GL49
04-28-2012, 03:23 PM
Got a little problem with a mould, but you've got to hear the story (excuse) first.
A friend started loading for his wife's 9mm, so I was going to cast a few bullets for him to try. I thought I'd start out with my Lee 120grTC six cavity mould, I've cast and shot a few thousand of these, knowing that the mould was always a bit "sticky", one of these days I'll get around to polishing the cavities. Well, yesterday, it was a lot worse than normal, finally got about 100 decent bullets cast, enough to shoot and a few so I could Leement it before using it again.
AHA! I'll go get my brand new MIHEC six cavity 147gr. TC mould off the shelf, mount the handles, life will be good again. After the obligatory wash in the sink, mount the handles, (search high and low for metric tools, which I finally found in the trunk of my son's car), I started to cast. First pour, the bullets literally fell out of the mould. :smile:
As I got close to casting temp, one of the cavities started to stick. Maybe hotter is better. Nope, now two, sometimes three are sticking. Third on the right, second on the left were worst. More temp, more stick. Cooler alloy, hotter alloy, more stick. Finally got it to where I had the last three on the left and the first three on the right block wouldn't come out of the mould.
Maybe cooler is better. Now I'm back to the third on the right and second on the left are sticking, but the mould isn't filling out. Slow the pour, speed up the pour, pour at an angle, hotter and cooler in the casting pot, nothing seems to help. Now it's cold enough I'm getting a few wrinkles AND it is sticking.
My youngest son came out to the garage and needed help holding something, took off my gloves, finished his job, (knowing the mould would be cooler), then went back to casting. Only after pouring the next mould full, shearing the sprue, and catching it in my right hand did I remember why I always should be wearing my gloves.
Burn ointment, gloves, and now a cold mould, I started again, same problems, finally got the mould up to temp, now I'm gonna try a few other things. Ever have a chunk of sprue go into the hole in the knee of your pants you wore, (so you wouldn't ruin a good pair earlier in the day weeding the garden), go down your leg and lodge at the top of the two pairs of socks you wear inside your work boots? You'd be amazed at how fast old guys can move.
Try the mould again, beat on the mould again until the wooden handles fall off the mould. Reinstall them, get one crooked so it won't go fully on, don't worry about it 'cause it's gonna fall off again sooner or later. Sure enough, six or seven casts later I had another chance to get it on straight. Took a look at my Klein rubber handled screwdriver I had been using for a mould beater, the rubber isn't factory original any more.
Finally get to the point of trying mould release, get out my can of MIG spray which has worked before, get a few casts with wrinkled bullets but no sticking, then back to stick-stick-stick. Hot, Cold, change alloy temperature, nothing works. Cool the mould, take it into the sink, wash, scrub, now everything is clean, it's going to work this time. Redo everything I've done before with the same results, except NO mig spray, not gonna clean that off again.
Where's my can of Frankford Arsenal Graphite Mould Release?. Haven't used that in years, most of you probably know why. Finally find it hiding behind my can of Breakfree, next to my new box of earplugs, on the third shelf above my loading bench. Knock the earplugs off the shelf, right over my box of 12ga shotgun hulls I'm preparing to load. Want to guess how many of those little earplug packages will go down inside shotgun hulls when they are standing on their bases? Clean up my earplugs, I need to let the mould cool to apply the mould release anyway. You remember the hole in the knee of my pants? It'll locate every spent primer that's fallen out of my Dillon 550 and made it's way to the garage floor while you're picking up earplugs.
While all this is happening, my bottom pour Lee pot decided it'll do what Lee pots do best. Next project was to find a hacksaw blade to cut the ingot out from around the front legs of my pot. After it was unplugged and set up hard. Not gonna do the "I hope this burns through my pants and not my leg dance" again. I'd only gotten 45 minutes older, but a heap smarter. Reheat the pot, add the ingot parts I cut off from the bottom of the pot and the old sprue. Flux.
About that time my son shows up in the garage "DAD! WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING SURE STINKS!" This is the one that always helps me cast and likes to shoot, he must want something from his mom, now he's siding with her.
Apply the mould release. Did you know it'll get kinda clumpy and lumpy over time? Wow! The bullets just jump out of the mould, but they look like they've got a bad case of measles from the mould release. Ever seen paint that has kind of a "textured" finish? That's my bullets.
Now we get to the real problem. Since my frustration level is about a 9.2 on a scale of one to five, I'm not really thinking clearly at this point. I'll bet one of the old toothbrushes I keep on my bench may smooth out or remove some of the lumps.
Hot mould + plastic bristles on a toothbrush=now I'm gonna quit.
