Mold lubing for first time use

[Peterloo]

I am a complete casting novice. I recently purchased a Lee 1oz 12G slug mold and cant wait to start casting.

I read the instruction and they say, in no uncertain terms, that failing to lube the mold on first use could damage it. As I dont have any lube as it is not easy to obtain (and I am very impatient) and I am wondering

a) what damage would I cause?

b) can I use graphite powder (which I have left over from an art project) as a dry lube in the mold?

Thanks all

[Lance Boyle]

I'm a newb myself.

If you're talking sprue plate lube and pin lube I have used 2 cycle oil and have tried never seize on alignment pins for a sticky mold. For the cavities I used kroil and wiped it out.

A) not sure you could damage anything inside but you would gall the top of the blocks and the sprue plate. Definitely not something you want to do.

B) I THINK that's what my gunsmith uses but comes in a spray can for mold blocks.

[captaint]

Fellas - Get you some good 2 stroke oil. Lube the top of the mold, the bottom of the sprue plate and the alignment pins - male and female. Be sure to keep the oil out of the cavaties. It will migrate when hot, so go lightly. We usually gently wipe off any excess. Also, lube the sprue plate pivot pin or screw and you might also hit the handles bolt. That should do it. enjoy Mike

[JJC]

Mold lube is easy to come by here. Go to the vendor section and find Randyrat. 2 oz is $2.00 I think? Quick turnaround too.

[Boolseye]

Fellas - Get you some good 2 stroke oil. Lube the top of the mold, the bottom of the sprue plate and the alignment pins - male and female. Be sure to keep the oil out of the cavaties. It will migrate when hot, so go lightly. We usually gently wipe off any excess. Also, lube the sprue plate pivot pin or screw and you might also hit the handles bolt. That should do it. enjoy Mike
+1. Lee also recommends using their 50/50 Alox/Beeswax, and I use it sparingly on the alignment pins and bolt bushings only. Do not cast with a dry mold, it will be more trouble than it's worth, and you probably will damage the mold somewhat. Graphite is not an adequate substitute.

[Buckshot]

.............I just had a board member here, who is himself new to casting, send me 8 Lee moulds he'd bought used, to survey. All except one had been lightly used except one. It was in the beginnings of it's death throes with a vertical alignment issue, but still useable with care. They ALL showed the effects of improper, or NO lubing. A Lee mould simply will not last long without lube.

They all had lead streaks on the underside of the SP to varying dregrees. All the block tops were similar with a couple having the beginnings of galling. A couple had lead stuck stuck on the block tops. The one 6 banger while in overall decent shape had fairly severe wear on the SP where it goes under the hold down bolt, and 2 had handle attachment pins poking out of the blocks.

Lee recommends using boolit lube, and a couple showed it had been used and is better then nothing, but not by much. If what Randyrat is selling is like Bullplate lube then get some and use it. Forget about boolit lube. If Lee had something similar to what the Bullplate lube was, THAT would be what they'd recommend!

Stick just the tip of a cotton swab into the lube and use that to first apply to the top of the SP pivit bolt head & washer. Use the balance for the block tops, top of the SP and all alignment surfaces. Then turn the swab over to the unused end and wipe over the places you'd just lubed. You will be able to use the first end of that same swab to take care of re-application of lube to the mould as the need arises for your casting session.

...............Buckshot

[MtGun44]

Do not use boolit lube on molds! It does a very poor job lubing and burns on making a
nasty mess and never really doing much good at all.

Use either Bull Plate lube or some report that synthetic 2 stroke oil is a reasonable
substitute.

Use very sparingly, keep it out of the cavity, but put it on the alignment features and
the top of mold and bottom of sprue plate.

Also - don't smoke the mold either. Scrub with a toothbrush and Comet, rinse well in
hot water, then lube.

Bill

[MikeS]

Also checkout the sticky in the lube forum about lubing a mould. It has pictures, and shows a Lee 2 cavity mould being lubed properly. You can use BullPlate, or the eBay lube (where the instructions came from), or a high quality ester based 2 stroke synthetic oil to lube your moulds following the instructions in the sticky.

