Mold frustrations

[Muddydogs]

So I have been casting with a Lee 358 158 SWC TL 6 hole mold. I casted with it ok the first time, the second time I installed the NOE block thermometer and after a little casting found the mold cast well with a 750 pot temp and a mold temp of 450 at which the sprue took forever to cool. The next casting session I messed around and by accident found it cast good with a pot temp of below 650 and a mold temp between 350 and 400. So last night I started at the low end settings and ended up working up both temps to over the high setting I used before and was still getting wrinkled bullets. I figured that I must have gotten something in a couple cavity's so I stopped casting. Today I cleaned up the mold and started again, well I found that 650 pot and 450 mold I can get good bullets but now I have 2 cavity's that the bullets stick in, one so bad I have to wack the mold hard to get it out. I finally had to put the mold down as I was going to beat the hell out of it.

What the heck am I doing wrong.

[fecmech]

I start hot (about 750)and then turn the pot down to about 600-650 as spru cool time takes too long. Look closely at your mold in the cavities that are holding on to the bullets,you probably have a burr. If you spin a bullet with some comet cleanser on it in the sticking cavs they should then drop easily.

[Ben]

Here is the solution to your bullets that are sticking :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?31700-More-quot-Lee-Lementing-quot

[Charlie Two Tracks]

These guys gave some great advice. Just go slow and take your time. You can remove metal but you can't put it back. I can loose my patience at times but when casting and cleaning a mold, this is no time to do it. When I get frustrated, I stop as you did. Saves a lot of money that way.

[44man]

I leave my Lee pot on 750 all the time except for pure lead that needs 800. My mold oven takes the mold to 500*.
My slow pace and easy casting takes care of the rest. I never fiddle with the pot. Casting is more feel and experience then fooling with the pot or mold temps.

[DrCaveman]

Muddydogs

I have been tinkering with my pot temp lately in an attempt to get boolits to drop a little larger. What I have found is that my boolits stick in the mold more since doing so.

I performed a basic lee-menting on my 6-cavity 45 mold a while ago, and run at hot temps, the boolits dropped like rain. Cooling the alloy temp brought things back to the point where a couple cavities stick. Not to bad, as in a few taps on the handle bolt will knock em loose, but worse than before.

Not sure exactly why this is, other than maybe the boolits are bigger, thus fitting more tightly into the cavity. If your boolit diameter was ok with the hotter pot, I'd say crank the temp back up a little. Also a healthy cooling after sprue cutting seems to help reduce sticking for me...like 4-5 seconds on a damp towel for the lee 6-cavity.

[detox]

Check the runout of bullet bands. If your runout exceeds .002" throw that lousy Lee mold away and purchase a good steel mold. My experience with Lee's new two pin molds has been awful. Pins receeding and not aligning mold halves.

[cbrick]

Not sure exactly why this is, other than maybe the boolits are bigger, thus fitting more tightly into the cavity. If your boolit diameter was ok with the hotter pot, I'd say crank the temp back up a little. Also a healthy cooling after sprue cutting seems to help reduce sticking for me...like 4-5 seconds on a damp towel for the lee 6-cavity.

If you run the mold too hot it will cause sticking issues. The reason boolits fall from the mold is that as they cool they shrink and no longer fit the cavity that made them. If your giving the mold the same amount of time between pours with a hotter mold than you did with a cooler one the boolits will not cool (shrink) as much and could become sticky. That's why the damp towel is helping with the sticking issue, the boolits are allowed to shrink (cool) more.

Rick

[mpmarty]

I run my pot at 725* F. and find that just before the mold gets up to light frosting it drops boolits best. Any cooler mold temp and boolits don't fill out, hotter and they stick more.