Anything Simple Left To Try On A Sticky Lee Mold

[ArrowJ]

I am casting what I believe are shootable bullets. It is very rewarding, but I can only imagine it would be better if I was not thumbing every bullet out of the mold.

I cleaned the mold with break cleaner and a tooth brush. I lubed the pins etc., but not too much as to get it in the cavities. I tried smoking the mold. I have used temperatures from 750° - 850°.

One cavity is a little worse than the other, but both are not good. I have read about guys doing other things with buffing compound etc., but I have to say, I am not good at that sort of thing and instead of a sticky mold I will have no mold.

Should I try boiling the mold even though I already cleaned it? Is that a problem since I have already used it (a problem for the mold, obviously I will not use a food pot)?

Maybe I just keep using it and save up for a better mold?

My sprue plate also will not stay tight, and I have neither the tools nor skill to install a set screw so I have to keep tightening that as well.

I will accept direct answers or links to other threads without complaint. I did search, but this forum is huge and the pertinent info is sometimes buried in derailed threads (I know because I have derailed them).

I had to return my brand new Redding Big Boss II for repairs today. I was hoping to get a lot of bullets made in my down time. It would be nice to have them drop free.

[Boolit_Head]

I am a advocate of smoking a mold. A thin layer of carbon from a candle flame will work wonders. I suggest cleaning the mold with a tooth brush and dish detergent then lightly playing the flame of a candle over the mold until you get a light layer of carbon. It should only take a second or so to slightly blacken the chambers of the mold. For me that acts like a seasoning and usually only needs to be done to a new mold.

[ArrowJ]

I did smoke it, but with a match and did not use dish detergent to wash it. I might as well try it.

[DerekP Houston]

If it is a lee 2 hole mold....you can try polishing the cavities with toothpaste and using a q-tip to hunt for burrs. The 2 hole version they make are notoriously finicky. Not much can be hurt by cleaning it again I suppose.

[Hickok]

You might take a small piece of steel wool and place in the screw hole for the sprue plate, and then tighten the screw up. Twirl or spin the steel wool between you fingers to make it like a string, then insert it in the screw hole.

Try using the pressure pour method when filling mold. Hold the dipper/spout down on the sprue hole, letting the weight of the melted alloy put pressure on the cavity, do this for several seconds.


Just me, but I run my melted alloy on the hot side, and get better results.

[Hickok]

Try casting on just one cavity for awhile also. I sometimes get better boolets from the outer cavity. Try it for awhile, and when it starts casting good boolits, then try both cavities.

[s mac]

If it is a lee 2 hole mold....you can try polishing the cavities with toothpaste and using a q-tip to hunt for burrs. The 2 hole version they make are notoriously finicky. Not much can be hurt by cleaning it again I suppose.
Add a little baking soda to the toothpaste for a nice polishing compound.

[tja6435]

Use a bamboo skewer and rub it long ways around the inside of the cavity around the base. It'll smooth it out and let it drop way easier. I have to do this with brass molds with tiny cavities (22 cal especially), had it take care of sticky cavities in aluminum molds as well. It doesn't hurt the mold at all.

[runfiverun]

answer number-8 is the one I would go with.
you have a burr or more than one.
find them and clean them up.
an X-acto knife and a magnifying glass will help as will the every-day Q-tip
just run the Q-tip back and forth and up and down use the magnifying glass to find the evidence left behind and remove it.

[clodhopper]

What tja said.
Probably a tiny wire edge left from machining the cavity. I use a popsicle stick, I really love an orange creamsicle.
Inspect with a magnifying glass, a little metal burr hiding in the corner of the lube grove or gas check groove can hold the casting in very well.
As a last resort, if you can see the burr and wood will not wipe it away. Then with a sharp, pointed exacto knife cut the little bugger off. Just use the point of the knife, a scratch to the block face is not to bad, a scratch to the cavity sucks.

[ArrowJ]

Ok, I used the toothpaste and the bamboo (except I did not have a skewer so I used a paint stirrer...very soft). I scrubbed it with brake cleaner and then lightly smoked it. It seemed to be worse :) I also started seeing a seam on the bullets that was not there before. I guess I am stuck with a sticky mold...heh. Please tell me that seam does not make these unshootable.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160413/9bea3f4572a9bff9fbc44fecf2023366.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160413/4d2291c5daa31bacea35cc009367ec27.jpg

[Mytmousemalibu]

I'll back up what has been said, you probably have a burr hiding in there. If you gently rub a Q-tip across the edges of the cavities, if a burr is present, it will pick up cotton off the Q-tip. As mentioned, you can burnish the buggers away with a piece of wood or bamboo skewer. If that doesn't help, you will probably have to lap the cavities which really isn't hard.

