Newbie question

[jeplant]

Hi y'all

I have never cast my own boolits before and have a question about the Lee .454 ball mold I have. It calls for the lubrication of several parts but doesn't show a schematic of what / where these parts are.

I know what the sprue plate is but do not know what the sprue bushing is nor what the locating pins or v ribs are. I have an idea but do not want to damage the mold or injure myself.

Sorry to sound so dense, but any help is appreciated

JP

[MT Gianni]

Welcome to the Forum.
When the mold is open the Vee ribs are the vees protruding from the molds. The pins are imbedded in the mold. The sprue bushing is located under the sprue plate screw. Many of us use Bullplate lube to lube this with. You can get it from Bullshop inthe Vendor section. 2 cycle motor oil may work as a substitute until yours comes in. Cast a ball before you lube things and a little on the end of a Q tip is plenty.
Do a search for Leementing a mold, you will learn a lot.

[geargnasher]

PLEASE don't follow the part in the instructions about putting any kind of boolit lube on the block alignment pins, vee-groove alignment points, sprue plate pivot bolt/washer, or anywhere. It will bake on and form a layer that will keep the blocks from closing fully, leaving your boolits out of round and oversized. Use bullplate, or a "wet" pure silicone lubricant like Sprayway #936, they won't build up and will actually lubricate the moving parts.

MT Gianni gives good advice, there's also an article on Lee-menting on Castpics dot net.

Gear

[onondaga]

The sprue bushing:

The sprue plate is held down by one screw. That screw goes through a tube. The tube fits in a hole in the sprue plate. The tube is the sprue bushing. A wavy washer is also between the collar on the bushing and the sprue plate.

These parts rarely have to be disassembled but can be disassembled. The screw itself is a self tapping screw and can be very stubborn to remove. If your screw driver slips and you can't loosen the screw on the first try----stop. Don't ruin the screw. Use a jig like this:

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c338/rhymeswithwhat/UnstickJig.jpg

Snug up lightly on the clamp when all parts are straight. Than loosen the clamp 1/8 turn. Next loosen the ratchet 1/8 turn. Keep going in 1/8 turns of each till the screw is loose. This way you can loosen the screw and not ruin it.

Scribbling with a lead pencil on the underside of the sprue plate and on the top of the mold blocks helps also. The graphite from the pencil is a dry lubricant and also an anti-flux that will keep lead from sticking.

Also, the past tense of the verb to cast is not "casted" it is cast, i.e., I cast yesterday. You hurt my English ear. Welcome!

Gary

[JIMinPHX]

Until today, the only good way that I had found to get the sprue screw out of a Lee 2-cav mold was to use a screw driver bit in a drill press for downward pressure & turn it with a wrench. onondaga's suggested rig looks just as effective & a whole lot less expensive. I think that I'll start using his method myself.

Bullplate, available from Bullshop, a member here on the board, is the best sprue plate & locating pin lubricant that I have ever used. My second best lube was a 5:1 mix of hi temp grease from the auto parts store & never seize. My mix leaves a nasty residue that you need to scrub off after you are done casting. Constant scrubbing can lead to mold wear. The Bullplate is clean to work with & does not leave a problematic residue.

When casting round balls for a muzzle loader, you normally use pure "dead soft" lead, not wheel weights or other hard lead. Pure lead needs a little higher pot temperature than the hard mixes do. You may need to jack the pot temperature up around 800F.

In general, a 2-cav Lee mold will need a good cleaning before you use it. Favorite methods of cleaning it vary a little. If you search for Lee-menting, you should find a lot of good information on mold prep.

[jeplant]

Thanks for all of the replies. Question answered and then some. :)

Oh, and sorry bout me grammers. hahaha.

[Skipper488]

Could have used the suggestion about not using bullet lube on the guide pins and grooves sooner. I was just looking at my mold the other day and noticed it looked like a thick coat of varnish at those points. I'm going to have to give my mold a good scrubbing before I use it again but for now it's packed up in my stuff getting ready for my relocation.