So here's my question.... How do you remove melted plastic from the inside of one of the cavities on a mould?
A friend started loading for his wife's 9mm, so I was going to cast a few bullets for him to try. I thought I'd start out with my Lee 120grTC six cavity mould, I've cast and shot a few thousand of these, knowing that the mould was always a bit "sticky", one of these days I'll get around to polishing the cavities. Well, yesterday, it was a lot worse than normal, finally got about 100 decent bullets cast, enough to shoot and a few so I could Leement it before using it again.
AHA! I'll go get my brand new MIHEC six cavity 147gr. TC mould off the shelf, mount the handles, life will be good again. After the obligatory wash in the sink, mount the handles, (search high and low for metric tools, which I finally found in the trunk of my son's car), I started to cast. First pour, the bullets literally fell out of the mould. :smile:
As I got close to casting temp, one of the cavities started to stick. Maybe hotter is better. Nope, now two, sometimes three are sticking. Third on the right, second on the left were worst. More temp, more stick. Cooler alloy, hotter alloy, more stick. Finally got it to where I had the last three on the left and the first three on the right block wouldn't come out of the mould.
Maybe cooler is better. Now I'm back to the third on the right and second on the left are sticking, but the mould isn't filling out. Slow the pour, speed up the pour, pour at an angle, hotter and cooler in the casting pot, nothing seems to help. Now it's cold enough I'm getting a few wrinkles AND it is sticking.
My youngest son came out to the garage and needed help holding something, took off my gloves, finished his job, (knowing the mould would be cooler), then went back to casting. Only after pouring the next mould full, shearing the sprue, and catching it in my right hand did I remember why I always should be wearing my gloves.
Burn ointment, gloves, and now a cold mould, I started again, same problems, finally got the mould up to temp, now I'm gonna try a few other things. Ever have a chunk of sprue go into the hole in the knee of your pants you wore, (so you wouldn't ruin a good pair earlier in the day weeding the garden), go down your leg and lodge at the top of the two pairs of socks you wear inside your work boots? You'd be amazed at how fast old guys can move.
Try the mould again, beat on the mould again until the wooden handles fall off the mould. Reinstall them, get one crooked so it won't go fully on, don't worry about it 'cause it's gonna fall off again sooner or later. Sure enough, six or seven casts later I had another chance to get it on straight. Took a look at my Klein rubber handled screwdriver I had been using for a mould beater, the rubber isn't factory original any more.
Finally get to the point of trying mould release, get out my can of MIG spray which has worked before, get a few casts with wrinkled bullets but no sticking, then back to stick-stick-stick. Hot, Cold, change alloy temperature, nothing works. Cool the mould, take it into the sink, wash, scrub, now everything is clean, it's going to work this time. Redo everything I've done before with the same results, except NO mig spray, not gonna clean that off again.
Where's my can of Frankford Arsenal Graphite Mould Release?. Haven't used that in years, most of you probably know why. Finally find it hiding behind my can of Breakfree, next to my new box of earplugs, on the third shelf above my loading bench. Knock the earplugs off the shelf, right over my box of 12ga shotgun hulls I'm preparing to load. Want to guess how many of those little earplug packages will go down inside shotgun hulls when they are standing on their bases? Clean up my earplugs, I need to let the mould cool to apply the mould release anyway. You remember the hole in the knee of my pants? It'll locate every spent primer that's fallen out of my Dillon 550 and made it's way to the garage floor while you're picking up earplugs.
While all this is happening, my bottom pour Lee pot decided it'll do what Lee pots do best. Next project was to find a hacksaw blade to cut the ingot out from around the front legs of my pot. After it was unplugged and set up hard. Not gonna do the "I hope this burns through my pants and not my leg dance" again. I'd only gotten 45 minutes older, but a heap smarter. Reheat the pot, add the ingot parts I cut off from the bottom of the pot and the old sprue. Flux.
About that time my son shows up in the garage "DAD! WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING SURE STINKS!" This is the one that always helps me cast and likes to shoot, he must want something from his mom, now he's siding with her.
Apply the mould release. Did you know it'll get kinda clumpy and lumpy over time? Wow! The bullets just jump out of the mould, but they look like they've got a bad case of measles from the mould release. Ever seen paint that has kind of a "textured" finish? That's my bullets.
Now we get to the real problem. Since my frustration level is about a 9.2 on a scale of one to five, I'm not really thinking clearly at this point. I'll bet one of the old toothbrushes I keep on my bench may smooth out or remove some of the lumps.
Hot mould + plastic bristles on a toothbrush=now I'm gonna quit.
So here's my question.... How do you remove melted plastic from the inside of one of the cavities on a mould?