Lyman mold guide

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Guys

Is the Lyman mold guide worth buying, I can add the rods to my bottom pour pot.
I have never used a mold guide, so I have no experience with one.

Thanks,
Don

[pworley1]

I have been casting for 50 years without one. Maybe I just don't know what I am missing.

[Rich/WIS]

If you are referring to the older ones I have one on my Lyman 10# and modded my Lee 20# to use one. With RCBS, Lyman and Lee dbl cav the guide works fine. Like it as it reduces fatigue during long casting sessions. NOE and Lee 6 cav do not fit inside the rails so I bent up a piece of roof flashing to fit over the rails when using the NOE and Lee.

[Walks]

The old Lyman mold guide was designed to work with LYMAN MOLDS.
It was NOT designed for other brands of molds. When I was a Kid I learned to just turn the mold guide UPSIDE down to make a shelf that would work with any mold.

The new mold guide from N.O.E. will work with the old RCBS Pro-Melt and the New LYMAN Mag-25.
I don't know if it will work on the new RCBS Pro-Melt 2.

I have a N.O.E. mold guide on my old Pro-Melt, makes using the wider molds from N.O.E. & Accurate a whole lot easier.

I use the LYMAN old Mag-20 with the LYMAN Mold Guide for the Lyman 4cav molds.

Use the proper tool for the job.

[rcslotcar]

There are two on Ebay now.

[wv109323]

I like a mold guide so that I have a minimal distance between spout and mold. It seems I get better filled bases when that distance is kept to a minimum. The quicker you can get the lead into the mold the better off you are.
As already stated the Lyman mold guide is made for Lyman molds. Many brands of molds will not fit in the Lyman mold guide channel thus requiring modifications. I like a mould guide just not the Lyman design.

[John Boy]

It looks like a crutch for those that don't know how to cast ...

[Shepherd2]

I've been using one for about 50 years now. I modified it to use any brand of mould. It's not a crutch. Just a way to cast boolits better and easier.

[georgerkahn]

I had the Lyman brand mould guides on both of my Mold-Master Lyman bottom-pour pots, using them with no negatives. Two things happened, though, to wit I gained a few more candles on my birthday cakes, and, the Lymans were updated to a RCBS Pro-Melt -- yes, another bottom pour. On the advice of a another caster/friend on this site, I cut some scrap pieces of 1/4" plywood into smaller rectangles -- maybe 2 3/4" x 8" -- and tried just putting a stack of these -- as many as "needed" for the mould-height I'm using -- instead. I do have a couple of moulds with screws on bottom, as well as the pin doo-hickeys on NOE changeable pin moulds -- BUT, for plain Jane moulds with smooth bottoms -- imho, the stacked plywood cannot be rivaled by the mould guides. Give it a try?
geo

[trapper9260]

I never hear of it till I read this post. I been casting for years now and never hear of one till now.Some thing to hear about.

[bobthenailer]

I would not think of casting with out a mould guide , I us my old lyman MG on a RCBS pro melt ! the benefits are
#1 supports the weight of the mould
#2 keeps the mould in a straight line with spout
#3 has a adj mould stop to aligne the first hole in the mould with the spout
#4 will accept lyman 2&4 cavity, Saeco 2,4,8 cavity and RCBS 2 cavity moulds as is and LBT,Mountian mouds & Lee 6 cavity moulds by fitting a aluminum filler plate the length of the channel
#5 the mould height or distance from spout to sprue plate can be adjusted, the Lee moulds like it closer than the other moulds for perfect bullet fill out
\

[Larry Gibson]

If you are referring to the older ones I have one on my Lyman 10# and modded my Lee 20# to use one. With RCBS, Lyman and Lee dbl cav the guide works fine. Like it as it reduces fatigue during long casting sessions. NOE and Lee 6 cav do not fit inside the rails so I bent up a piece of roof flashing to fit over the rails when using the NOE and Lee.

I've been using one ever since I got my 1st Lyman 10# furnace. I've been using one on my Mag20 for some years now. It is designed for Lyman moulds (single, double and 4 cavity) but does work with other moulds with a bit of adaption by doing what Rich/WIS does or by simply holding the moulds slightly cross ways across the guide's rails.

The guide should be adjusted for each mould height prior to casting so the alloy has only 1/2" +/- to travel from the spout to the sprue hole. The use of the guide allows quicker and a consistent alignment of the mould to the spout, keeps the alloy hot, allows sufficient room to align the spout with the sprue hole and gives sufficient clearance for a good sprue pour. With multiple cavity moulds it also allows resting the mould on the guide which can keep the fatigue factor down with heavier moulds during longer casting periods.

If it's a "crutch" then so be it.....call me crippled because I'm going to continue to hobble along casting with the mould guide.......

[Clouds]

If it's a "crutch" then so be it.....call me crippled because I'm going to continue to hobble along casting with the mould guide.......

I'm with you on this one Larry

[LenH]

I bought a used ProMelt that had a Lyman mold guide attached using some modified bolts. I have molds that the guide was of no use to me. I removed it and gave it away.
I bought an aluminum mold shelf from a guy that had a listing on the swapping and selling page. It might be a crutch but with 6 & 8 cavity H&G molds you need all the help you can get.

[bob208]

I just took the one off of my 20 lb. lyman pot. it got in the way. my 10 lb. pot never had one.

[Echo]

I made stages from 1x to lift the mold up to the right height...