I made another mold.

[Buckshot]

I dont know what my spindle is called, but its the type that has a threaded ring that pulls the accessories onto a keyed taper. I really like that system.
Oh and there was no counter-weight on the faceplate.

............I picked up on the threaded collar and figured it had to be an "L" type. My 11" Logan has an L00, but I'd suspect your big ole brute has an L0, or a L1. Not any lathes made these days using the L nose that I'm aware of. They've all gone pretty much to the 'Stud' type D camloc on the lathes of any size, with the smaller imports mostly having threaded noses. . Maybe a couple using the short taper A types, but I haven't heard of who if any makes'em.



I grind those form tools or "Spoons" for forming my swage dies. Since there are no lube grooves I use HSS steel. One of these days I'll have to try making a grease groove slug You're using plain high carbon steel?



The tool in the previous photo was for making 58 cal swage dies, but the same type was used for this slug for the 38-55.



You might be interested in trying half drills ("D" reamers). They're HSS, already ground in half The above are 23/64 (.359") and would be good for .375" and larger. Of course you cut off the excess as they're too long. They're ferociously expensive to buy retail but you can find them on E-Bay from time to time pretty reasonable. I was able to purchase 2 packages (12 drills) of these for $29 + shipping. MSC currently lists this size (Made in USA) for $32 each. There are currently 4 different sizes on E-Bay.

.................Buckshot

[carbine]

You are all very skilled. Kudos.

[MBTcustom]

I make my reamers out of 0-1 tool steel. I hand forged knives for years so I have a pretty good eye for flame hardening and drawing carbon steel. This is very critical because in order to get a thin little blade like that to hold an edge well, while not being brittle at the shank, it is necessary to selectively harden the tool so that its hard on the edge but springy on the back. Just like a handmade knife.
Works like a charm.

[dpaultx]

That's pretty impressive Tim. I've never made a mold but have modified a couple of Lee molds on my milling machine.

I've toyed with the idea of turning my own cutter and making a mold from scratch on the mill, but it never even occurred to me that the whole thing could be done on the lathe.

Seems like the set-up would be a lot simpler on the mill however. Gives me something else to consider, anyway. Thanks for posting this.

All good . . . Doug

[quasi]

You do very nice work, you are a good machinist obviously. You might want to take more time/care in your stamping, the stamping shown here is a little askew.

[turbo1889]

Goodsteel, if your interested I might have a mold cut I would be interested in getting done that a small modification to your method shown here I think would work great for:



It's a 20ga. Wad-Slug (a slug that is sized to fit inside the shot cup of a regular lead bird shot wad). It's a hollow base nose pore design so it would be cut with the reamer from the bottom of the mold blocks with the point of the reamer sticking out the top of the blocks and then the base pin would need to be turned on a lathe to fit.

I would want it cut in a custom "wide block" version of the magma machine casting blocks (that since it is wider can take larger diameter cuts and allows both hand and machine casting) that Tom @ Accurate Molds makes for me out of brass and I could purchase a blank block ready to cut from him. If you think you can do it and you are interested in taking on the project drop me a PM as far as what I would be looking at as far as cost.

[MBTcustom]

You might want to take more time/care in your stamping, the stamping shown here is a little askew.

Very true, I was doing it by eyeball. In the future I will build a fixture to hold the stamps together and I will get a better look, but I am making this for a friend and I am doing it for free, (not that that matters at all, shoddy work is shoddy work) but I'm not going to recut and polish the side rails just to get the stampings to look better, because he already saw the mold and likes it. I will definitely do better in the future. Thank you for the constructive criticism.
I'm also going to run a tighter radius on the vent lines in the future. This one works well, but I think thats just because its such a small boolit.

turbo1889, P.M. sent.

[leadman]

Brownell's sells a fixture to hold the stamp in alignment. You may want to take a look at it then I'm sure you will be able to make something similar.

Great job on that mold!

P.O. Ackley also had trouble keeping the stamps in alignment.

[MBTcustom]

Without a fixture and just eyeballing it, its pretty tough to get the letters all lined up strait.

[quasi]

I have found using a piece of electrical tape as a bottom guide works well, as does starting from the right and working to the left (if y
ou are right handed)

I have the guide Brownells sells, you have to surface grind the shanks of your stamps to get them in perfect alignment.

[MBTcustom]

Hey, I'll do whatever I have to to make the boolits come out better.

[geargnasher]

I have found using a piece of electrical tape as a bottom guide works well, as does starting from the right and working to the left (if y
ou are right handed)

I have the guide Brownells sells, you have to surface grind the shanks of your stamps to get them in perfect alignment.

I noticed this as well. But not all stamp sets are created equal, either.

Tim, I can't tell you how excited I am to see that you've already jumped off into experimenting with grease-groove moulds, looks like you might be in production soon!

Those rounded mould corners are particularly nice, I don't know why no one else seems to have thought of that, but at least you did.

Be thinking of small calibers and pointy noses, I am in desperate need of a custom mould maker who can do sub-.30 caliber, particularly a .272" paper-patch mould for my .270 with .006" deep, radiussed grooves. There is a definite market for a few moulds like this since BRP closed up shop.

Something else to consider, run the same vent pattern on the top of the blocks that you do on the inside faces. It's amazing how much that can prevent galling on top of the blocks and it lets you run the sprue plate tensio a bit more snug without creating venting issues. I don't think Bruce has a patent on the concept, but since he's retired from it I don't think he'll care too much if you "borrow" the idea.

Gear

[Harter66]

Nice work.

The pic shows the boolit mentioned in my PM w/its insperation and its donor. That a 20mm AP on the right and the lil' pointy guy in the middle.

[Dr. Noah Zark]

Very nice job.

[Dr. Noah Zark]

Very nice job.