Galvanized Lyman Mould(?)(!)

[William Yanda]

On any given day, any mold may be blasted......or something stronger.

[leadlobber2]

I can not help you as to the how or why , but I bought several molds that were plated like the one you have at an auction in Ohio . It is probably nickel .They are plated ,not any of the other ideas that were brought up . My molds came from a guy that wrote for gun mags. ,he may have gotten them to try, and write about . They cast bullets to the size on the molds . I sold some of them on E-Bay several years ago . Yours may be one of those I sold .They cast great and will not rust . I never saw any like them till your post . I hope someone in the know can shed some light on the origin . I have always wondered about them myself .

[c1skout]

Looks like hard-chrome or nickel to me. Cool, let's hear how it works!

[country gent]

May be a flash chrome plating this adds very little to the surface. Most nickel platings have a layer of copper plated first to help the nickel adhere adding more thickness to the surfaces. Im wondering about some of the newer industrial coating that increase surface hardness and add durability. There is one that adds .0002 and increase surface hardness to 70 rockwell. TIN might be an interesting coating also and adds very little dimensionaly.

[brassrat]

I have an Ideal mould that is green and permanent. It casts oversize or thereabouts.

[Pressman]

Doug (floodgate)




On Oct 14, 2016, at 11:06 AM, Tom Griffin <@lymanproducts.com> wrote:


Hi Doug,
I do not know of any Lyman moulds that were ever plated. My belief is that it would have been done by an owner. Like some of the forum members, I also thought that it looked like a bead blast, but I guess that isn’t the case.
Tom

I sent out a general email question about these molds. Floodgate then contacted Tom at Lyman with this response.

Ken

[Bent Ramrod]

An outfit called Texas Plater's Supply used to sell a kit of copper and nickel salt solutions and a brush with an electric wire soldered onto it. You hooked the brush and the article you wanted to plate up to your car battery and brushed the solutions on, like painting. Obviously, this was not going to be the heavy-duty plating job you would get from a commercial outfit, with tanks, higher amperage and longer exposure times.

The dull look would be logical, since any serious polishing of the plating would probably wear it through. It would take a lot of brushing to get a thick enough layer to polish or to change get the diameter of the casting, but it would enhance the rust resistance very well.

[claxton]

With time in short supply, I haven't gotten to casting with the mould yet. I'm grateful for everyone's response on my mystery mould.

[Dragonheart]

I bought this 358156 on eBay. I was surprised when it arrived that it seems to be galvanized, chromed, or have some coating. It's not paint, and it's a good job. Even the handle slot screws are coated.

Was this a factory thing, or did some individual do this. Anybody know?

thanksAttachment 178241Attachment 178242

I recently purchased an H&G #68 mold off Evil Bay that has the same coating, so I too am wondering who did this as it is obviously a custom job? From the Ebay photos I guessed it was powder coating, but now I know it's not. It is not bead blasted. It is anodized and a very good job at that.

But this is not what I would have done to a beautiful old H&G mold that appears to have been in perfect condition. I have not tried to cast with it as it did not come with handles and most knowledgeable on H&G molds know their molds came with handles fitted to the mold, so handles off another H&G mold may not work.

I believe I can remove the anodizing without damage to the mold, but at this point I want to try it out as this is interesting to say the least. I may have to make custom handles as the handles off my other H&G molds do not fit this mold, but that is not surprising.

[castalott]

I'm guessing it was acid washed.

I vote this with a immediate passivation of 140 degree soda ash...