Alignment pin holes

[Longone]

I just picked up an older Lyman 4 cavity 452460 and the alignment pin holes are a bit sloppy, is this a big deal or are they repairable?

Longone

[Nobade]

You could always drill them out and press in inserts, like the mould makers do with aluminum moulds.

[runfiverun]

i'd try it first.
i can see some wear on a couple of my 4 cavs.
you might just need to knock the pins out a bit further.
keep them lubed.

[Longone]

What type of lube do you use?

Longone

[ubetcha]

Lee recommends bullet lube such as alox.I think Lyman also recommends it also. Just a small touch on a up to temp mold,but don't get any inside the cavitys

[462]

I would never but boolit lube on my moulds. I use Bull Plate (member, vendor sponsor). Synthetic two-cycle motor oil is highly recommended, too.

[glicerin]

I've had some luck using a centre punch(carefully) to close up the large dimension on oval pin holes. Make sure not to raise up small donuts, or polish them off.
Drilling large and installing inserts would be great, if you knew where centre was, and could persuade the drill bit to go there, or maybe easier drilling from backside of mold half. Don't give up.

[deltaenterprizes]

Knock out the pins and make the female part hold the pins, the side where the pins are mounted will be in perfect shape, the other half will hold the pins without any problems. You may want to start them from the back of the mold and remove any burrs inside the hole first.

[geargnasher]

Knock out the pins and make the female part hold the pins, the side where the pins are mounted will be in perfect shape, the other half will hold the pins without any problems. You may want to start them from the back of the mold and remove any burrs inside the hole first.

I'd try seating them deeper first, but likely the holes are a bit "wallered" on the edges so this is an excellent fix. Those pins are a tight fit, be prepared to use a hydraulic press and drill stock to press them out and back in. Push them out and in from the outside of the mould so you don't screw up the rounded tips.

Lube only with Bullplate or in a pinch a good synthetic two-stroke premix oil.

Gear

[Longone]

I think the pic will show the oblong holes, the mold halves actually will shift up and down until the sprue plate closes then it's not too bad. The mold half with the oblong holes is not drilled all the way through so I imagine the pins getting a little deeper seat will work best.

Longone

[Maven]

Longone, If pushing the pins out a bit doesn't help align the 2 halves, I think I'd use JB Weld in the elongated holes: Degrease the entire mold; add mold release/paste wax to every part of the mold, especially the pins; add JB Weld to each hole; perfectly align each half with sprue plate closed; clamp in padded vise or woodworking clamp until epoxy cures; degrease, etc. Just some food for thought.

[Longone]

That sounds like a good plan, I will give the pins a go and see what happens and if I have no luck I'll dab a little JB in the holes like you suggested and see if that helps. Is it necessary to try (if you can) to remove any excess play in the handle pin or is that not a detrament to the mold?

Also how long are the alignment pins? I thought I would use a caliper to start with but didn't want to have them on the edge of falling out.

Thanks, Longone

[Maven]

Longone, I don't kow how long the alignment pins are, as I've never had to completely remove one from a mold. As fo tightening the mold blocks on the handles, I've drilled and cut pieces of brass shim stock to make washers to prevent the blocks from moving. However, the central pin on the handles may tighten if you rap it with a hammer or squeeze it in a vise. You want just enough play to allow the blocks to close and align perfectly.

[Longwood]

I have done what glicrin does but with a small pin punch or piece of broken drill that I rounded the end of a tiny bit.
It is simple to make the punch flat again, when done.

[Longone]

What I meant to say was the handle hinge pin (older style handles), they are loose, don't know if once the alignment issue is resolved if this will even cause a problem.

Longone

[runfiverun]

Longone, If pushing the pins out a bit doesn't help align the 2 halves, I think I'd use JB Weld in the elongated holes: Degrease the entire mold; add mold release/paste wax to every part of the mold, especially the pins; add JB Weld to each hole; perfectly align each half with sprue plate closed; clamp in padded vise or woodworking clamp until epoxy cures; degrease, etc. Just some food for thought.

excellent idea.

that stuff is tough and should hold up for a long time.
make sure to give the j.b. plenty of time to fully harden.

i like to use the bullplate or two stroke oil on the alignment pins,but mostly i use nickle or copper antisieze on them.

