Repair to damaged mold?

[old turtle]

Years ago I obtained an old Ideal mold 219247. This is one which has the handles as part of the mold, It is in excellent condition except some troll used it to hold a steel wire or something similar and left a dent in front of the nose. This dent is just a little off center of the nose and is about 1/32+ in diameter and about 1/16 deep. The rest of the cavity is sharp and in like new condition, even the sprue plate screw and lock screw look new. I have a 32-40 and I would like to use this bullet. My question is, can this mold be repaired, Any ideas are welcome, One idea; was to try to melt brass into the dents on each side and then hone them flat and dress the nose. I don't know if anyone repairs molds. This mold is so old and in such nice condition other wise I hate to junk it. HELP!

[HeavyMetal]

If the dent is just in the nose area a little off center I think I'd spend a few bucks and have it Hollowpointed by Eirk at HP molds.

This will remove the dent and you can get a second pin from him to cast solids so the mold can produce the best of both worlds.

Way easier and better than any other repair you might try

[old turtle]

HeavyMetal, Thanks! that is an excellent idea. I will contact him to see if he will work on this type of mold.

[Capt Crunch]

Good evening Gents, I have an older Ideal mold 358477 four cavity. I can not get it to close all the way and every bullet I have tried to cast from this mold had a mold line running right down the center. I am very new to casting bullets, I didn't want to do anything to the mold on chance I would screw it up. I can't afford to buy another one and my son is using a 357 to hunt with and want to cast some bullets for him to practice with. Any help would be appiciated.

[mooman76]

Give us some more clues as to why it isn't closing. Does it go together fine when removed from the handles? Maybe hiiting an alignment pin or maybe the handle is causing it to bind some how.

[cbrick]

Capt Crunch, welcome to Castboolits,

I can understand someone very new to casting not wanting to mess with an older and possibly irreplaceable mold. At least not until you have a good understanding of what a mold does and how and why it does it.

The part I didn't understand was making your son "practice boolits" so that what? He can hunt with full length gas check bullets? Silly idea! You should make him the boolits he will hunt with, Cast.

The 357 is a fine platform for cast boolit hunting depending on game animal, distance etc. Cast boolits will perform as equal to or better than jacketed. When your son fills his tag he will be quite proud of the fact that "my dad made that boolit for me" as opposed to . . . Boy, did I buy a good bullet or what?

HeavyMetal, excellent idea with the HP, also for two pins with one to cast FP. A third pin might be good also so there could be a choice in HP cavities.

Rick

[Capt Crunch]

Rick, I plan on him using the same bullet to hunt with (nothing outside of 75yards on Whitetail), I just wasn't sure about the bullets being out of round, or the flashing messing with the lube bands. We can use pistol cartridge chambered rifles here in Indiana. So I am using a 230gr Keith HP in my 44, and he will be using the above mentioned bullet. By practice, I ment lighter powder charge. The mold shows light along were the halves meet, I didn't know if Lyman would repair it or if there was someone here that might be able to do it or give me an idea of how to fix it.

[Capt Crunch]

Mooman, it seems to go together fine almost too lose but when I squeeze the handles together I can still see light were the halves met

[Ben]

old turtle

If anyone is capable of repairing your mold, I'd think it would be either Buckshot or Erik Ohlen.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/

Erik Ohlen
650 SW 56th
Corvallis, Oregon 97333

[Capt Crunch]

ben, that isnt it. I just checked

[HeavyMetal]

Capt Crunch:

What I am going to suggest may be tough for you to do but here go's:

From your discription of the problem it sounds like you have a bunch of "micro Burrs" all over the mating surface of the mold or along the outside edges.

What I have done when I have aquired such a mold is to get a piece of flat glass, the thicker the better, clean it well and the stick some 1500 grit sand paper to it with double sided tape.

Now, and this is the tough part, tap out the alignment pins and remove the sprue plate.

We won't worry about the area under the sprue plate right now lets concentrate on the mating surfaces of the mold.

Put some light oil on the sandpaper, this should be the Gray wet or dry stuff, and then take each mold half and do two figure eights per side.

