New Lee Mold Prep for Beginners

[crabo]

I am a person that enjoys a list of suggestions to follow in order to get a better final product. I am still fairly new at this game. I came up this list after reading a lot on this forum. I have Saeco, Ballisticast, RCBS, and H&G molds already, and really didn’t want to use an “inferior” Lee mold after all the bad things I had heard about them.

But, I wanted to try a particular Lee bullet and so I broke down and ordered the 6 cavity mold. There is nothing new in this list. I stole all of this material from others here and just put a few pictures with it so that the beginner would understand what to do with his new Lee mold. I have now changed my attitude toward Lee Molds. I’m quite happy with the Lee mold that I have, now that I have done these steps.

1. Step one was to install a cam screw. The Lee 6 cavity molds use a hand sprue cutter that cams off the mold block. You drill a 1/8” hole, countersink it, and then screw in a sheet rock screw for the sprue cutter to cam off of. This gives you steel on steel and doesn’t wear the mold block down as you cast thousands and thousands of boolits.

The next picture shows you how it works.

2. The next thing I did was to drill and tap the block for a set screw so the sprue plate would not loosen up as you operate the sprue plate. I used a 10/32 set screw.

3. The backside of the sprue plate was not flat. I put it on my belt sander and with the sander off; I sanded the sprue plate, by hand, to flatten it out. I did not sand it so much that I sanded the vent lines out. I just slightly flattened it out.

4. I kissed the edges of the mold blocks on the sandpaper again to deburr the blocks to allow them to close.

[crabo]

5. I checked the alignment pins and had to set one a little deeper. It continued to go deeper than I wanted, so I took a punch and staked the back side of the mold block to keep the pin from seating deeper. This involved pushing a little metal into the path of the pin with the punch to keep it from continuing to sink into the block.

6. At this point I boiled the mold blocks and sprue plate in dish soap and water. I let it boil for about 20 minutes.

7. I put it back together and put it on the hot plate to preheat. I cast the first set of boolits. I opened the sprue plate, but did not dump the boolits. I used a q-tip and a very small amount of Bullshop Sprue lube and coated the top of the blocks and the underside of the sprueplate. I then reversed the q-tip and wiped off what I could with the unused side of the q-tip. I also lubed the locating pins and the holes for the pins.

8. I cast more boolits until I had a 12 good boolits. I let the mold cool down until it was no longer warm. I then proceeded to lap each cavity with one of the cast boolits. I drilled a 1/8” hole in the center of the base of the bullet. Then I used a ¼” hex head self tapping screw and ran it down into the bullet until it started spinning. Once I felt like it had polished enough, I reversed the drill and did it in the opposite direction.

I used a buffing compound for automotive paint. There are a number of things you can use as long as it is not an aggressive compound. (especially important on an aluminum mold)


9. I took the mold back apart and scrubbed it with a toothbrush and dish soap. I boiled it again to clean the mold. I put it back together and repeated step 7 and started casting boolits. After a very short time, it started dropping nice bullets with only a light whack on the hinge bolt. After this process, I feel like I can cast as many and as nice a boolit as I do with my more expensive molds.

10. At some point, you will need to glue the wooden handles back onto the iron handles. I use JB Weld for this.

I hope this helps some of the newbies to get their Lee molds running without a lot of headache.

Crabo

[454PB]

I would add that the owner should try the mould before going through a lot of work that isn't needed. Just as you were, many new Lee mould owners have heard horror stories and are reluctant to even try Lee moulds. I've been using them since they were first introduced, and not single one of the 16 I own that so bad it required return.....I can't say the same for other brands I've owned.

A thorough cleaning and degreasing is absolutely required, but all the other procedures you mention can be done after they prove to be an actual problem.

[truckjohn]

I've been using them since they were first introduced, and not single one of the 16 I own that so bad it required return.....I can't say the same for other brands I've owned.

I will echo casting 1st, measuring 2nd, verifying it is good enough 3rd, modifying 4th.

Got one of their 6-cavity 452-230-TC 45ACP boolit molds. 0.008" out of round as-cast. Cavities are severely misaligned. Small diameter was 0.448"...... just a wee bit too small for my tastes. Figured it out when resizing..... which was a real mess through a 0.452" lube die....

Sent it back to Lee last week. Hopefully, I will get something a little closer to right this time. The other 5 lee molds were good enough to LeeMent or use as-is.

Thanks

John

[carpetman]

Anybody can cast first and measure second. Measure first and then cast and you'll have something to brag about that nobody else has ever done.

