Handles for Lee mould

[Irascible]

Has anybody adapted a decent set of handles to a Lee mould?

[HORNET]

Which Lee mold? The 6 cav handles are pretty good the way that Lee makes them or you can get an up-scale version from Red River Rick here on the forum.
The stamped handles on the 1&2 cavity molds can be deburred, smoothed, reblued, install thin washers and a wave washer or belleville washer, and fine-tune the tension on the pivot bolt. Install some spacers to take out most of the slop between the blocks and handle 'arms' or fill in the mounting area with high-temp RTV silicone. Tightens them up remarkably. It depends on how carried away you want to get on a $20 mold.
You need some Bullplate either way......

[mooman76]

I see nothing wrong with the Lee handles now. They aren't the best but they are functional and work fine like, most lee products, use with care. The 6x handles are great as is. For the money I don't think you could get a better product.

[CWME]

Lee 6 cav handles are the best value on the market. With a little time and basic tools I have converted the Lee handles to fit Lyman 4 cav and Saeco 4 cavs. I use them with Lyman 2 cavs as well. For $12-$13 they can't be beat IMHO.

[RobS]

Lee 6 cav handles are the best value on the market. With a little time and basic tools I have converted the Lee handles to fit Lyman 4 cav and Saeco 4 cavs. I use them with Lyman 2 cavs as well. For $12-$13 they can't be beat IMHO.

+1 on this one; a little grinding or filing and you have yourself a handle that will fit at half the price or .................more.

[Dick Dastardly]

Big Lube®LLC Professional Six cavity mold handles will fit both LEE Six cavity molds and Big Lube®LLC Six Cavity Professional molds. They are laser cut steel with class A birch handles that are secured by high temperature elastic polymer and held by solid brass ferrules.

DD-DLoS

[Irascible]

It is a 2 cavity Ranch Dog 32 special mould. I can work on the play in the pivot bolt, but I couldn't even figure how I'd get the retaining pins out of the block to do any de-burring/polishing.
I take it that you fellows who are worrying about the price of mould handles are trying to put a set of handles on each mould?

[markinalpine]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ng+lee+handles

Try the above.
Mark

[dragonrider]

JMHO but why would anyone want to remove the handles from a Lee two cavity mold?? They are not designed to be removed, and they are far to thin to be used on other molds, other than another Lee two cavity. If that is the type of handle you want call Lee and buy some as replacelments, I believe they sell them. As far as Lee six cavity handles on other molds, altering the handles to fit mold with smaller handle slots weakens the handles. One should alter the mold slot to fit the handles.

[Willbird]

The only issue with any of the Lee handles is that the wood splits, and that can be fixed by just roll pinning thru the steel ferrule when you first get the mold.

Bill

[RobS]

JMHO but why would anyone want to remove the handles from a Lee two cavity mold?? They are not designed to be removed, and they are far to thin to be used on other molds, other than another Lee two cavity. If that is the type of handle you want call Lee and buy some as replacelments, I believe they sell them. As far as Lee six cavity handles on other molds, altering the handles to fit mold with smaller handle slots weakens the handles. One should alter the mold slot to fit the handles.

This is a consideration, but when using the Lee six cavity handles on lets say a RCBS or Lyman 4 cavity mold you only need to grind/file a small bit of the metal to have them fit the slot of the mold...............a $15 set of handles or a $70+ mold????? I think that I will continue to modify the handles and I would suggest anyone else who wants to use a less expensive means to handles to do the same.

[Willbird]

The lyman handles are probably WORTH the extra money however, there is a lot more to them, and used properly they will last a couple generations. I have a set of SAECO handles, they are built like fort knox.

Bill

[Daddyfixit]

Maybe I've misread the question? Are you wanting to replace just the wood? If you new complete handle assy the Lee 2 cav handles are unique to themselves because they are so thin. I would say to contact Lee for replacements

It is a 2 cavity Ranch Dog 32 special mould. I can work on the play in the pivot bolt, but I couldn't even figure how I'd get the retaining pins out of the block to do any de-burring/polishing.
I take it that you fellows who are worrying about the price of mould handles are trying to put a set of handles on each mould?