The boolits you have there look just fine, that tiny bit of a mold seam line won't hurt a thing.

[jcren]

That seem won't cause a shooting problem, but it is probably caused by a speck of lead or a burr holding the mold slightly open. A shiny dot on the mold face is lead splatter and can be scraped off with wood when the mold is hot.

[ArrowJ]

I will check for lead on the mold face. Thanks. I did try the q-tip, but nothing showed up. I will probably keep using it as is until I can afford another mold and then try lapping it. I will search for instructions on doing that.

[ArrowJ]

Oh yeah, thanks for letting me know the bullets are ok to shoot...very good to know!

[gwpercle]

Do what Chris said with a dry Q-tip , it will snag on any burr. carefully remove burr.
Make sure block faces are totally clean . any speck of lead or burr will make the seam.
Coat the cavity with Liquid Wrench Dry Lube , buy the bottle and apply a thin coat with your Q-Tip.
The spray is harder to controll. It will not contaminate the cavity, and works better than smoking. Your mould will be broken in and seasoned after two three sessions and do better.
Like how a cast iron skillet needs to be seasoned and broke in.
Keep the top of block and under side of sprue plate clean also, as soon as you spot a smear, stop and clean it off...it will only get worse. Some moulds are just a little balky at first , don't despare !
Gary

[Mytmousemalibu]

Even just doing a light lapping/polish job with something as simple as some very fine compound or maybe even some toothpaste or Comet powder & water set a screw into a bullet and spin it in the cavity to iron out irregularities that might be keeping the boolits tight in the cavities. With very mild abrasive and gentle light lapping, your not going to hurt your mold and bullet dimensions enough to be of concern. If you aren't picking up cotton off the Q-tip, a quicky, light lap/polish job would be my next course of action. Doing a "release agent" as Mr Percle alluded to is worth a look too. That RN bullet is a pretty smooth & simple design, you should be able to achieve good drop out with a little mold tuning without doping the mold with a release agent IMO. If you had a bullet with lots of grease grooves, deep grooves, and sharp edges, those are more likely to be finicky but that RN should be an easy one. Personally I think that aluminum molds, especially the 2-cav LEE's are susceptible to slight warpage when they are hot and that could be causing hang ups. These molds are relatively small and have press fit parts in them, handle pins, alignment pins, and these can have an influence on what a structure does as it is heated up. Lapping the mold hot should address this better but I have not had to go to that level yet.

[MT Chambers]

Unless the mold was milled "off centre", then you're hooped.

[gwpercle]

Hickok's tip about using a few strands of steel wool in the hole works like a charm. I had one that wouldn't stay tight for three casts, a few strands twisted together and put in the hole, and it hasn't loosened up since, don't know why but it does work ! Easy to do too. I used a few strands of 0000 .
Gary

[country gent]

Check for burrs on edges of cavities with a dry q-tip. also along the grease grooves inside the cavities. With a good clear magnifier look into cavities for rough spots in the finish and alsoat the edges of the lube grooves side surfaces. Deep straight groove sides can make for sticky bullets. on the grooves look for lines or an angled surface that can make a mechanical lock for the bullet. Back edge is slightly higher than front edge. A light lapping polishing may be needed if its a finish problem. I have done this with a bullet coated with flitz simichrome red rouge toothpaste comet ( I find this can be a little coarse but it breaks down quick). A friend swore by Mothers wadding cloth wraped around a dowel tight and spun a few times b hand to make a mold more slippery. Try cleaning it again with a tooth brush and dish soap water relly work up a good lather a couple times then rinse with hot water. smoke with a match or butane lighter ( grill lighters work realy good for this) and try again. Also keep in mind some new moulds may take 3-4 casting sessions to break in and start dropping good.

[MT Gianni]

Felix told me to use a pencil 15 years ago. A plain yellow pencil was generally osage orange wood. Cover the entire mold top, sprue plate bottom and cavities with the graphite. Break the tip off and rub all the graphite off with the pencils wooden tip.
Make sure that you set the mold on a flat surface such as a 2x4 to close it. The seam could be misalignment issues.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I drilled out couple bullets and ran a self tapping screw into the base then using commet as a lapping compound I tuned the bullets slowly with a drill inside the mould cavities. Bullets fall rite out. Gunna do it to my NOE mould too cuz I have to bash on it with a chunk of wood to get the bullets out can't pop them out with my thumb at all.

