New Lee Mold Prep for Beginners

[crabo]

I am a person that enjoys a list of suggestions to follow in order to get a better final product. I am still fairly new at this game. I came up this list after reading a lot on this forum. I have Saeco, Ballisticast, RCBS, and H&G molds already, and really didn’t want to use an “inferior” Lee mold after all the bad things I had heard about them.

But, I wanted to try a particular Lee bullet and so I broke down and ordered the 6 cavity mold. There is nothing new in this list. I stole all of this material from others here and just put a few pictures with it so that the beginner would understand what to do with his new Lee mold. I have now changed my attitude toward Lee Molds. I’m quite happy with the Lee mold that I have, now that I have done these steps.

1. Step one was to install a cam screw. The Lee 6 cavity molds use a hand sprue cutter that cams off the mold block. You drill a 1/8” hole, countersink it, and then screw in a sheet rock screw for the sprue cutter to cam off of. This gives you steel on steel and doesn’t wear the mold block down as you cast thousands and thousands of boolits.

The next picture shows you how it works.

2. The next thing I did was to drill and tap the block for a set screw so the sprue plate would not loosen up as you operate the sprue plate. I used a 10/32 set screw.

3. The backside of the sprue plate was not flat. I put it on my belt sander and with the sander off; I sanded the sprue plate, by hand, to flatten it out. I did not sand it so much that I sanded the vent lines out. I just slightly flattened it out.

4. I kissed the edges of the mold blocks on the sandpaper again to deburr the blocks to allow them to close.

[crabo]

5. I checked the alignment pins and had to set one a little deeper. It continued to go deeper than I wanted, so I took a punch and staked the back side of the mold block to keep the pin from seating deeper. This involved pushing a little metal into the path of the pin with the punch to keep it from continuing to sink into the block.

6. At this point I boiled the mold blocks and sprue plate in dish soap and water. I let it boil for about 20 minutes.

7. I put it back together and put it on the hot plate to preheat. I cast the first set of boolits. I opened the sprue plate, but did not dump the boolits. I used a q-tip and a very small amount of Bullshop Sprue lube and coated the top of the blocks and the underside of the sprueplate. I then reversed the q-tip and wiped off what I could with the unused side of the q-tip. I also lubed the locating pins and the holes for the pins.

8. I cast more boolits until I had a 12 good boolits. I let the mold cool down until it was no longer warm. I then proceeded to lap each cavity with one of the cast boolits. I drilled a 1/8” hole in the center of the base of the bullet. Then I used a ¼” hex head self tapping screw and ran it down into the bullet until it started spinning. Once I felt like it had polished enough, I reversed the drill and did it in the opposite direction.

I used a buffing compound for automotive paint. There are a number of things you can use as long as it is not an aggressive compound. (especially important on an aluminum mold)


9. I took the mold back apart and scrubbed it with a toothbrush and dish soap. I boiled it again to clean the mold. I put it back together and repeated step 7 and started casting boolits. After a very short time, it started dropping nice bullets with only a light whack on the hinge bolt. After this process, I feel like I can cast as many and as nice a boolit as I do with my more expensive molds.

10. At some point, you will need to glue the wooden handles back onto the iron handles. I use JB Weld for this.

I hope this helps some of the newbies to get their Lee molds running without a lot of headache.

Crabo

[happyhuntr]

thanks for the tips

[Wicky]

Thanks for the info, maybe just what I need for my 311 mould.

[R5CYA]

thanks for the tips! i'm saving it on my desktop till my gb mold come in 6 months! then i can say.....

[Springfield]

I use silicone seal for the handles, that way they are removable. Never found a need to the cam reinforcement, but then I cast hot and don't put a great deal of pressure on my sprue handle. And the set screw will work for a while, but after 5-10,000 bullets it will probably strip out. At least this has been my experience. But then I cast commercially, so maybe you will have better luck with the smaller volume.

[Shotgun Luckey]

Great information!!! Thanks for the tips.

[bart55]

thanks for the detailed thread on the prep, I have been using lee blocks for a long time and ,although I cussed the two cav moulds the six cavity s have usually been good right out o the box. Well maybe a little pounding and a little loosening. but this seems like a great and easy fix. thanks Bart

[miestro_jerry]

Crabo,

I smoke the Lee molds with a BIC lighter, then start casting, the first few come out like all bullets when you start casting, but when you getting into the real groove of casting the bullets come out beautiful, Lee molds seem to work fine.

I do like your information and may try it on the next mold that I buy, but of the 150 or more molds that I have, all seem to work with just a little prep work as mentioned above.

Like Mark, I too cast commercially, I haven't run into problems with the molds and when I do have problems it's related set screws and such. When that time comes, I will probably do some of the things you mention. I have some RCBS and Lyman molds that have cast 10 of thousands of bullets with few problems. Most of the problems have been just tightening up the set screws.

I did have a Lyman mold handle break the other day, I replaced it with a Lee multi cavity mold handle.

I would recommend PV 7 (?) epxoy over JB Weld for reattaching the wood handles to the metal, but also drilling the handles and use a cross pin does better for me..

Thanks for the info,

Jerry

[Paul Tummers]

Crabo,

I smoke the Lee molds with a BIC lighter, then start casting, the first few come out like all bullets when you start casting, but when you getting into the real groove of casting the bullets come out beautiful, Lee molds seem to work fine.

I do like your information and may try it on the next mold that I buy, but of the 150 or more molds that I have, all seem to work with just a little prep work as mentioned above.

Like Mark, I too cast commercially, I haven't run into problems with the molds and when I do have problems it's related set screws and such. When that time comes, I will probably do some of the things you mention. I have some RCBS and Lyman molds that have cast 10 of thousands of bullets with few problems. Most of the problems have been just tightening up the set screws.

I did have a Lyman mold handle break the other day, I replaced it with a Lee multi cavity mold handle.

I would recommend PV 7 (?) epxoy over JB Weld for reattaching the wood handles to the metal, but also drilling the handles and use a cross pin does better for me..

Thanks for the info,

Jerry

Hey Jerry!
Here we meet again!!
Did you ever think about using copper grease, the stuff car-mechanics do use on the anti-sqeech-plates behind the brake-blocks of the disc-brakes of a car?
The stuff can have far more than 1500*F, must be good to prevent mould pins and screws from getting unwilling to move.
Kind Regards,
Paul T.

[largom]

Paul, I have used the "anti-seize" grease on my mold pins and under the
sprue plates. However, use very lightly, if it builds up it will hold the mold
blocks apart slightly and produce oversized boolits.
Larry