badly neglected mold tune up

[gofastman]

I put it in my rotary tumbler for about an hour:

[Bent Ramrod]

I presume the first pic is "after" and the second "before," rather than the normal sequence. That's pretty impressive! What is your tumbling media?

[gofastman]

Stainless pins, Dawn, and a 1/2tsp of Lemishine

[Bzcraig]

That is impressive! Did you remove the pins? How did the other half turn out?

[gofastman]

That is impressive! Did you remove the pins? How did the other half turn out?

nope, just threw the whole thing in the tumbler (took off the sprue plate)
The other half turned out just as nice.
this thing works like a charm now!

[Beagle333]

Very pretty! But now is it going to cast a "fin" all the way around the boolit, due to the peening of the cavity edges?

[gofastman]

Very pretty! But now is it going to cast a "fin" all the way around the boolit, due to the peening of the cavity edges?

I was a little worried about that, but so far it works great!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

gofastman,
The SS pins sure did a nice job !
thanks for sharing the photos.

Very pretty! But now is it going to cast a "fin" all the way around the boolit, due to the peening of the cavity edges?

I would have thought the same, til, I got this older, well used "Hensley" mold. When I first examined it closely and seen all the wear and nicks in the cavity edges, I thought it'd cast large ugly fins. But obviously, it takes quite a bit of wear to to make a large fin, as you can see by the samples cast with it in the second photo.

[NoZombies]

Hey John,

Is that a Geo Hensley #9 mold? I've really enjoyed mine, there's just something about the type 3 wadcutter in the .38 case that looks right.

[mold maker]

This thread alone is reason enough to get the SS pins I've put off. I have 2 molds from eBay that i'd be ashamed to have shown. Neither cost a lot, and both are beyond use as received. If they clean up that good, the pins will be paid for.
Thanks for sharing.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Hey John,
Is that a Geo Hensley #9 mold? I've really enjoyed mine, there's just something about the type 3 wadcutter in the .38 case that looks right.

I'm not sure what the #9 mold is. I posted more photo's in another thread and texasflyboy commented it as an "early Hensley" mold.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...uld&highlight=

[gofastman]

This thread alone is reason enough to get the SS pins I've put off. I have 2 molds from eBay that i'd be ashamed to have shown. Neither cost a lot, and both are beyond use as received. If they clean up that good, the pins will be paid for.
Thanks for sharing.

Be careful when doing this with Aluminum molds! it doesnt get them as clean and shiny as this brass one turned out, and it also can leave little pits all over the mold if you tumble it for too long!
If you decide to do it anyway, I'd urge you to check it at least every 30 min of tumbling.

That said, yeah, SS pins are great