Need to clean mold??

[sharpshooter81]

Just got done "trying" to cast some 45/70 boolits.....my lee mold has done excellent so far but today the boolits were all wrinkly like my alloy was too cold or something.....I'm guessing I need to clean the cavity (thinking it might be contaminated with lube or something)....I usually clean the cavity with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip....is there a better way to clean it? Would gasoline or paint thinner do a better job? I was thinking next time I will scrub it with an old toothbrush.....Thanks for the help!!

[littlejack]

sharpshoote81:
Do not use anything that is petroleum based, (gas).
Brake cleaner, degreaser works.
I just use hot water and dish detergent and tooth brush. Then I dry. If I am in the mood, I will again clean with brake cleaner.
I then preheat on the range top burner, and the then cast away. I usually get good boolits from the start.
Jack

[sharpshooter81]

yep, I cleaned it with hot water and Comet, then re lubed and smoked the mold and got excellent bullets no prob.....guess I answered my own questions lol

[MtGun44]

Your mold is too cold and not clean enough.

How do I know this?

Because EVERYBODY starts out this way.

EVERYBODY.

"Too cold and not clean" is THE universal answer.

Bill

[Single Shot]

I would not use the comet. It is abrasive to the mold cavities. Hot water and Dawn work well.

Or brake cleaner.

[LUBEDUDE]

sharpshoote81:
Do not use anything that is petroleum based, (gas).
Brake cleaner, degreaser works.
I just use hot water and dish detergent and tooth brush. Then I dry. If I am in the mood, I will again clean with brake cleaner.
I then preheat on the range top burner, and the then cast away. I usually get good boolits from the start.
Jack


I've used White Gas (Coleman stove fuel) for years with great success.
(I know Jack was speaking of not using Engine/Motor gas)

I feel that it is less harsh than brake cleaner or degreaser.

Unless you are talking about a degreaser like simple green, purple power, orange lightning.

Definitely stay with a toothbrush and don't go any harder. Resist the urge to use any metal tools at all on your molds.

Good Luck

[lbaize3]

I use Aqua Clean on all of my molds. Spray it on, let it sit a few minutes, scrub with a toothbrush, dry with paper towel and q-tips. It also works well for cleaning carbon from firearms. Great degreasser and no petroleum products. Midway, Brownells and other reloading places sell it.

[runfiverun]

the "smoking the mold" could very well be your culprit.

[HpGuy420]

Just got done "trying" to cast some 45/70 boolits.....my lee mold has done excellent so far but today the boolits were all wrinkly like my alloy was too cold or something.....I'm guessing I need to clean the cavity (thinking it might be contaminated with lube or something)....I usually clean the cavity with rubbing alcohol and a q-tip....is there a better way to clean it? Would gasoline or paint thinner do a better job? I was thinking next time I will scrub it with an old toothbrush.....Thanks for the help!!

sharpshooter,

Brake or carb cleaner work very well. First, heat the mold halves with a propane torch to drive off surface moisture. You will see the surface moisture evaporate as you gently heat the mold on all sides. Once the moisture is completely gone allow the mold to cool to where you can hold it in you hands. Next, blast the cavitys and mold faces with brake or carb cleaner. Allow to sit for a few minutes. Then, clean with the brake or carb cleaner a bronze brush, like a tooth brush, just with bronze bristles. Next, give the mold cavities a blast from the cleaner and scrub the cavity and mold faces with the brush; forward and back as well as rotating the brush to clean the grease grooves well. A final blast of cleaner and you are good to go for the pre-heating process.

[MtGun44]

Comet with a toothbrush works just fine, also does a valuable slight deburr. Does not damage
Lee molds.

Bill

[gvbsat]

What about leaving the mold when finished "loaded" and filled with a decent flow on the sprue plate? I have been casting for a few years, not long, and have been storing all my molds "loaded" at the end of each casting session. I have never had to clean the molds since receiving them. When the boolits start to stick, I smoke it. They fill out great, and drop like they should. I started leaving them loaded because it was so much easier to store the molds. Have casted several thousand at least since. Or should I start cleaning the molds?

[DLCTEX]

If you "Leement" your mould it will not need smoking to drop well. If it is an aluminum mould there may be no harm in leaving boolits in the mould, but some have reported rust forming under boolits in steel moulds.