[Maven]

run5run, The idea to try JB Weld to bush the holes occurred to me because I don't own or have access to a drill press or hydraulic press to force the pins in or out of the mold block. Yep, JB Weld, duct tape, WD-40, etc., can fix many a problem!

[turtlezx]

Jb weld is only rated to about 200*
you would melt it

[Maven]

turtlezx, I use Devcon 5 Minute Epoxy and JB Weld to repair loose wood mold handles often and haven't had one loosen yet. Trust me, the temperature of the metal around the handles is much higher than 200 degrees. My other thought was exhaust manifold gasket material, but it's more difficult to use in so small an area. Then too, JB Weld is a lot cheaper, though maybe not as durable as a proper machining job (drilling, filing, adding new bushings + appropriate pins).

[xr650]

run5run, The idea to try JB Weld to bush the holes occurred to me because I don't own or have access to a drill press or hydraulic press to force the pins in or out of the mold block. Yep, JB Weld, duct tape, WD-40, etc., can fix many a problem!

A bench vise makes an excellent press for small parts.

[runfiverun]

i put a set of improved cooling heads [392] on my 74 international harvester pick up.
the block [345] was not improved cooling.
which meant there was an open water jacket hanging over the side of the block on both heads.
i filled them with j.b weld,and ground them flat.
they have been on that truck for over 15 years now..

[AR-15 Cowboy]

I've got a bunch of small Thread Magic anti-seize packets by AGS, would that work as a mold lube for the pins on an aluminum mold. And what other substitutes besides Synthetic 2 cyl oil are there?

[geargnasher]

Jb weld is only rated to about 200*
you would melt it

I seem to recall that might have been 200C, but I could be wrong.

I run most of my moulds between 350 and 420F, I doubt the epoxy could take it, either. Best thing to do would be seat the pins deeper and bevel the edges of the socket holes so they don't bind the extended pins when you go to open the blocks.

Gear

[Longone]

Mechanics -- you can use J-B WELD with confidence. It is designed for safe, reliable, permanent repairs in engine compartments and heated environments up to 500° F. It's strong as steel and impervious to water, gasoline, chemicals, and acids. Working with J-B WELD is quick, easy, and convenient -- and saves you time, work, and money!

This is from the JB Weld site, thought it might clear up some questions.

Longone

[runfiverun]

I've got a bunch of small Thread Magic anti-seize packets by AGS, would that work as a mold lube for the pins on an aluminum mold. And what other substitutes besides Synthetic 2 cyl oil are there?

antisieze works fine.
i use the nickle kind,on alignment pins and after opening the mold on hot boolits i add some to the top.
i just use a q-tip and wipe it across the top of the mold, and open and close the mold a couple of times, then dump the boolits out and keep on casting.

[JIMinPHX]

In the past, I've tightened up aliment pins by pushing them out further & I've cleaned up wallowed holes by running a chamfering tool into them a touch. After the chamfering tool runs, you need to move the pins out a little more to get them to pick up on the new fresh cut surface. It takes a little trial & error to get the pins set to just the right length, but it's worth it. Too far out & the mold halves stick together. Not far enough out & the blocks don't locate accurately.

[gbrown]

I have an old SAECO .38 4 cavity 158 SWC I was thinking about selling. Looked at it--rode hard, put wet, as the saying in TX (and probably other W. States) goes. Sprue stop pin sheared off (who does that?) fixed by my gunsmith and alignment pin holes wallowed out (how do they do this?). Decided that someone who would pay good money for an old mold would not appreciate me dumping this one on them, am keeping it. Cast with it---great boolits. I'll deal with it.

[Longone]

Well after a couple of attempts the mold is casting a boolit that is round to .001" by my measurements with a mic. It drops a boolit .454"-.453" with #2.

I took it in steps of about .005" pushing the alignment pins out then trying to move the mold halves without the handles off the blocks. I would then cast a small batch making sure the boolits were filled out and the mold was up to temp. And on the third try it all came together. The pins ended up being pushed out about .020". At first I thought it would have taken much more than that to get the desired result but it seems to be just fine and producing very good boolits.
I also thought about reversing the pins, putting the two pins on the end with the single one and moving the single to the double pin end. My guess is that a Milling machine and a couple of clamps could make this work. In the end it took some time and testing but it was the simplest solution that won out.

Thanks to all for the suggestions and encouragement.

Longone