More " Lee - Lementing "

[glockmeister]

Another way to center the punch mark, use a transfer punch. Got mine a Harbor Freight years ago, less than $10.00, don't know about now. Find a transfer punch that just fits thru pour hole in sprue plate, punch your mark and deepen if necessary. Drill and proceed as usual. Take care, John.

[Handloader109]

Two of my three Lee 2 cavity molds had sticking bullits. I drilled small hole, used a 8-32 screw that I had cut head off, screwed into a bullit and used a paste of barkeepers friend to polish the molds. Cleaned well with spray carb cleaner and the molds drop like a champ. Just shake them and bullits fall out. Thanks guys for the tips! Makes the molds a joy and easy to use.

[rondog]

Sure learn a lot around this place.....

[Ben]

Well ......this is the 84th post.
Looks like this one has been beneficial.
I hate tapping on the hinge of mold handles as much as anyone to get a bullet (s) to release from the mold.

This technique will help all of us, all you have to do is to apply it to your troublesome molds.



Thanks,
Ben

[SSGOldfart]

Well so much for cheap molds that don't work now that we know how to fix them

[62chevy]

Bought 3 new molds this winter and got to try them out for the first time today, well 2 anyways, the 452-200-RF dropped 'em like it should but the C309-180-R not so much. May have to do some mold maintenance on it.

[Rhino45]

I'm going to do this with my 45 mold and tell a friend so he can do his very old 38 mold

[psychicrhino]

Well, I have now read this thread 3x, cast about a thousand boolits yesterday....lots of tapping and fingering of moulds....gonna have to try this.

[DLCTEX]

I Lee-mented a Lee six cav. 356-121 mould today. The boolits were sticking some in two cavities until the mould got hot enough to frost and then started alternating side in which they stuck. The boolits were slightly out of round and when sized .357 left a small portion of the drive band untouched. I used fine valve compound in the cavities and did not get too aggressive. I tested the mould after the first attempt and really couldn't notice much change. I let the mould cool down, which didn't take long in our wind today, can you say dust bowl? I got more aggressive the second time and when I tested it the second time the boolits dropped .359 and were very round. The .357 die easily sized them to a nice, smooth round band. The boolits fall from all six cavities with a shake of my hand now.

[Ben]

The .357 die easily sized them to a nice, smooth round band. The boolits fall from all six cavities with a shake of my hand now.
-------------------------------

Success ! ! !

That's Great
Ben

[nekshot]

I love Lee molds, easy to get to cast well, cheap enough to play around with like hping, or making a better meplat, or shorter and liter boolit, boy what can't you do with them and all for less than 20.00 bucks!

[a.squibload]

Thanks for bumping this back up, I posted in 2010 and forgot to post my success with this method.
Used a phillips head bolt instead of a screw, not pointy, no chance of it screwing through the boolit.
Turned the bolt with a phillips driver. No need for speed here, slow works fine.
Centering or angle are not an issue at a slow speed.
Polished a Lee and an old RCBS steel mold to get a little more diameter, works like a charm!

[DLCTEX]

Break the head off a 1 5/8 drywall screw and chuck it in the drill deep enough to leave only enough screw exposed to get a good bite in the boolit. The chuck will keep it from driving through the boolit. The screw will break fairly easily using two pair of pliers.

[nylocmik]

I just thought it was funny to read about using Crest toothpaste to actually make a cavity bigger.

[Ben]

I'm no expert on ANYTHING, but I'd hate to have to enlarge a mold .002 using toothpaste......Might take a long time.

Ben

[oopso]

I am truly amazed at the creativity, ideas, sharing of knowledge, and attitude of everyone on this site. Just finished reading all the posts on improving Lee molds. I have reloaded since 98 and decided to cast my own about 6 months ago and am yet to cast a boolet. I have been busy reading and absorbing as much as I can before I start. With six new molds for Christmas I was looking for info on the breaking in of the molds and came across this post. One more new guy to casting who is truly grateful for all the info. Hopefully I will start casting next week and with more research a lot of practice and a little luck will be producing good quality boolets.

[russs]

On a multi-cavity mold can you use the same bullet to do all the cavities or should you use a bullet that was made in each cavity to leement?

[fast ronnie]

I know it's probably a lot too late for information on centering on a lath, but just saw this post this morning. There will always be some wear on the scroll inside of a three jaw chuck. The wear is caused by use, and over the years, the wear will not be even. chucking on the outside of the jaws may or may not help as the wear will not be even, and chucking on outside will not be bearing on the worn side of the scroll. If you need accuracy on a lathe, there are a few options; #1 use a four jaw chuck #2 use an adjustable 3 jaw chuck. They can be expensive. #3 use soft jaws in the 3 jaw and cut them to the inside diameter of what you are going to work with. This will need to be very close to the size you are going to use, because the wear is different at different openings. You have to close the jaws on something on the inside, not the outside. Again, different wear patterns on the scroll. #4 depending on accuracy requirments, if it's something that doesn't have to be closer than say a thou, you could use a collet if available. I know that all old lathe hands will know these procedures, but someone new to machining will probably not. It's just like this forum with casting. I've been around machine shops for 45 years, but casting is new to me and I'm thankful for everyone on this forum that has contributed to my increasing base of knowledge. To those of you who have "been there, done that", thanks for sharing the wealth of your knowledge. To those of you in my trade, please bear with an old man who shares some of our tricks of the trade with those trying to improve their skills. Any questions, pm me and we can go a little more in depth.

[woodbutcher]

Hi Ben.Thanks for an outstanding post.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Ben]

Leo,

I hope that all you guys enjoyed it and it will make life a bit simpler for all.

Ben