Lee Sprue Plate Woes

[leadman]

I spoke with Andy Lee a couple of weeks ago on the sprue plates gouging the tops of the molds and the pivot screw on the 2 cavities coming loose.
I called him today about another issue and he gave me some info on the sprue plates. He investigated the complaint of the plates gouging the tops of the mold and came to a solution. They are now using a piece of high speed steel to burnish the edge of the sprue plates. Hopefully this will correct this issue.

The problem of the pivot screws coming loose on the 2 cavity molds he said is a lack of lubrication. He said he lubes his molds every 50 boolits or so.
I do have a mold I bought a week ago that this screw came loose so I stopped casting, cleaned the top of the mold and screw, applied anti-seize and reinstalled everything and tightened the screw down tight. It came loose again so I took it apart, cleaned off the anti-seize, cleaned the hole and screw threads with degreaser and applied high strength loc-tite. Then lubed it with Bullplate and it has not come loose again. I do lube whenever I sense a change in the effort needed to move the plate by hand.

Andy Lee seems to be genuinely interested in customer feedback and has investigated the issues and taken action to correct the issues when appropriate. Can't ask for more than that and great products that are affordable.

[Pooch]

I would think that LEE, upon receipt of the sprue plate problems would have already implemented the use of a high heat/high strength Loctite adhesive AT the factory. Although I am the owner of many LEE products AND satisfied with them, I just find that LEE Precision relies too much on the consumer to repair what should have been right in the first place. They are smart people and know exactly what they are doing whenever they are doing whatever it is what they are doing. Yes, their products are reasonably priced but . . . I would opt for paying a few dollars more for a product that didn't need repair.

[freebullet]

In the molds maintenance & design section here there is a thread down the page a scooch entitled "fixing lee 2cav sprue screw for dummies & rednecks". It's apic heavy tutorial I did to solve this problem. It seems to come up twice a week here.

[gunoil]

Andy's great. His last names Lee. He will go out of his way.

stuff like thus pooch? Yea, i would pay extra for set screw too.
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k511/putt2012/69D15AB2-2088-49DF-801C-E04E6E162E77-1426-000007BDE541E3F1_zpsbd86d635.jpg

I have a list very long i would pay extra for.

[nagantguy]

My newest lee mold has these same issues screw coming loose spruce plate digging into the base of boolit. Went the Loc tire route with no success as well. Did buff and sand the plate while it was off seems a bit. etter but I plan on another go at it soon. The mold only cost $20 but I'd pay a little more to vet a little more.

[Ben]

If you understand Lee Mold " weaknesses " and know how to deal with them on your work bench , they are great.

If you're not very mechanical, you might be better off with a nice NOE , Accurate, or RCBS mold.

[GP100man]

Before the internet came to my house I used to beat da snot out of the Lee molds until the product suffered & caused accuracy problems .

I can`t begin to tell ya how many Lbs. of boolits I remelted, There now I admitted it !

But after finding CastBoolits :cbpour: I straightened up my attitude & learned to work on my Lee molds & keep em runnin ALOT longer ! I still use some , but have moved on to steel & some custom molds .

Since discovering :cbpour: I`ve also learned alot `bout alloys & also how to recognize problems with all 3 variables ,alloys molds & ME !!

My biggest complaint with Lee molds was/is the self tappin screw that they used for yrs. to hold the sprue plate on , every mold I had the screw raised the hinged end at least .015" & when I got the alloy & mold into 3rd gear I`d get fins on the bases. Took part of Bens Lyman clean up steps & counter sunk em a bit (I had already removed em & milled em flat)but counter sinking em took care of the variable affect as temps changed & the little CS will hold just the rite amout of Bull Plate Lube , so I hardly ever have to relube the sprueplate screw.

Enuff for now GP

[MaryB]

Last 2 new Lee molds first thing I did was remove the sprue plate and flatten/polish it with a sharpening stone. stoned the edges to 45 degrees too. No more digging, very smooth operation.

[leadman]

I have been lubing the sprue plate pivot today while casting and I did not have a single screw come loose out of about 4 molds used. The precision oiler I use looks like an overgrown fountain pen. I think my son bought it from the snap-on tool guy but will ask him.

Could someone who is having a problem with the screw coming loose try lubing it every 30 to 50 boolits and see if it makes any difference? If it works great, if it doesn't I'll contact Andy again and let him know.

[freebullet]

If I had to lube a screw every 50 or so I would throw the mold in the trash after relieving my frustrations on it with a 10 pound sledge. After using 1 with a set screw I simply won't go back even if buying a lee.

[hermans]

Casting these days for me is getting boring....I start up my pot, pre heat the mold, and start to cast. After 2 hours I have about 600 perfect boolits, but then I use Mihec's molds, as well as Tom's from Accurate and a few from RCBS...maybe I should get a Lee again to really experience casting as it should be?
Maybe I am being a little sarcastic here, but really, life is too short to hassle with Lee molds.