[GhostHawk]

I used to have problems like that. Then I read her about using Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant.

A little on a q-tip, I start with the cavity's, work them over all over, watch for burr's. Then the faces and alignment pins, last the top and sprue plate, holes, etc.

Set your mold to warm up, by the time it is getting even close to warm all liquid will be evaporated.
Boolits fall out with hardly a tap. If they do start sticking general it seems that the mold is a bit warm. Letting it sit for a minute works, as does a damp towel.

With no problems dumping boolits you can get moving pretty quick.

I know I am not the only one using it. I bought one 4 oz bottle of the liquid, looks like my grandkids will have enough for a decade or 2 after I am gone.

[ArrowJ]

I am definitely going to give the dry lubricant a try. Do you apply that each time before casting?

[GhostHawk]

I have applied it once to all my molds. So far only 2 molds out of the 15 have been used enough so that it needed to be redone. Once I had tried it on my 2 worst molds I made the commitment, washed and dried them all then went through them one at a time.

With a clean mold only takes 5 minutes or so, so you could redo regularly if you cast a lot.
I tend to do more small sessions, 50-100 a day. I know the one mold I redid I figured was close to a thousand cast out of it. Which is a lot for me.

So far I have yet to have to redo a 6 cavity. I have more boolits out of them but with more cavity's to spread it over they have not shown issues, yet.

Check it out, see what works for you.

For me a 7$ 4 oz bottle that will fix most of my mold problems, speeds up casting, and works better than smoking was a no brainer. Your mileage may vary. Cheaper than a new mold though.

[ArrowJ]

I am hoping to try this within the next few days. I will hold my tongue in the right position when I apply it to increase the chances of success.

[gwpercle]

I used to have problems like that. Then I read her about using Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant.

A little on a q-tip, I start with the cavity's, work them over all over, watch for burr's. Then the faces and alignment pins, last the top and sprue plate, holes, etc.

Set your mold to warm up, by the time it is getting even close to warm all liquid will be evaporated.
Boolits fall out with hardly a tap. If they do start sticking general it seems that the mold is a bit warm. Letting it sit for a minute works, as does a damp towel.

With no problems dumping boolits you can get moving pretty quick.

I know I am not the only one using it. I bought one 4 oz bottle of the liquid, looks like my grandkids will have enough for a decade or 2 after I am gone.

My results exactly , picked up a 4 oz. bottle at Pep Boys auto supply , and treat all my moulds just as you do. top of blocks and both side of sprue plates and cavities....works like a charm !
The liquid in a bottle and Q-Tip application works better than the spray can.
Gary

[ArrowJ]

My results exactly , picked up a 4 oz. bottle at Pep Boys auto supply , and treat all my moulds just as you do. top of blocks and both side of sprue plates and cavities....works like a charm !
The liquid in a bottle and Q-Tip application works better than the spray can.
Gary

Good to know as I bought the spray...all they had.

[MtGun44]

If you can't find burrs, try a quick lapping. IME smoke is useless, but makes you think
your are "doing something".

Drill a hole in the base of a bullet, screw in a small sheet metal screw. Coat the bullet
with FINE lapping compound and spin it in the cavity for 10 sec with a drill on low
speed. Repeat with fresh compound in each cavity.

[Traffer]

I am not sure that you are smoking the mold correctly. Smoking the mold should be all you need. Here are the steps that I use.
Clean it reasonably. I just wipe it good with a cotton cloth, unless it has stuff that wont come off. Then use whatever will take it off. Obviously DO NOT USE anything that will hurt the aluminum. Like Oven Cleaner or Tire cleaner or toilet bowl cleaner. 2)When it is dry use a BUTANE LIGHTER. The ones with the long tip work the best but any Butane lighter will work. Hold the flame right on the mold cavity. You will see it smoke like crazy, you want this. More smoke= more carbon for lubrication. Get the cavities good and black with soot build up. Leave the soot on there! It is your friend. Lead will not stick to it. When the soot starts coming off, if they start to stick again, get out the butane lighter out and smoke it some more. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET IT GOOD AND BLACK AND LEAVE THE SOOT IN THE CAVITIES. As far as your sprue plate getting loose, the screw that holds it on "and tensions it a bit" on mine is LEFT HAND THREAD. That means that left tightens it and right loosens it. Don't tighten it with all of your strength. The aluminum can strip and then you have a bigger problem. Hope it goes well for you. Let us know if you get it working.

