Lee 6 cavity mold, ends are sticking

[DrCaveman]

I recently got myself a Lee TL452-230 round nose 6 cavity mold.

Right off the bat, it was awesome! I saw significant improvement over Lee 2 cavity mold quality & design, and the sprue lever was a nice plus.

I got it running smooth very quickly, and pumped out about 1000 keepers within a few sessions. Man, that eats up some lead fast!

Toward the end of my last session, I felt a bit of resistance to opening the mold. The sticking point seemed to be the very tip of each mold half, away from the handles. It could have been the front alignment pin, and therefore the pivot point was the front corner of each mold half. Not sure.

I carefully inspected the front area of the mold, and there were no obvious burrs, and no lead splashes. I thought maybe the alignment pin hole was fouled, so kinda worked the hole a bit, but it looked plenty round when peering through it.

I had the same problems the next few pours, so I went ahead and relubed that portion of the mold. This didnt help at all.

At this pace I will probably break a handle getting this thing open each time. Bummer because it ran so well at first, but I am surely not the first to experience this.

Ideas/advice?

[Elkins45]

Are you lubricating the alignment pins with bullet lube or 2 cycle oil?

[DrCaveman]

At this point, a little of both. Also tried straight candle wax... Probably not a great idea, but it didn't make anything worse.

Last attempt was using household 3-in-1 oil. Do you have some better recommendations?

[runfiverun]

and the hinge on the handles too?
do you have any anti sieze?

[btroj]

USe synthetic 2 cycle oil or et some sprue plate lube from Randyrat or Bullplate.

Keeping that mould lubed properly will make a huge difference in ease of use.

[GLL]

Double check to make sure the alignment pins are not working their way out ! I have had the pins on LEE 6-cavity molds fall completely out and end up floating in the casting pot ! Not an uncommon event during long runs !

Jerry

[375RUGER]

I've found that my lee 6 cav doesn't stick if I DON'T lube the pins

[GL49]

Last casting session my Lee six cavity started doing the same thing, I found that one of the handle mounting screws had backed out about a turn and a half, not enough to be really obvious, but enough to cause alignment problems.

[DrCaveman]

Double check to make sure the alignment pins are not working their way out ! I have had the pins on LEE 6-cavity molds fall completely out and end up floating in the casting pot ! Not an uncommon event during long runs !

Jerry

Inspecting the mold again today shows that it doesn't quite want to close all the way. The 3 cavities closest to the handles are closed, but the last 3 have a small gap, big enough for finning.

It appears that the front alignment pin is bottomed out, so I think you may be right about it working itself out. How would I go about pushing it back deeper? I see no adjustable fastener, so would I use a pair of pliers? A vice? A mallet?

[DrCaveman]

I'm also tempted to hit the front alignment pin with some 400 grit sandpaper. But I don't want to irreparably damage it.

[DrCaveman]

The sandpaper seems to have worked, since I can open and close the mould (cold) without any resistance or sticking. Gonna try to pour some now, I'll post results.

I swear, there was no lead on the pin. But then again, I swear a lot. FWIW I used 220 grit.

[Springfield]

I use a center punch and peen the aluminum edge to keep my pins in place. Eventually they WILL loosen up.

[GLL]

I tap the pins into place with a small hammer over a wooden block. Once they are correctly seated I follow Springfield's procedure and peen the aluminum.

Jerry

[DrCaveman]

Update: a bit of polishing with 220 sandpaper solved the problem. I just cast about 600 boolits and I had ONE reject, due to nose finning. The rest were as flawless as I care to test, meaning that the bases were crisp, body was wrinkle-free, and sheen was shiny.

Not sure about weight uniformity, but they are good enough for 45 acp target practice.

The only remaining complaint about the mold is one sticky cavity. I probably should polish or Leement that cavity but since the boolit falls out with a few taps, I think I won't bother unless it becomes worse.

Thanks for all the input! I will try peening next time this problem occurs.

[geargnasher]

Go over the sticky cavity with a loupe and bright light, you'll likely find a burr on the edge of the cavity somewhere. Avoid any kind of wax on the pins, use a LIGHT touch two-cycle oil, Bullplate, or Randyrat's "zip lube" every hundred pours or so.

Gear