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Thread: More " Lee - Lementing "

  1. #1
    Boolit Grand Master
    Ben's Avatar
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    More " Lee - Lementing "

    I received a used , 2 cav., Lee 105 gr. SWC from a friend here on the board yesterday.

    A nice mold, when I attempted to cast with it this morning, the two bullets didn't want to drop & release from the mold very well . I took a super sharp exacto knife and cleaned up the edges of both cavities. I thought that would " do the trick", not so , still no joy........! The mold continued to be very stubborn about releasing the bullets from the cavities. The old routine of tap-tap-tap on the hinge bolt to get the bullets to release.

    So I thought.....Time to spin a bullet in the cavities. PRESTO ! ! !, that made all the difference. The bullets jump out of the cavities now.

    If you have a Lee mold ( or for that matter any other mold ) that is stubborn about releasing it's bullets, I highly recommend this process.

    Photos:

    Here is my abrasive compound :





    Here is the coated bullet after it has been spun in the mold cavities :



    I used my cordless drill on slow speed :



    Once the cavities were smooth, the mold really began to produce some very nice bullets , I cast these in a fairly short period of time. The way the mold cavities were sticking prior to the Lee Lementing process, this would have been near impossible :





    Bullets are very round and you can see what they mike. I can use these in 38 Spec., 357 Mag., and size them down a little more and use them in the 9 mm Luger also :


  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy beanflip's Avatar
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    pics of the mold would be nice after the polishing you did. must be an aluminum mold mine is doing the same thing. I smoked and it helped out but they dont fall out. watch out from all the taping on the mold the pins will come out or become very loose! I will be sending mine back to Lee

  3. #3
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    PatMarlin's Avatar
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    Awesome Ben.

    What would be an accurate way to drill the boolit and intall a screw so it would be dead nuts center?

    I was thinking I would chuck piece of rod, or drill sized that was close and slid inside the mold block acvity. Set my drill press vice and centered the cavity, remove it and place the boolit inside to drill, then check center again.

    How did you do it Ben?

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy beanflip's Avatar
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    to center drill it a lathe works fine then I taped it ( 1/4-20) thats what I did... now going to get some compound to polish my mold

  5. #5
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    PatMarlin's Avatar
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    That's a great idea..

    I've got to learn how to align my lathe if it can be done. The 3 jaw chuck is turning drill stock at at least .010 out.

    It's a harbor freight cheap chicong 3-in-1.

  6. #6
    Boolit Master

    Rattlesnake Charlie's Avatar
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    I bought a double cavity mold of same caliber/wt/style you have some years back from the "return section" of Gander Mountain. It gave me fits. Had to increase venting and remove all burrs as you did. The resultant bullets deliver 1.5 in groups at 50 ft from my FEG PA-63 .380 ACP over 1.2 gns Red Dot and Federal small pistol primer. Mild target and rabbit load.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Pat:

    This probably sounds a little " non - precise " to all the lathe owners out there.

    I took the bullet and set the nose on a wood block with the base pointing up. I then took a small finish nail that I'd sharpened and placed it by " eye balling " as close to dead center as possible and lightly center punched a hole. I figured if I spoiled the job, I'd toss the bullet back into pot and remelt it. Then I'd pick up another , and so on and so on.....until I got it right. To my own amazement, the 1st one came out just fine.

    I picked a super sharp drill bit that was 1 size smaller than my screw threads and drilled my " pilot hole ".

    The rest is history.........worked great for me, your mileage may vary.

    Best,

    Ben

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Talking Lapping

    If you hold the mould in one hand and the drill in the other hand with just enough force that they don't fall out of your hand, they will wobble and find there own center. I learned this while learning about turning necks on cartridge cases.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master
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    beanflip :

    I think you wanted to see the mold cavities after the " Lee Menting ".

    Here is a pic, both cavities are very slick and very smooth now...... :


  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Good job Ben, I use CREST tooth paste, just enough to make them smooth. I leement all my lee molds

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I've heard of the tooth paste idea, as soft as this aluminum is, I'd think it would probably work just fine.

    Ben

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy beanflip's Avatar
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    Nice job Ben on the mold job. Thanks for showing me the mold.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master crabo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben View Post
    Pat:

    This probably sounds a little " non - precise " to all the lathe owners out there.

    I took the bullet and set the nose on a wood block with the base pointing up. I then took a small finish nail that I'd sharpened and placed it by " eye balling " as close to dead center as possible and lightly center punched a hole. I picked a super sharp drill bit that was 1 size smaller than my screw threads and drilled my " pilot hole ".

    Ben
    I have done this several times and it's been a pain to get center. I used Ben's idea, but I took a spring loaded center punch to get the center indention and it works really well.

    Crabo

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    And I, in turn, learned this from Crabo--he showed me what he was doing and how to do it the very first time I ever saw a boolit born of the silver stream.

    I use Mother's Aluminum polish to finish off the polishing job after the initial round of either toothpaste or Comet/Ajax, or a mild compounding/lapping agent.

    Once finished with the first polishing go-around, I clean the cavities thoroughly with brake cleaner and a toothbrush, then some denatured alcohol to remove any remaining residue. A q-tip swapped in the Mother's then in the cavity, then on the new boolit finishes it off VERY nicely.

    I've yet to get a screw perfectly centered on the boolit--so I just make sure I slowly rotate it in the cavity until it gets seated and "finds its groove."

    The result is some very clean, slick cavities that produce fine-looking boolits.

    Jeff

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I'm learning a good bit from a lot of you guys. Many thanks for your input.

    Best to you,

    Ben

  16. #16
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    ............On a base pour mould you have the sprue cutoff to use to help center your punchmark. Your eyeball is amazingly accurate in centering stuff up (Reason peep sights work so well). In fact if the sprue is off center this is easily recognizeable and your eye can compensate to get the punchmark centered to the boolit's OD. Best if you do this centering with the boolit out of the blocks, as the blocks' size may defeat the eye's ability to center things up as well.

    It was mentioned earlier, don't clamp the blocks in a vice or anything when lapping. Hold the drill motor in one hand and the mould in the other. Run the drill fairly slow hold the 2 losely to let them wobble around however they need to.

    ................Buckshot
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  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master
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    " Run the drill fairly slow hold the 2 loosely to let them wobble around however they need to. "

    That's exactly how I did mine, it worked out great ! !

    Many Thanks,

    Ben

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I have a few stubborn Lee molds. One in particular (9mm mak) mold was giving me fits. So I tried leementing using a little comet cleanser as an abrasive, mixed with enough water to make a paste. Now the mold fills out better and 99% drop without tapping- and if I DO need to tap, just the lightest touch and they drop.

    Next I gotta try it on a 30 cal 200 gr mold of theirs.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy STP22's Avatar
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    ..."you have the sprue cutoff to use to help center your punchmark"

    Good grief, I never looked at getting the tap centered using what`s already at hand as a guide... Sheesh!


  20. #20
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    Of course I would overlook the easy button.
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