[Ranch Dog]

Carpetman,

I've actually have started doing just that, measuring without casting, to look at a given mold to see if a mold meets the drawing spec. I tried a number of methods of doing it and can get a very good grip on using a scan and my Group Size Calculator software. I looked at a number of software programs that offer "measuring sticks" of one form or another but already had the GSC and it works fine. It measures to the .XXX" which is fine as that is all that is needed. I've just started to work with this method and there are some considerations to be made as you are measuring the mold cavity vs. the bullet so the measurements should be a constant .XXX" larger to deliver the desired dimensions.

The image I've attached is of my TLC432-300-RF. I've simply taken the mold apart at the hinge bolt that passes through the handles on this two cavity mold and laid it down on my scanner. The GSC software uses 100%, 200%, or 400% resolutions but my scanner is fixed at 100%, 200%, or 600% so I settled on 200%. I think 400% would have been the best choice. Using the software to measure the image as if it were a target has produced some amazing results without casting a bullet. Granted you are looking along the "seam" of the mold, two dimensionally, and the mold is a three dimensional object. It is a start though that I'm sure will pan out. The image shows the horizontal measurement as taken across the aft edge of the bullet nose as being .435" for this .432" bullet. The bullet as cast is .433". The .010" vertical measurement is a result of the image not being level on the scanner. Imaging software can rotate it to level if that is desired.

I've also spent a lot of time measuring bullets the old fashion way. Bullets from any mold tend to be out of round and supposedly that is one of the reasons we use sizers. The problem, being out of round, is more apparent with the aluminum molds because of aluminums response to heat. I've been measuring thousands of bullets cast from my molds across the seam and with the seam of the mold and they are always larger with the seam. I think that the heat transfer that is manifested by expansion tends to be with the seam vs. across it. I have been able to control the out of round simply by casting at a lower temperature. I used to be a fan of casting hot to get the fill-out, especially around the Micro-Bands® used in my molds, but now would rather add tin to help with the fill-out and cast at a minimum temperatures.

I'm very, very careful with changes to any Lee mold. I think the sprue plate hinge set screws are certainly of value (steps #1 and #2 above) as is polishing the edge and underside of the sprue plate itself. I personally use a set of sharpening stones that deliver a knife edge finish to the sprue plate. I've looked at a lot of methods of polishing the top surface of the mold blocks and think I have settled on using "Mother's Aluminum Wheel Polish" as it delivers some amazing results. A very little goes a long way and can produce a mirror finish on the surface. The Bullshop Sprue Plate Lube should be on everyones bench and be used as described in the opening post.

With the aboves items considered, I think the first cast from a mold should be attempted after the simple instructions Lee provides have been followed. I clean the mold with Coleman fuel and smoke it with a lighter stick. I bring it up to temperature and see what happens. 99% of the time, the bullets are going to fall out. If an indivdual bullet is not dropping, I make sure the cavity has a complete carbon coat from the flame. If not, I smoke it again. If so, I use an Exacto Knife or razor blade to carefully follow the cavity outline against the mold half to remove any burr left from the cut. If all the bullets from a mold are sticking, the mold is either too hot or too cold. If it is too hot, the bullets will be frosty and applying the aluminum mold to a damp rag will transfer the heat away as steam pronto. If the bullets are sticking and look ugly, the mold is too cold. The Lee instructions give some simply advice about dipping the mold in the pot and watching alloy run off to indicate when the the mold is hot enough.

As far as lapping goes, I wouldn't do it unless you are trying to increase the diameter of the mold cavities. If the bullets are out of round at the cast. The cavities are going to be increased to the maximum measure of the bullets sitting in the cavity. It's about like firelapping a rifle. You better be sure you are willing to live with the maximum+ diameter of the bore.

I've looked at a lot of Lee molds and examine every one that go out the door. I guess you could say that at any given time I own about 1100 molds. Based on last years performance, I expect to see about 2000 pass before my eyeballs this year. I've gotten very good at correcting the small problems and have only had two bad ones get past me!

[Dale53]

This is an excellent thread with, at least, VERY GOOD, recommendations.

Thanks for sharing...

Dale53

[MtGun44]

Good info. My biggest bugaboo has been the fine burrs left on the edge
of the cavities by the boring process. It took me forever with magnifiers
and an exacto knife to deburr all six cavities.

