Reminder about brand New Lee molds

[nekshot]

Last week I got my 23 and 24 Lee Mold. One a 50 mini mold and the other a 35 200 gr rifle boolit mold. I took my carbide scribe and went over all the edges and got my gun cleaner in spray can and sprayed the molds and scrubbed gently with old tooth brush. Fired up the pot and laid the molds face down on edge of pot and when mold was very warm took some Bens Red lube over all the places the instructions point out. Started casting with the 35 mold and nothing went right. Both boolits had horrible wrinkles so I took a QTip dipped in Kroil and swirled the head into each cavity as I normally do in this situation. Did not make differance and in cavity started sticking like a real bugger. Now, I am faced with a decision to swear at the whole mold and post a thread about how stupid Lee 's molds are or take my experience a little further. In the past I found with Lee's molds if you cast fast and get the boolits frosty looking from heat the molds start working like magic. So I start casting as fast as I can and it is not a pretty site until the boolits start looking frosty all of a sudden the wrinkles are gone and the boolits are literally popping out of the cavities as fast as I can open them with no tapping. Again did I expect any thing different to happen? No because all of my Lee molds seemed like they season after you get them frosty hot the first time. I do not have to get the mold hot like that again unless I want frosty looking boolits or some non lead wheel weights got into the melt and then I simply get the pot really hot and cast thru the mess and all turns out back to normal again. I am posting this for the recent casters getting into this fun hobby that when you run into something like this with a aluminum mold don't cuss just turn up the heat. I never returned a Lee mold. Maybe I have some out of round but I am to dumb to know and some need a little help with the pins if you get the mold real hot but all in all I am very happy with Lee products!!

[Tom W.]

I had the same problem with my new Lee 6 cavity mold. I finally blasted the cavities with
RemOil. Two pours later all was fine.

[Harter66]

Humm,
Dawn , heat/cool x 3 , heat , pour ........ Sounds vaguely​ familiar for some reason .......

[RogerDat]

Humm,
Dawn , heat/cool x 3 , heat , pour ........ Sounds vaguely​ familiar for some reason .......

You know I think I also saw that on a mold box or instruction sheet someplace. cough*noe*cough*every mold*cough.

[CIC]

I am not supper experienced but the majority of my molds are Lee. I clean and lube as directed and use a lighter to smoke the cavity. Bullets jump out as fast as I can fill them. Maybe it is luck but I have never had a problem with Lee products.

[Harter66]

I've taken in a few strays from "A shoe box full I should have recycled" and found that with a few minutes of attention and a preheat they work fine , although as noted "over heating" seems to be good for them when they are fussy going in .

[tazman]

I have a tendency to heat my mold hot enough the first time I cast with it that it takes 30 seconds or so for the first boolits to solidify. Of course the boolits are super frosty and usually the wrong size and unusable.
After that, the mold is at working temperature and drops perfect boolits like clockwork.
On subsequent uses, I only heat the mold to normal operating temperature.

[Tom W.]

Humm,
Dawn , heat/cool x 3 , heat , pour ........ Sounds vaguely​ familiar for some reason .......

Yup, I saw that over the years. This last time was a no-go. Go figure.

[MiHec]

There is a lot of different aluminum alloys. I personally use the one with high % of copper. This helps with casting.
Why after few casting is all OK??? Because on surface you get "patina" and it acts as "release".

[aspangler]

On the three Lee molds that I have had trouble with I simply used a propane torch to "smoke" the mold cavities. Got them very hot. Let them cool and warmed them to casting temp. No more problems.

[blikseme300]

All molds regardless of the material they are made from perform best once an oxide layer has formed. Naked and clean cavities will give you fits when casting. This is why molds settle down after a number of heat and casting cycles.

When I get a new mold it will go through a number of heat cycles on a solid hot plate before I even try to use them for casting.

If I do any modification to a mold such as Leementing or polishing this will be followed up by a number of heating cycles on the solid hot plate again to set a new oxide layer before trying to cast again.

This has been my experience, YMMV.

[MyFlatline]

Try using a piece of fat pine to smoke the mold, works better than a lighter or torch

[TexasGrunt]

I received a brand new Lee mold today.

Scrubbed it down with denatured alcohol, warmed it up, lubed it, gave the cavities a light smoke and it was pouring perfect boolits within five cycles.

[Tom W.]

Try using a piece of fat pine to smoke the mold, works better than a lighter or torch

Now you know some of the Yankees here have no idea what fat pine or fat lighter is........

[JBinMN]

Now you know some of the Yankees here have no idea what fat pine or fat lighter is........

I been using it too for years as a smoke & as a flux. Blackening sights in pinch ...Good for fire lighting & in a pinch as a candle/torch. Drippings added with some charcoal & deer or rabbit **** make a fine glue too.


I live in Minn., but my family is from the mtns of VA. Just on the edge of the Shenandoah valley in W. Augusta county. Having your folks raised during the Great Depression passing on skills/knowledge to ya is a handy deal as well.

Fat pine/Fat lighter/Fat wood/pitch pine/lighter wood/etc... Lots of names but good stuff. All over around these parts too. I just knock the broken stub branches off the trunk most of the time & use them for stir & fluxxing sticks. Wear one out, go get another.

Back to the Lee molds, just like the "Do it" molds I have used for fishing sinkers & jigs, I have always just done what the Mnf. instructions says to prep the molds & do just fine. Good idea though to share what ya know for others when ya can. Best part about this forum...

[TexasGrunt]

I've got ~140 Do-It molds and never read the instructions. I just take the wrapper off and start pouring. One of these days I'm going to thin that herd down since I don't use or need 80% of them.

[JBinMN]

LOL


Well, I don't remember the first time I read them since it has been so long, but it is not like I had to read the instructions more than once... Prepping molds is not "rocket science"...

[Hardcast416taylor]

Now you know some of the Yankees here have no idea what fat pine or fat lighter is........

Was`nt that what most of Atlanta was built with and burned so fast when we `Yankees` came thru there going to the sea?Robert

[Tom W.]

From what I've seen in some of the way older houses that have 16 inch (or more ) wide boards you're probably right. Years ago I had to deliver appliances to various customers an we took a stove to one such house.It smelled of pine, and the walls were all fat lighter. I was happy to get out of that fire trap......but it smelled so good!

[gwpercle]

Soak them in a container of acetone for an hour.....this pulls out the deeply embedded cutting oils.
Coat the cavities with Liquid Wrench Dry Lube prior to heating the mould and lube the points and places that require lube with synthetic two cycle oil. Cast for awhile at 800 degrees untill boolits start getting frosty , stop , let mould cool slowly on top of the pot. Repeat this the next (or another ) day , mould will now be heat cycled and cavities broken in.
I usually start casting properly on the third session, the heat cycling and seasoning of the cavities is the new normal...not sure why....even NOE aluminum moulds seem to need it also.
So new guys ....don't get upset. Clean them well , get them hot and break them in with a couple casting sessions, the moulds will come around...like a pretty girls , you have to treat them right to get what you want.
Gary