[montana_charlie]

Has anybody adapted a decent set of handles to a Lee mould?

The question is absolutely clear.
The man wants to know if anybody has adapted a set of 'decent handles' (such as Lyman, RCBS, Saeco, KAL, etc.) to work in a Lee mould.
I assume he means in a 'Lee single or double cavity mould'.

The advantage (if there is one) would be having a real hinge bolt instead of the rivet found on the 'included handles'.

I don't use Lee moulds, but I would think the 'adaptation' should be directed at enlarging the slots in the mould...rather than grinding down the jaws of a good handle set.

CM

[Irascible]

I thought the question was clear myself! Anyway, thanks for the information guys, but GEEZ don't fight about it.

[Daddyfixit]

Ooo-at least on the golf course they yell "FORE"
Irascible, You got me thinkn'..I have a 25 year old LEE BP 45 cal R.E.A.L. mould that I broke the handles on years ago and just bought another one. I don't throw anything out, but it took me awile to find... (this is where you machinists quit reading!) Like I said "Jack of all trades, Master of NONE). I used my calipers to mark the location of the pin on the top of the mould and drilled down to the pin. Then I just pushed it out and removed the handles. I then took a pair of LEE 6 cav handles and used them to scribe a line on the two mould halves. I don't have a milling machine or lathe or?...so as usual (I warned you guys to quit reading!) I put a metal cutting blade (10" I got from Harbor Frieght for $8) on my table saw, I set it to cut to the existing depth and cut first on my scribed line then it took 3 passes to finnish the width( the same way you cut a dato in wood if like me you don't have a proper dato blade!) I then drilled the handle mounting holes and tapped the lower hole. I just used a ss 8-32 screw (I should have used a shoulder screw but I can play with that later) to attach the 6 cav handles...did a little leementing to the cavities while the pot was heating. This all took about 2 hours (including time to find things in my garage..remember? I rarely get rid of stuf). The handes worked great! This was kinda fun and now I have two 45 cal moulds! Thanks!
Yea, I know, alot of work to fix a $15 dollar mould...but it was fun & it beats watching TV.
OK, if any of you machinists have ignored my warning to quit reading... get get up off the floor and quit laughing!

[Willbird]

Well I used a 500 sw LEE mold a few weeks ago, and the pins just FELL out, I had to peen the holes around the edges to keep the pins in....so if I wanted to get one apart I would just remove the peening LEE usually puts there, and then tap the mold on a wood block with the pin over a hole in the block, I bet the pins come right out .

Using the table saw was an excellent idea. I do not have a table saw, but I do have a makita compound miter saw, and I use it to cut aluminum all the time....as long as you are careful it works great. I have also used a skil saw to cut aluminum plate(we're talking 4' x 8' sheets here)....but that is LOUD .

[theperfessor]

Daddyfixit -

I'm a machinist and I'm not rolling on the floor laughing. I think you came up with a good solution. My only concern would be safety, but I assume you figured out a way to hang on to the mold to keep your fingers away from the blade.

Haven't done this, but might I suggest using a fine cut blade in a coping saw to cut the sides and bottom, followed up by a fine cut square file? I'd hate to read about one of my many friends here hurting themselves by not taking the proper safety precautions.

I didn't cringe when I read your post like I do when I read about people trying to modify the cavities in a mold using everything from a chain saw to their grandpappy's old false teeth.

[TAWILDCATT]

HE HE HE professor.that was funny.

[Daddyfixit]

theprofessor, Thanks.. I did make a "jig" from a hunk of 2x4, I would never want my hand that close to the blade! good sugestion on the coping saw but that would have taken another hour (55 min to find..5 min work). I think using my radial arm saw would have served me better but it covered with stuff! I noticed when casting with it today that the halves come together nicer because handle fit is tighter...mmm might think about doing this to my other 2 cav LEE's?