I recently purchased a small brass wire wheel for my dremel and using a
speed controller, ran the dremel at what sounds like half speed. GENTLY
applying the wheel tangent to the parting line face at the edges of the cavities
seems to whisk away the burrs and not damage the mold. Please don't
do this if you don't have steady hands and good enough vision to be
certain where you are putting the power tool! I would hate to damage
a rare GB 6 holer, but if you are careful, you can save a lot of time and
get those boolits to almost jump out of the mold. Please be careful, but it
worked great for me.

Don't forget the Bull Shop's Bull Plate sprue plate lube! This is fantastic and
should be mandatory for aluminum molds, and is great for iron molds, too.
I have no connection to the Bull Shop except being a very satisfied customer.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, click on The Bull Shop link, then "products".
It's even inexpensive, too.

Bill

[44man]

Ranch Dog--YES you did let one get by! :mrgreen::mrgreen:
I started casting and the handle pins started to fall out [smilie=1:they were not staked in and I struggled for a few seconds to stake them in. :twisted:
Have to be more carefull there. [smilie=s:
Makes a beautiful boolit though and needed nothing else done to it. Hot soapy water and some Bull Plate, first boolits were perfect.

[Ranch Dog]

Ranch Dog--YES you did let one get by! :mrgreen::mrgreen:
I started casting and the handle pins started to fall out [smilie=1:they were not staked in and I struggled for a few seconds to stake them in. :twisted:
Have to be more carefull there. [smilie=s:
Makes a beautiful boolit though and needed nothing else done to it. Hot soapy water and some Bull Plate, first boolits were perfect.

Yeah, some of the fine points will get by me. Sometimes, I'm seeing double by the time I'm done shipping!

I have heated a mold up and the first tap to "help" the bullets out knocks the pin out and the mold half falls into my quenching bucket. All that prep has to start over!:holysheep I do stake mine "mild" incase I want to knock them out later to polish or tap.

I've been watching for a 1894P, I explained to my bride that the "bidness" needs to take a close look at one!

[44man]

I got a letter from Marlin. They said to send the gun in because it is warranted for 5 years. I found the bill of sale with no date on it so I E mailed my friend to check his records. I have had it over 5 years so I am kind of screwed.

[Adam10mm]

Nice write up but jeeze. I smoke it by tossing in a bunch of pine bedding and using that to soot the cavities up. I heat it up on a hot plate. Fill the mold, cut the sprue, apply Bullshop to the top of the blocks, underside of the plate, and in each funnel of the cavity of the plate. Then cast.

I have a Lee 452-230-TC 6 banger I cast with commerically. It has seen over 25K boolits in three months. Still casts excellent boolits. I've done nothing more to it than what I stated above.

[Salmon-boy]

I just got a new TL356-125-2R 6 banger today. Boy it's good to have all this information in one place.

As for lapping the cavities, I find that if I smoke the mould, cast until I get 6 clean, unwrinkled boolits, I can then drill and lap using Cascade liquid dishwashing detergent. This not only polishes the cavities a little, but serves to clean the bejesus out of them. A good rinse and dry then I can cast clean boolits from the get-go.

Carpetman, Hows this sound? My browning HP needs .357 boolits. I took this new mould, measured the cavities at .334 with a set of calipers (or maybe I'm dyslexic today and it's .343, I can only assume that heating the mould to temp brings the cavities to casting size). I proceeded to Beagle the mould with aluminum duct tape, lapped and cast a round of good boolits to measure them at .357 to .355/6 each boolit, slightly out of round. I then cut a paper shim, re-cast and got some perfect .358 / .356 boolits ready for sizing to .357!

Before you get all impressed with me, I have to admit that this is mould #2, so I had a head start!

[Ranch Dog]

I have had it over 5 years so I am kind of screwed.

Yep, sounds like you are doomed... might have to sell it for scrap :twisted:

[Ranch Dog]

Hey 44man, bought me a 1894P! Now I can be cursed too! It will be a week or so before it arrives and then I will start on it to see if the curse holds true!

[miestro_jerry]

I have many molds, but nowhere near what Michael has on hand. If the mold doesn't work right for the rifle or pistol that I bought it for, It goes on the table at the next gun show. As far as lapping, unless you have a fundamental understanding of machining and lapping, you are risking your mold. I would say take an old mold and try lapping it, but I never seem to have a worn out mold on hand, never wore one out. I own a machine shop, so if I need to make a change it is a matter of doing a lot of measuring and then do everything slow and gentle, but I have never need to do that to any mold yet.

Michael produces some great bullet mold designs and must put a ton of research into them.

Jerry