[Boolseye]

+1 on all of the previous 3 posts. I'm a relative newbie, and will always defer to the long-timers.
When I say I use 50/50, I mean I use it in addition to Bullplate. It's probably unnecessary, but I use a little bit on the moving parts anyway, and it hasn't caused any problems with my molds, of which I have about 10, all Lee. Bullplate only on the mold block tops and Sprue plate. The idea of 50/50 smeared all over the mold-block tops gives me the heebie jeebies, and that's where BP really shines.

One brief story: I recently purchased Lee's 312-100-2R .32 cal pistol mold, and was having vertical alignment issues. First cast: fins and mis-aligned boolits. I cleaned the mold up, stoned the machine marks and high spots, but I didn't adequately lube going into my 2nd casting session. Had even worse problems...totally mis-aligned boolits. What I didn't notice was that the alignment pin cavities (this is a 2-cav) had become clogged with lead due to the blocks not closing properly. I sent the mold back at this point, with a detailed explanatory note. Mold returned within the week, cleaned up and with a nice note explaining that he'd cleaned all the lead out, cast 12 perfect boolits and called it good–and with the admonition to lube the mold. I was duly embarrassed and put in my place, and also quite impressed with Lee's response and actions on the issue. Bottom line: What I thought was a buggered mold was actually a simple case of not enough lube, and the effects of that on the function of the mold.

[r6mmbr]

I have been casting bullets in excess of 35 years & the best solution I have found for lubing & corrosion protection on all my molds is spray silicone lube. My current can is made by "Gunk", but any brand of spray silicone lube will work fine. It's sprayed on a cool mold, everywhere & allowed to dry. You don't need to wash it off as it makes a fine mold release, preventing boolits from sticking as well as lubricating all parts of the mold well. After a casting session, the mold is allowed to cool to room temperature, the mold is sprayed liberally again & allowed to dry over night before storing it away. I've used this technique on aluminum & steel molds for a couple decades now, never have bullets stick, or steel molds rust, & don't need to de-grease before use. Try it! It works very well.

[Peterloo]

Thanks r6mmbr

was this just ordinary silicone lube or something special?

NOTE TO SELF: do not Google "buy silicone lube" at work again - seems it is used for quite 'intimate' jobs!

[r6mmbr]

Sorry I took so long to reply Peterloo, I was in a motorcycle accident a month ago & shattered my left collarbone. Not a recommended adventure! I'm glad I didn't see your comment on Google sooner, that much laughter would have been fatal 3 weeks ago!
As I said, just about any brand of spray silicone lube will work fine, it goes on clear & dries overnight into a barely noticeable cloudy film. I have seen specialty releases (Brownells comes to mind) but just the home workshop/garage variety works great. It saves a bucket load of work & really does a fine job of both lubing the mold & preventing boolits from sticking.

[FergusonTO35]

I have lots of silicone spray lube at home. So I can even use this on the alignment pins and cavities and the sprue plate screw and washer? No other lube required?

[454PB]

I guess I'm the exception......I own about 20 Lee moulds and I use NO lube on them. Some of these moulds are 35 years old and have cast many thousands of boolits.

The trick is learning how to handle them when closing the mould by aligning them manually, rather than assuming the alignment roll pins and V grooves do that via the lubricant. As far as the sprue plate is concerned, if it is properly tensioned, it's no different than the sprue cutter on a non-aluminum mould.

[FergusonTO35]

I always manually align my molds too, its a part of my casting technique.

[geargnasher]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=137982

Read and follow the instructions and your Lee moulds will last a long time.

I use sprayway #945 on many of my moulds, it works like a charm, BUT only saturate a Q-tip, and I don't mean generic cotton swabs, I mean the name-brand things, and swab ONLY the alignment surfaces and underside of the sprue plate with it every once in a while. I also re-coat all the steel parts with it when the mould cools, helps control rust for short time periods.

Randyrat's Zip lube is about as good a product as you'll find for lubricating moulds. As has been said, don't get near a mould with "boolit lube".

Gear