452389 In Distress

[Good Cheer]

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/452389%20view%202_zpsbulhoayg.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/452389%20view%202_zpsbulhoayg.jpg.html)

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/452389%20view%201_zpsl6gjatkj.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/452389%20view%201_zpsl6gjatkj.jpg.html)

Yep. Bought over the interseine from someone without scruples.
Have any suggestions on how to save or recycle it?

[rintinglen]

Remove the pin and the Sprue plate screw. Clamp the mold halves together. Lay a piece of 220 sandpaper on a FLAT piece of glass on a smooth table. Press damaged surface firmly down on the sandpaper and start making a series of figure eights,keeping the mold flush and flat against the sandpaper. The damage to the mold face is more problematic. It may be possible to File the damaged area, or have a machinist re-cut the damaged groove. If you don't have a friendly machinist at your beck and call, you may just be out of luck...

It is too small to serve as a boat anchor, and the fact that it is already a 45 caliber means that there is not much room to go larger were you to try to recut the mold bigger to a larger size. You could tape it together, drop it in an old sock and make a prison sap out of it.

[Mk42gunner]

Well that certainly reeks. I think if it was mine, I would try to lightly peen the face back flat before lapping the top flat again, as rintinglen suggests.

Good luck pulling the stop pin, there isn't much there to get a hold of to pull it.

Robert

[Reg]

Crimped over the way it is----. You can lap or flat file the proud material back to flat but you still have the problem of the material that has been pushed aside and is now a void.
Would take a bit of work but one could locate and drill through to make a push out hole for the stop pin, then set in a mill and carefully reduce the top material down until the second groove would become the new flat bottom of the bullet. Make it into kind of a collar button mold. The weight would be reduced of course.
I have tried to pick up such molds to use as blanks to recut to larger calibers but starting with such a big dia. doesn't leave many options.

[Reg]

Other thoughts.

Have taken several unwanted or damaged molds of the bigger variety like this one, turned them over and recut them into a totally different mold. Some in 30 caliber, some 22 and a 25.
You have to remount the pivot and stop pin. First one I saw at a gunshow many years ago, I thought the guy was nuts but do it now myself on occasion.

Takes exacting machine work but you could also mill off that damaged area to get to properly fitting metal, measure what you have and where it is then either by making a cherry or lathe boring, make up a whole new design. Gotta hold your chew right in the center of your mouth when doing this trick !!! Think I would take it out to .457 or so just to make sure things would clean up all around. Some of the older Lyman and Ideal molds were not held to perfect dimensions such as parallel or vertical and showed runout to a small degree.

At any rate, do not junk out or throw the mold away, there is still life in at least the blocks.

[Dragonheart]

This is a job requiring a mill or a surface grinder, not a job for hand tools and sandpaper, assuming you can get the pin out. If you have to take it to a machine shop it would be cheaper to toss it. If you have a friend with a mill then it wouldn't take long to resurface it.

[country gent]

There are ways of pulling the pin drill a slightly smaller hole ( .005-.008 smaller) drill and tap one bar and clearence holes other better is one each in each bar as this pulls easier 2 allen cap head screws and tighten tight with a little rosin or locktite on the pin. Clamp end of bar in vise and lightly tap block with a brass hammer or plastic faced hammer. With practice a round faced punch and small hammer can peen out and "flow" the material back into place close enough very little clean up is needed. This takes time and small light hits working the material back into place. Die makers, jewelers, and some other trades do it as its easier than filling in or cutting down to right. It takes a steady hand and slow methodical work. I have done a couple mould for people on here ( old moulds no longer available) On a available lyman mould time would be better spent on other things as a new one can be purchased. Light small dings can be 45 mins to an hours work with punch and hammer looking thru a magnifying lense. I didnt get the pics so cant tell how bad it actually is.

[fryboy]

i like the peening idea but would also consider getting rid of the bevel base , that alone would clean up some of the damage , as is it surely looks like it'd stick in that half of the cavity , i'm afraid to ask but am guessing the other side isnt quite so bad ?

[sojerguy]

What a *** the seller was. Not here we hope.

[w5pv]

Hope there is room enough for a short prayer for this person.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I'd go with laying it on a hard surface like a steel bench plate, clamping it down, and using a punch with a nice flat end and peening the displaced metal back to as close to where it belongs as I could get it, then kiss it with a fine mill file if/as needed. Then, for the inside of the cavity, I'd use a Dremel tool with appropriate grinding and polishing attachments to even up the inside of the cavity. You might end up with a little leakage under the sprue plate, and the only way I can think of to resolve that problem would be to take a few thousandths off the entire top surface with a mill, but it might not be a problem.

[rintinglen]

Those pins generally will come out quite easily if you heat the mold first.--I had one fall out last Friday while casting 454-424's. Set the mold on your hot plate, or on the edge of your lead pot, with the Sprue plate up. Once the Mold is up to temp, the pin will come out when grasped by padded pliers. At least. that has been my experience.

[EMC45]

I have had dinged and loose Lyman molds that I could see daylight through or had visible damage. My remedy to it was to stone the mold faces being careful to not round anything off. Keep everything FLAT - stone, mold half, etc. A few took some gentle tapping on the alignment pins that had apparently worked loose. After the "adjustments" were made the molds closed up nice and tight and all the burrs and dings were invisible after the next heat cycle "erased" any bright spots left by the stoning.

[Good Cheer]

i like the peening idea but would also consider getting rid of the bevel base , that alone would clean up some of the damage , as is it surely looks like it'd stick in that half of the cavity , i'm afraid to ask but am guessing the other side isnt quite so bad ?

Correct sir, other side looks OK.
Even trying to turn it into a smooth sided paper patch mold for the .52 bore... me thinks buying new would be cheaper.

[w30wcf]

One thing you could try is to have a machinist take 1/2" bar stock and turn the first 1/8" or so to the driving band diameter.
That could be pushed into the damaged side from the side using a vise. That will help to push the damaged portion somewhat back into place.

It would be a good idea to heat the damaged mold portion up a bit prior to doing so. Afterwards, the top would likely need to be dressed
down slightly to eliminate the lower damaged portion remaining.

I did that awhile back with a .30 Caliber mold that had similar but not as much displaced damage and it worked pretty well.

w30wcf

[MT Gianni]

To peen it practice with a soft metal and a light hammer. Spend 30-60 minutes minimum. One thing to try is lay a piece of hardened steel flat across the face and hit it after your practice time. Do not use a heavy hammer, 4-6 oz will be plenty.

[Dragonheart]

At some point you have to ask yourself is it worth the time and expense. Especially, since it is just a single cavity mold and when you can buy a beautiful lifetime brass mold from NOE that will have no issues for less than the first hour a machinist would charge.

[Leadmelter]

Call Eric at hollowpoint. He can save you
Leadmelter
MI

[Hueyville]

Send to me and would put on Bridgeport surfacing machine and take minimum off top to square up. Probably lose 5 to 10 grains of final bullet weight but a good square base would be more accurate. Other option of sanding by hand may work to remove a little. If using a sizing die rather than tumble lube might fix base as size them. Would have to try. But willing to put on Bridgeport if send with all topside hardware removed.