[41 mag fan]

Is this a single cavity or multiple cavity mold?
Is it one cavity or all cavities causing you problems?
Are you using Bull Plate or some other lube on the cavities pins and sprue plate?

A problem I've noticed with lee molds, is you have to run them hotter than you would other molds. I have to run my pot hotter, and my mold temp hotter to get good casts from the get go. And if the temp outside, is colder, a little more heat on the mold is needed. I cast in my garage door opening, and noticed these issues.

[Moonie]

sharpshooter,

Brake or carb cleaner work very well. First, heat the mold halves with a propane torch to drive off surface moisture. You will see the surface moisture evaporate as you gently heat the mold on all sides. Once the moisture is completely gone allow the mold to cool to where you can hold it in you hands. Next, blast the cavitys and mold faces with brake or carb cleaner. Allow to sit for a few minutes. Then, clean with the brake or carb cleaner a bronze brush, like a tooth brush, just with bronze bristles. Next, give the mold cavities a blast from the cleaner and scrub the cavity and mold faces with the brush; forward and back as well as rotating the brush to clean the grease grooves well. A final blast of cleaner and you are good to go for the pre-heating process.

Some carb cleaners will leave a residue and I'll keep the bronze brushes FAR away from my soft Lee aluminum molds thanks.

[MikeS]

What about leaving the mold when finished "loaded" and filled with a decent flow on the sprue plate? I have been casting for a few years, not long, and have been storing all my molds "loaded" at the end of each casting session. I have never had to clean the molds since receiving them. When the boolits start to stick, I smoke it. They fill out great, and drop like they should. I started leaving them loaded because it was so much easier to store the molds. Have casted several thousand at least since. Or should I start cleaning the molds?

There is NO benefit to leaving the mould 'loaded' as you call it. If the mould is an iron one, it can rust underneath the boolits, and you won't know it til you're ready to use the mould again. If you have an iron or steel mould there's only a few ways to get around having to keep some kind of rust preventative on them. Most of them include keeping the mould in an air tight container with either VCI paper, or silica gel packs to make sure the moulds have no moisture near them. One method I've used is by keeping a very thin coating of Lee's LLA in the cavities. I've found that it will prevent rust (it's original purpose in life), and that if the coating is a thin one that it doesn't need to be removed before casting with the mould.

If you're using a brass or aluminum mould, then you can leave them either empty, or 'loaded' as it makes no difference, as neither material will rust.

As far as smoking a mould, there's no real reason to do that either, as it only covers a problem, it doesn't fix a problem. If your moulds are sticking, there's a reason, fix the reason, and no smoke is needed.

[geargnasher]

Find they guy who told you to crank up the alloy temperature to fix boolit wrinkles and slap him good about three times in the back of the head!

Read what Bill wrote again. Wrinkles are caused by the mould being too cool, not the alloy. If the lead is hot enough to pour into the cavity, it will make fine boolits, but 1000 degree alloy won't make good boolits if the mould is too cool. CAST FASTER to get the mould hot.

Smoking a mould works sometimes as a band-aid, particularly in leu of proper cleaning and degreasing, but has it's own drawbacks with regard to fillout as it plugs vent lines and thermally insulates the surface of the cavities which can compound the cool mould issue.

If you don't know what Bullplate sprue lube is, find out and get some or an acceptable substitute and use it per the instructions in the sticky thread by MikeS, it makes the difference between a smooth, properly operating Lee mould and junk metal.

Just clean it, dip the front edge in the melt for 30 seconds, dip the tip of the sprue plate in for 10, and get to casting four pours per minute (TIME IT!) until that puppy starts dropping gems. When it takes longer than six seconds for the sprue to get firm, slow down slightly.

Gear

[badbob454]

yeah comet may hurt the aluminum ,might leement it ,some .. i dont know how hard the abrasive is.... i use tooth paste, or a toothbrush and dawn detergent. , im afraid to use a bronze brush ,, i also used brake cleaner to remove the frankford arsenal spray releasing agent and then toothpast and water clean and paper towl dry . lube with bullplate lube when dry moving parts and pins only . none in the cavity's

[geargnasher]

I use Bar Keeper's Friend on new Lee moulds that don't want to drop boolits the first session. Depends on the design how well the do or don't fall out when you open the mould. If the mould is ornery, I load a toothbrush with BKF and scrub across the edges of the cavities to remove any burrs. The slight rounding hurts nothing if not overdone and helps the boolits release.

Gear