For those that wanted a mould build post.

[websterz]

Please do share photos of the brass mold build along. I can't resist purty brass molds, I just cant.

I don't know how purty they'll be but I'll definitely get you some pix.

[TXGunNut]

Never knew how the cavities were bored. Thanks for the keystrokes and pics.

[websterz]

Never knew how the cavities were bored. Thanks for the keystrokes and pics.

You're welcome.

[1989toddm]

The form tool can only cut on one edge. Otherwise when it is fed in and out of the cavity it would wipe out the lube grooves.

I'm still puzzled..it seems as though the cutter would wipe out the lube grooves anyway?

[Nueces]

I'm still puzzled..it seems as though the cutter would wipe out the lube grooves anyway?

Websterz feeds his cutter from the center out, radially, to form the cavity. Feeding it axially would indeed wipe out the grooves.

[1989toddm]

Ok I need more experience/understanding of machining processes. Hope to get the chance to learn more in the near future!

[country gent]

The actual cutter is under sized to fit inside the moulds lube grooves with a small amount of clearence then feed in y axis out to make the dia of everything correct. Think of this as a single flute form cutter. Since lube groves are around .020 on a side deep then cutter needs to be .050-.060 undersized to fit in pilot hole. The Mould could be bored with a single point boring bar also but that is more work and much more work. A digitlal readout makes the single point way easier.

[websterz]

Someone asked for purty brass pics?

[websterz]

This time I'm going to use the heavier duty six cavity handles. They'll give me much better control of the heavier brass mould. More to come tomorrow!

[crawfobj]

You're killing me.

[websterz]

You're killing me.

I'm sorry. Want me to stop?

[crawfobj]

Absolutely not!

[Blublister]

This is an awesome thread. Great instructional. Please keep the pics coming.

[websterz]

absolutely not!

lol!!!

[DrCaveman]

Nothing to add, awesome thread. One of my favorites on this entire forum.

I found this video a few weeks ago, i would venture that your final product is better, but this shows a bunch of the steps in motion picture format. I would be interested to hear how your process differs, in subtle ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCh2T...e_gdata_player


Thanks a ton for posting this, keep it coming!

[1989toddm]

Nothing to add, awesome thread. One of my favorites on this entire forum.

I found this video a few weeks ago, i would venture that your final product is better, but this shows a bunch of the steps in motion picture format. I would be interested to hear how your process differs, in subtle ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCh2T...e_gdata_player


Thanks a ton for posting this, keep it coming!

Thanks! Now I understand it!

[Lonegun1894]

I'm sorry. Want me to stop?

PLEEEASE DONT? This is great. It'll end up costing me money, but education is never cheap, and always worth it. Keep up the good work. So when are you going to start accepting orders????

[websterz]

I'm thinking about building a boolit knurling tool and making this brass mould so it casts smooth boolits. If I go this route I'll definitely take pics.

[websterz]

Nothing to add, awesome thread. One of my favorites on this entire forum.

I found this video a few weeks ago, i would venture that your final product is better, but this shows a bunch of the steps in motion picture format. I would be interested to hear how your process differs, in subtle ways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCh2T...e_gdata_player


Thanks a ton for posting this, keep it coming!

Aside from the obvious difference in the way he makes his mould blocks there really isn't any difference. In fact I studied the same video before I started building my first mould. Use of the four jaw chuck obviously allows me to work with rectangular material and multiple cavities but other than that it's pretty much the same process.

[websterz]

Temporarily mounted on the handles using drill bits for pins. This lets me quickly check alignment before I start the lathe work. Everything lines up great!