opening spruce plate, hardened lead

[timberwolf]

I have searched but not been able to answer this question. I sent a mould back to Lee because it was making over sized bullets. Lee sent it back, with lead in it, including the spruce plate covered with lead. What is the best way to melt the lead on spruce plate to open mould? Torch?
Lee said that it was inproperly lubed and therefore not closing completly. They said they lubed it with anti-sieze and it was moulding perfect bullets. Funny thing is, I also preped it ,lubing it with anti-sieze. I can't see that it could possibly be moulding correct sized bullets. Can't tell until I get it open
Thanks in advance for you experience and help.

[IcerUSA]

You could try a knocker to cut the sprue , something of wood or rubber , or try heating it up on your casting pot or a hotplate , a torch would work but with the heat being localized it might warp the sprue if it's a 2 cavity mould and I don't think it's a good quality steel on them 2 bangers from what I've seen , you could even just pour lead from your pot on the sprue till it gets the other lead hot enough to melt but could get messy doing it tho .

YMMV

Keith

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Send it back to Lee, and tell them the Spruce plate is too soft. Direct them to make you one out of Cocobolo or better yet, Lignum Vitae.

Sorry, I couldn't resist!
Morgan

[Springfield]

Just take the mould and dip the end into the molten lead in your pot until it opens, then just scrape it off with a popsicle stick. Then go and order some Bullshop Sprue lube. bullshop@wildak.net is their e-mail address. Once the mold has aquired a coating of Bullshop lube the lead will wipe right off. How many cavities is this mold?

[Cloudpeak]

A hot plate will work fine for melting the lead in your mold.

The other day, I preheated my new Lyman mold on my hotplate. The cheap, "ChinaMart" hot plate works well but the temp dial can be a mystery sometimes. I went to cast and the metal remained liquid in the mold for a very long time. I think the settings for "just right" and "too hot" must be kind of "off".

Cloudpeak

[Typecaster]

Morgan did a ha-ha (and beat me to it)! Woodent you know it. Hope timberwolf doesn't take it the wrong way and get his fir up...making jokes about the King's English really goes against the grain of some people.

Maybe he sent it to Lee and asked them to "spruce it up."

So, if a homophobe hates the you-know-whats, does a homonymphobe hate words that sound alike but are spelled differently? Maybe we could take a pole...

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I think a Homonymphobe hates grits. OOPS! That's a Homonyphobe!

On a serious side, I resent the suffix "phobe" to describe dislike. A phobia is an irrational fear, and I don't particularly fear the people I dislike.
Morgan

[Scrounger]

Correct, Morgan. Apparently there is no good suffix for 'hate', but there is a good prefix, 'miso', but 'Misohomo' doesn't sound right... Maybe 'misohome'? But then there's nothing right about the stem to which we're trying to attach it, is there?

[44man]

Lots of good answers except nobody noticed that "spruce" is a tree and what we use is a "sprue" plate.

[Wicky]

You should be able to take an axe to the spruce plate and it should come right off!!

Jokes aside - a few taps with a decent peice of hard wood should be enough to cut the sprue off.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Lots of good answers except nobody noticed that "spruce" is a tree and what we use is a "sprue" plate.

Sure I did. Cocobolo and Lignum vitae are extremely hard woods. Spruce is a softwood.
Morgan

[Typecaster]

Is there a hidden meaning to "softwood?"

[DLCTEX]

Back on topic. Give the sprue plate a good whack with a hardwood stick or a plastic mallet to cut the sprue. If it breaks, send it back to Lee, which it won't in my experience. I commonly leave boolits and sprue in my molds, Lee included to protect the mold. I just cut the sprue and tap the rivot or bolt with a plastic mallet and have never had a problem. DALE

[timberwolf]

The mould is a 6 banger. Guess I will just hit it, after heating it, and see what happens. I can't wait to see how Lee "fixed" a mould that throws bullets that are too big.

[Swagerman]

Have you got a propane torch, just wave the torch back and forth a few time on the sprue plate and the attach lead until it softens...then give it a whack with the hardwood stick or mallet.

Though I have whacked a few when they were cold, no problem there...but my lead is a bit soft.

Jim

[IcerUSA]

If it's a 6 banger I wouldn't be wacking it , just preheat that sucker and the sprue will cut as if you where casting with it ,

Keith

[montana_charlie]

You know that Lee filled that mould with nothing harder than #2 alloy...right?
The sprue plate is made of steel, isn't it?.
What's the problem?
Cut the sprue(s) and drop the bullets out.

Interesting to hear Lee state that anti-sieze is the correct lube for their mould.
That should quiet the 'beeswaxers' for a while.

The way Lee 'fixed' a mould that threw oversized bullets was to lube it so it closed fully...making the cavities smaller.
They left it full of lead so you can drop the bullets out and measure them for yourself.

If you 'melt' them out, you won't know anything for sure...
CM

[Cloudpeak]

The sprue plate on my 6 cavity mold is made of aluminum.

Cloudpeak

[hedgehorn]

Send it back to Lee, and tell them the Spruce plate is too soft. Direct them to make you one out of Cocobolo or better yet, Lignum Vitae.

Sorry, I couldn't resist!
Morgan

[bobthewelder]

If there is I suggest getting a prescription and taking a pill before taking the advice of some of the following posts which instruct whacking it. This will save alot of time and frustration.

Is there a hidden meaning to "softwood?"