to guess that NOE is trying to prevent folks from pre-heating their molds using things like hot plates and propane torches. The melting point of aluminum is north of 1,200° but if you were to heat the mold unevenly then you definitely could run into trouble.

Using a ladle pour I typically run at around 675° but with the bottom pour pot I need to stay above 700°. So far the only damage done to any of my Lee molds was because of improper prepping by me when they and I were new.