I hate to admit it , but:

[BossHoss]

As a new caster, impatience got the best of me.

I have an Ideal 456121 mold that I beat up and damaged.

I roughed it around the edges, banging it to release bullets. It now show a tiny bit of light through, resulting in flash around the seam.

I also munged up mold opening a bit, at the top where the sprue plate slides over the bullet base.

So,

Can someone here tidy up my mistakes, and make this mold ok again??

I will try putting some pics up tonite...

Just don't know if a "cleanup and repair " is worth it for single cavity mold.....

I've mended my ways, and wont hurt another mold, i promise..

[littlejack]

BossHoss:
Welcome to the CastBoolits.
In all actuality, a mould, any mould will treat you a lot better if you treat it with respect.
The better you treat it, the better results you will have, and it will last you a LOT longer.
I spent a lot of my career reparing other workers lousy welds and or workmanship in the trade.
I will pass on repairing yours.
Jack

[462]

Go here for repair: http://www.hollowpointmold.com/

Opening the sprue cutter with a gloved thumb will eliminate a banged up and mis-shapened cutter.

Tip: Haste and impatinece are not condusive to quality boolits. Relax, take your time, think about what you are doing, and you'll be proud of the result.

[nanuk]

.... Relax, take your time, think about what you are doing, and you'll be proud of the result.

Zen and the Art of Boolit Casting! by 462

[Ben]

BossHoss

You got any photos. Hard to make any recommendations without some photos ? ?

[mooman76]

I use a plastic headed mallet. It is hard enough to give a solid rap but not hard enough to damage the mould. Probably not worth having someone fix it for you because of cost. But if you can do it yourself.

[treadhead1952]

If you are having boolits that aren't dropping out properly tap on the bolt that holds the handles together with a hardwood dowel or soft headed hammer. Once you get the boolit out either smoke the mold over a candle or use some mold release to cure the problem. I hope you can get the mould back to battery again.

[Heavy lead]

Most sprue's cut with a gloved hand, I use a soft rubber mallet, nope it doesn't melt the rubber onto the hot sprue if it is necessary. Never have used anything harder.
I did I must admit ruin a mould once, out of a po'd childish rage, so I'm certainly not perfect. It was a *** Lee that after several sufferable casting sessions was gone out of my hand at 50mph right into a concrete wall.
Stupid, but it made me feel better, then I grabbed a real mould and went to casting again.

[462]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 462
.... Relax, take your time, think about what you are doing, and you'll be proud of the result.

Nanuk wrote: "Zen and the Art of Boolit Casting! by 462"

Nanuk, thanks for the encouragement. If ever I'm able to tie my thoughts to a literary endeavor, that would make for an interesting subject.

Actually, I don't know Zen from Shinola, but casting has raised my patience level.

[BossHoss]

thanks for the encouragement, if I can get some pics of it up here soon, you will see how I munged it up.

462....I have learned a lot from your posts when I as a lurker. Thanks.

I learned a gloved hand opening the sprue was best. Check.

I have taken a look with a mag glass, and I have damaged a lot of the sharp edges in the mold, dented the bottom, scuffed the top ,.....

Basically treated it like a chimpanzee having a coniption fit....lol!!!!

This is will be on my wall of shame, I think.

[mooman76]

I had a mould like that once. It was terrible and I got mad and took it into the garage and worked it over with a hammer. I had a change of heart later when I found out how good the boolits shot so I fixed it but later on replaced it. It was just a cheap Lee mould. If you are having trouble dropping boolits you could lap the mould out to smooth it and that helps allot.

[sagamore-one]

When I got my first Hensley & Gibbs gang mould in the early 1980's it came with a one pound lead headed hammer. It worked so darn well that I ended up buying a mould to make them. I have beaten the living daylights out of countless sprueplates over the last 30 plus years without causing any damage or even leaving a mark. But then again they are cast iron moulds with real steel plates.
A little common sense will allow you to do basic, minor mould repair yourself. Just go slow and pay attention to how the silly thing operates.

[Wayne Smith]

Buckshot is also a possibility. He's rescued a mold for me.

[DLCTEX]

I would not use smoke or mould release, but would spin a few boolits with valve grinding compound on them the cavity (after removing burrs). Works much better for me. Mould surfaces and sprue plates can be leveled with sand paper on a flat surface. Do a search for Leementing a mould.

[ammohead]

Take a good pin punch and remove the pins that align the mould halves. Then take a surface that you know to be absolutely flat...some kind of thick glass or maybe polished granite like the countertops so popular today. Lay some 400 grit wet or dry paper on it grit up. put the mould face on the paper and using slow circular motion resurface the mould face. Check often to see the high spots. If the high spots are way obvious and not next to the cavity, use a small file to take them down and finish with the paper.

You will probably find the worse damage around the pin holes from slamming the halves together. This process will clean this up easily. When there is no light between the halves reinstall the pins. If they don't stick out far enough the moulds will have side to side motion. If they stick out too far the halves will be hard to close. With a little trial and error you can get it just right. This stuff ain't rocket science and most folks can take care of most things themselves.

You are finding out this is not a hobby for people in a hurry. Hurried results are often unsatisfactory if not down right catastrophic as in spilled pots, burns etc. Take it slow, you can clean this up yourself.

ammohead

[MtGun44]

Very careful use of a fine cut flat file will clean the burrs up.

Bill