Mis-Aligned Mold Blocks

[Foto Joe]

A day or two ago my new Lee .452-200SWC mold showed up. Yesterday I prepped the mold i.e. got the sharp edges off the sprue plate, surfaced the underside of sprue plate and cleaned the blocks with solvent and Dawn.

Once the mold was prepped I warmed up the pot so I could see what the new boolits were gonna look like and everything went just about as planned. I dropped a couple hundred of these and other than looking at the boolits after opening the mold I never gave 'em much thought, they looked good. The only difference was that I was water dropping because I wanted to lube them later and possibly load them today so I couldn't really see the whole boolit as they were in the bottom of the bucket.

When I went to pull them out of the bucket I first noticed what I though was "finning" on the boolits where the blocks meet. Upon closer inspection with my bifocals it became apparent that it wasn't finning but mis-aligned mold blocks. To the naked eye while casting and looking down on the blocks from above they appear to line up perfectly. After discovering the problem and inspecting the block which still had boolits in them they appear also to line up 360°.

Anybody ever have this particular issue with a Lee mold before?

[runfiverun]

alignment pin is off a little.

[w5pv]

Send them back to Lee or you will have trouble to the end.

[smoked turkey]

Not sure of the Lee blocks, but this is a fairly common problem with steel blocks. As runfiverun said the alignment pins are probably not seated quite deep enough. This will not let the blocks go fully together. I take a brass punch and lightly tap the pins into the block. Go easy and put the blocks together and hold the mold up to a light source and you should see some improvement. As I say go easier with the hammer/punch than you think because a little goes a long way.

[Foto Joe]

@ smoked turkey
I think you might have mis-read the OP. I'm not getting finning at all, what I have is a boolit that the halves don't match up even though the mold appears to be flush on all sides.

I think what I'll do is call Lee this morning and see if they'll either just replace the blocks or send me a whole new mold. I've got to say that I've got six Lee molds and other than me boogering up the first one simply because I was new they've all been perfect once they're cleaned up.

[smoked turkey]

Yes Joe, I did mis-read the OP. Sorry. You are on the right track.

[Larry Gibson]

If you're going to be home today I'll be over that way and can stop in, we'll take a look at them?

Larry Gibson

[Foto Joe]

Yup,

Supposed to take my wife and daughter to the range at some point but other than that I'm still unemployed.

[runfiverun]

umm cody wyoming is a bit away from lake havasu Arizona.
iv'e been to both places and "swinging by" isn't really an option :lol:

[462]

Larry must know something about tele-transportation.

I've been close enough to both locations to know that it's somewhat more than just an I'll-meet-you-after-lunch trip.

[Larry Gibson]

;)

Larry Gibson

[wistlepig1]

I have read many of Larry Gibson's posts and am looking forward to the one on tele-transportation. Thanks in advance:confused::-?

[Larry Gibson]

Simply a matter of barrel length, proper alloy, proper bullet design, 4895 powder, Dacron filler and, of course, controlling the RPM..............perhaps I've learned to walk the rice paper......





or maybe Joe is just wintering here in Lake Havasu..........couldn't be something that simple.....could it..........I kind of liked "controlling the RPM"..........

Larry Gibson

[runfiverun]

so how was the mold?

[Larry Gibson]

The Lee DC mould appeared to be excellent actually. The male alignment pins were not driven in far enough and were not mating with the female counter part. Didn't take much to remedy that. All appeared lined up after adjustment. Waiting for Joe to cast a few so we'll know for sure.

Larry Gibson

[Foto Joe]

Larry wasn't the one who tele-transported, the wife and I escaped the ice in exchange for kitty litter this year.

The plan is to heat up the pot this morning and see how close Larry got the pins to perfect, my guess is "Pretty Close".

[prs]

The Lee DC mould appeared to be excellent actually. The male alignment pins were not driven in far enough and were not mating with the female counter part. Didn't take much to remedy that. All appeared lined up after adjustment. Waiting for Joe to cast a few so we'll know for sure.

