Lee 459-405-HB mold questions for the expereinced

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Mine arrived today, cleaned it preheated the pot and the mold.

How do you folks keep the mold hot enough while waiting for the sprue to
get cool enough to cut without tearing?
I had to make the mold plenty warm to get rid of wrinkles on the lube grooves
(the bottom since this is a nose pour) but waiting for the sprue to not tear out, lets the
thing cool off too much
Pot temp tried from 700-850, differing counts from pout to cut to dump
didnt seem to help.
Suggestions?
this mold is narrowed at the bottom, seems like they should left the mass there?

[myg30]

Jim, I cant think of any reason spruce should cool any slower than any other mold. Block any wind blowing on it. Keep us posted on your findings.

Good luck, Mike

[Bigslug]

Have only cast with mine once at this point, but it seemed to run without a lot of drama.

Did you degrease the mold before you cast? Vaporizing oils has been the cause of more than one wrinkle-fest in my past. A generous application of brake cleaner prior to casting typically gets it done.

[zuke]

I found with my LEE hollow point boolit's I had to run them on the hot side to keep it all going nicely.

[dromia]

Bullplate sprue lube allows you cut the sprue whilst soft without smearing.

The trick is to keep the HB pin hotter than the mould, I sit the pin base on a hot plate with the mould slightly open between casts.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

no smearing , pulling chunks out of the nose
This was run #1 with this mold, most of my aluminum molds got better after 2-3 sessions.
We'll see what happens.

[Maven]

"...pulling chunks out of the nose."

Jim, You may want to sharpen the sprue cutter a bit + cool the top of the mold on a damp towel or sponge before you cut the sprue ala Bruce B's speedcasting method.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Had another go at this critter today, finally figured out what it wanted.
Hot melt, hot mold, and a tiny sprue- about half the size of the sprue hole in the plate.
Then the sprue would cool fast enough for me to get the rest hot enough for fill out. YAY
94284

[rexherring]

Looking good.

[zuke]

all it take's is a little time to learn your mold