[ubetcha]

What I have been doing to some of my Lee molds is tapping the side of the mold for a set screw for the sprue plate bolt and before installing the set screw, I drop a lead shot ( #7 and #8 is all I have ) into the hole as to set up against the hinge screw so the set screw doesn't damage the hinge screw

[Colorado4wheel]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?56554-KAL-Mould-Handles

[41 mag fan]

If you talk to Andy Lee again, tell him to please cut me a check for my QC I've had to do on the molds they make.
I would rather pay an extra amount to have a good mold, not a so so mold that i have to work on before i can even heat it up or even think about casting with.

[Colorado4wheel]

I always remove the sprue plate on every mold before first sliding it. Check for burrs. Lee is the issue but now I am scared to ruin the others as well.

[mold maker]

Probably be a little less aggravating to just sell the casting equipment, and by jacketed.
Where's your sense of adventure? Why waste time when factory ammo is everywhere, and cheap?
On the other hand I wasn't ever able to buy what I wanted, and had to repair others throw aways. My casting has always been a financial necessity, even though I enjoy it.
Those much hated LEE moulds are all I could find on a slim budget.
If you've got the change, why did you ever buy something to complain so about? Especially the second and third.
I've got lots of moulds from almost all makers and use all of them, LEE included.
Have you forgotten the early days, when we were delighted to get a custom GB, from Lee when they were the only game in town, even if it did take over a year.
The LEE bashing has got to be a hobby with some.

[pdawg_shooter]

I fellow I shoot with once in a while cusses Lee molds to no end. Refuses to buy a mold that need a bit of tune up. However he paid $525 for a Blackhawk in 45 Colt that had to be fire lapped, and the throats reamed to get it to shoot, and that was OK by him. Go figure...

[Iowa Fox]

Funny thing, for all the Lee grp buy molds you don't see them come up for sale often and if they do they are gone in a flash. I got in on 6 grp buys and my only complaint is that I didn't get in on more of them. Nothing turns out a pile of bullets quick like a sweet running Lee 6 Cav from a bottom pour pot without wearing you out.

[John Boy]

OK Gents, I have over 80 plus Lee molds accumulated over the last 15 years or so. Yes, I have had to 'tweak' many of them and every one has no daylight between the mold halves, no galling and cast good bullets.
Open offer - for those that don't want to or don't know how to tweak a Lee mold, before you get out the sledge hammer ... send me a PM - I'll pay small box Flat Rate!

And yes, I've payed up to $240 for some molds that I have, in total close to 200. So if you don't want to pay John Lee the 20 or 30 bucks for a mold - reach in your wallet and spend the big bucks that will stop all the complaining
BTW - I've only returned one mold, a 400gr Big Lube that was cut incorrectly

[beefie]

there's always been this thing called "dryfire", and now there's laserlight and Airsoft, too. I probably have 3x the drysnaps as i do live fire, and the live fire is well over `1/4 million rds. Us poor folks need to realize that some hobbies just cost too danged much to be involved in very deeply.

[John Boy]

beefie - what's your post got to do with sprue plates? Believe you posted in the wrong category. Or is it an overt post to :hijack:

[beefie]

guy was crying about the high cost of shooting, I just pointed out that there's ways to build/maintain skill that cost little or nothing.

[leadman]

If the manufacturer of a product shows willingness to correct some flaw with his product why should we not tell him about it? There are molds I have purchased from Lee that produce boolits with little effort, like one I was using today. Twenty minutes without rushing to go thru the #22 RCBS pot of alloy.
I know that I will get good ones and bad ones, but do hope I get more good. I have Leemented quite a few Lee and other brands of molds.

[gimling]

I have a 6 slot 40 mold that started doing the same thing, I now lubricate 2-3 times during a session and have a socket wrench that I check every 100-150 casts or so cause mine is starting to gouge, it does loosen now dunno if that's something I could have avoided or not I noticed it after my 4th casting session began.

[leadman]

gimling, take the plate off and clean under it if you haven't done this already.

[Newtire]

I would think that LEE, upon receipt of the sprue plate problems would have already implemented the use of a high heat/high strength Loctite adhesive AT the factory. their products are reasonably priced but . . . I would opt for paying a few dollars more for a product that didn't need repair.

Unfortunately, the way to get loctite to loosen up is to heat it. Even the green Stud & Bearing Mount stuff comes loose with heat. The setscrew idea works though.

[leadman]

I have been using the high strength loc-tite and it seems to be working. Molds seem to operate just under the temperature needed to melt the loctite.

[geargnasher]

Remove and dress the bottom of the sprue plate with oiled 320-grit emery paper before use. Use Bullplate or automotive air conditioning compressor oil (PAG or Ester) per the instructions in the sticky here. Add a setbolt to lock the sprue plate screw. Be happy. What do you WANT for 20 bucks? Seriously? That's like buying a 10/22 and ******** that it doesn't have a good trigger like the trigger groups do that cost more than the entire rifle.

I'm pretty stuck on Accurate Molds myself. You gets what you pays for with those, same as Lee.

Gear

[mold maker]

Any time ya get all ya pay for, it's a good purchase. Ya don't always get what ya pay for, but ya always pay for what ya get.