Larry Gibson

Double cavity! I was thinking a 6 hole'r. Still, with the new style pin arrangement on the doubles, I have trouble visualizing how the alignment could be askew. Gapped, yes; but off kilter?

prs

[Foto Joe]

The male pins weren't drifted into the holes adequately so they never mated with the female receivers when the blocks were closed. Just eyeballing the blocks when closed you'd never see it but the were skewed by about .002". This is my 6th Lee 2-cav mold and it's the first one that I've had a problem with. Larry noted the problem after a minute or two when he grabbed the blocks between his fingers and gave a little twist, they moved.

By the way, when Larry attempted to remove the allen screw holding the blocks to the handle we both found out that Lee doesn't mess around when they tighten those little buggers, no worries about one of those falling out.

The temp is getting into the mid 40's so I think I can risk venturing out to the garage and warm up the pot now.

[KYCaster]

The Lee DC mould appeared to be excellent actually. The male alignment pins were not driven in far enough and were not mating with the female counter part. Didn't take much to remedy that. All appeared lined up after adjustment. Waiting for Joe to cast a few so we'll know for sure.

Larry Gibson


"not mating with the female counter part"..........that's always been my problem. I'm happy to see somebody has found a solution to the problem. :mrgreen:

Jerry

[Foto Joe]

Well the fix of drifting the pins down into the proper position sounded real good on paper but in practice it proved a little more frustrating, at least to me. After a half dozen casts with the mold the pins backed out again and the mis-alignment was back. I tried to hand align prior to each cast but those of you who have tried that before know how well that worked out. So... back to Mr. Gibsons for a follow-up consultation which resulted in resetting the pins once again. This time Larry had a pot going so he did a half dozen casts and sure enough the pins backed out. Larry not being one who quits easily took the mold to the drill press and there are now two nice little set screws holding the alignment pins into place. The fix was tested there by throwing a couple of dozen boolits and they all came out perfect once thing were heated up.

Now all I have to do is run a few pounds of lead through it so I can play with the new boolits.

[mold maker]

Sure wish I lived near Larry Gibson. Iv'e never had a mentor or a knowledgeable helping hand.

[Larry Gibson]

Anyone can always PM me or ask in a thread. I'm always glad to help where or however I can.

Larry Gibson

[Foto Joe]

Well it looks like the fix worked. I didn't take a pic of the mold for some reason but it's throwing nice round boolits and both halves miraculously line up thanks to Larry who doesn't give up easy on a problem.

I water dropped a hundred or so this morning so I could lube 'em up later this afternoon if I get a round tuit. When I started pulling the boolits out of the bucket they were pretty good with the exception that this particular mold seems to like 700° instead of the 650°-675° that I normally cast at. The lower temp with this mold won't drop 100% perfect boolits for some reason but pushing it up to 700° did the trick. The odd thing is that I was running a second mold (Lee .429-214SWC) and it was dropping perfect 100%. Apparently this mold has a "warmer personality."

Now if the wind would quit howling maybe I could entice myself into going out to shoot.

[AlaskanGuy]

Those pins are not quite allen screws... I backed one out to borrow the handles and had a heck of a time.... I dont recommend taking them out unless you are ready to tap them with a new screw...

Alaskan

[detox]

Larry not being one who quits easily took the mold to the drill press and there are now two nice little set screws holding the alignment pins into place. The fix was tested there by throwing a couple of dozen boolits and they all came out perfect once thing were heated up.

Now all I have to do is run a few pounds of lead through it so I can play with the new boolits.

Any pictures of set screw fix?

[detox]

Any pictures of set screw fix?

Any pictures of the set screw fix? All of us need to see and get ideas.

[HeavyMetal]

Foto Joe:
That is my favorite 45 boolit! I have a pair of Lee 6 bangers in that design and can really get a bunch made in a hurry when I cast!

If you are looking for a load I will suggest Winchester Super Target and Federal or Winchester standard large pistol primers, this powder will out shoot Bullseye and is 200% cleaner burning.
HM

[Foto Joe]

I finally got a picture of Larry's fix.

[Larry Gibson]

Left the set scews long so additional could be done if that didn't hold. Apears to be workinf fine so a regular set screw can be used. Or those can be cut flush and slotted.

Larry Gibson