Clean them and hold them up to the light to see if you can see through them! Repeat until they mate properly and always do both sides for an equal number of figure eights.

Inspection of the mating surfaces will show high and low spots and well as remove any "micro burrs" that have been created with use or abuse.

Once the halfs get better aquainted take a hard look at the area under the sprue plate and the bottom of the sprue plate itself. Again figure eight patterns until the plate cleans up and rotate the plate a quarter turn every couple laps.

The top of the mold may be a little harder to deal with and could require removal of the plate stop pin.

If you decide you need to lap the area on top of the mold do not do it until you have returned the alignment pins back in the mold and it closes with out slop or rocking back and forth.

Some times you will have to trade side's with the pins and shorten them to go in far enough but it is worth the effort as you now have "new" pin holes in the other mold half that have not been abused.

Now if you decided that the top is jacked remove the pin and lap it in the same figure eight pattern with rotation every other lap.

To remove the stop pin ( bet you thought I was gonna forget to tell you how to get that out didn't ya) do not use pliers or vise grips this will ruin the stop pin in short order. Instead drill a hole about .125 in diameter from the base of the mold into the bottom of the pin itself.

Do not drill the pin out!

The idea is to insert a small punch in from the bottom and drift the pin out of the top of he mold. A little Kroil applied the night before you attempt this is advisable to be sure!

Once the pin is out proceed with cleaning up the surface area of the mold.

Once everything is looking right hit it hard with break cleaner and examine everything under a good magnifiying glass.

Remember we are talking minimum modification here with 1500 grit paper and a good oil.

Removing a Gas check shank is not what this is about! Use care and common sense and that mold will clean up nice.

To finsh simply re insert the stop pin, install the sprue plate, and hang the mold on a set of handles then stop!

Now examine the handles closely where they come in contact with the mold. You are looking for burrs, dents or any binding of the mold halves on the handles themselves.

Once you are certain the mold is moving freely and close's completely heat it up and cast some.

[cbrick]

Good post HeavyMetal but I would like to add a note here for old turtle, this is NOT for your 1/16th groove in your blocks. What Heavy said is great advice for burs but uh, not by any means a sixteenth of an inch groove.

Rick

[HeavyMetal]

Rick:
You are absolutely right two different problems on this thread with two way different fix's.

As you pointed out they should not be mistaken for one another.

Old Turtle would probablely have a 22 rimfire mold if he attempted to sand out the dimple he has!

[old turtle]

Heavy Metal You are right except I would need a bore which is .321 by .023, which would make an interesting hole in the target. I checked Erik Ohlen's web site and it appears he might be able to fix the mold. I am going to give him a call.
In regard to Capt. Crunch, I have used ceramic stones to take burrs off molds with very good results. I have Spiderco knife sharpening stones which are triangular in cross section and the flat area works very well.

[Capt Crunch]

Heavy Metal, I will give it a go. Thanks everyone for the help. I will be sure to let you know the outcome. Old turtle, I have some stones I use for cleaning up triggers and sears that should work. Just what I was hoping for, a way to fix the mold w/o spending a lot of cash. I have plenty of elbow grease, not so much money. Thanks again for the advice, Jim

[HeavyMetal]

Good Luck guys!

[mroliver77]

Captain,
Sometimes a close look will show a dent in a corner where the mold has been dropped or abused in some way. I use a magnifying glass to go over troublesome molds and can easily see burrs etc. A very flat pate or nice straight edge can show warpage. Try to diagnose problem before fixing it.
J

[Capt Crunch]

Wooo Hooo!!!! I think I got it, these boolits dropped at .358 and ave'd 149.5 grns
Still have a little mold line but nothing I can't live with most seems to be on the top of the boolit. I figure some of it will be flattened by the top punch.
thanks guys, Jim

[ReloaderEd]

nice looking cast bullets. For the cost of sending a mold in, cost of repair, etc. Buy a Lee from Midway for $20 bucks and call it a day. If you are careful with them they will last you long enough to be burried with. be safe

[mroliver77]

So what was the problem?