[SSGOldfart]

I am casting what I believe are shootable bullets. It is very rewarding, but I can only imagine it would be better if I was not thumbing every bullet out of the mold.

I cleaned the mold with break cleaner and a tooth brush. I lubed the pins etc., but not too much as to get it in the cavities. I tried smoking the mold. I have used temperatures from 750° - 850°.

One cavity is a little worse than the other, but both are not good. I have read about guys doing other things with buffing compound etc., but I have to say, I am not good at that sort of thing and instead of a sticky mold I will have no mold.

Should I try boiling the mold even though I already cleaned it? Is that a problem since I have already used it (a problem for the mold, obviously I will not use a food pot)?

Maybe I just keep using it and save up for a better mold?

My sprue plate also will not stay tight, and I have neither the tools nor skill to install a set screw so I have to keep tightening that as well.

I will accept direct answers or links to other threads without complaint. I did search, but this forum is huge and the pertinent info is sometimes buried in derailed threads (I know because I have derailed them).

I had to return my brand new Redding Big Boss II for repairs today. I was hoping to get a lot of bullets made in my down time. It would be nice to have them drop free.
Hmmmm we have all been there at some time or another,what lube are you using? This could be caused by a pen not fitting correctly,which keeps you mold from closing correctly.I have one that does the same thing from time to time?? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[sundog]

^^^ What MT Chamber said. From the first pic in #11, the part line does not look as good as it should.

[ArrowJ]

I found the lead on the face of the mould. I am unconvinced I got it all off although it looks gone...even at casting temp it did not want to budge.

The Liquid Wrench Dry Lube did not work. The steel wool worked for the sprue plate...at first. The bullets started sticking worse than before. I can try lapping it with a bullet as described here, but I am not going to do that until I am ready to buy another mold as I will undoubtedly make matters worse. My game plan at present is to continue pushing them out with my thumb and see if I can get them to shoot with plans to buy a different mould later.

I may or may not buy the same style bullet, but will probably by a two or six cavity Lee and try to find someone I can ship it to to work it over before I even use.

I also tried smoking the mold again as suggested above, and while the bullets did not drop, they were looser...for two or three fills. Yeah, I am pretty much done messing with it.

I would say overall it throws worse bullets than when I got it after my cleaning and boiling and using a wooden stick etc. I was tapping the bolt on the handles when I first got it with a small hickory hammer handle, but quit when I realized it was not doing anything. I never hit the mold, and I use my gloved hand to open the sprue. Maybe I hit it too hard and messed it up. I do not know.

Oh well, if I can get them to shoot I will continue as I am, if not I will try a new mould. I appreciate all the suggestions. I would have liked to have had a great mould first time out, but in the end I am melting lead into bullet shapes and that is certainly increasing the quality of my life :)

[PBaholic]

What lead are you pouring into it?

Your bullets look real shiny, like the lead is too soft. Pure lead is soft, and very sticky.

Mix it with 95% solder to get the tin content up, and it won't be so sticky.

[PBaholic]

Also, I started putting Alox lube on the top of the mold between the aluminum mold, and Sprue plate.

I made sure NOT to get it into the molds itself, just on top. My molds have been so free, that a few times the sprue cuts have fallen off, and the boolits have fallen out of the mold, without striking them.

[ArrowJ]

As an example I use 5 lbs lead (plumbers lead and roofing lead I was told to treat as pure...very soft) smelted into ingots. Foundry type .5 lbs and tin .05 lbs. when I put all this into the alloy calculator I get an aprox BHN of 11.4 with 2.07% tin, 2.34% antimony and 95.6% lead.

[Mk42gunner]

Okay, it is a Lee two cavity mold. You will never find a cheaper mold finishing lesson. If you do screw it up irrevocably, you're out twenty bucks.

This sounds like a new(ish) mold. Does it have the alignment pins like the six cavities, or is it the older style with V-grooves?

Does the mold open freely when empty, or do the pins stick in the holes? I have a six cavity that the alignment pins were installed too deep on, what a PITA to figure out what was wrong.

Sounds like you have tried most of the other suggestions, so here is mine: Take a wooden pencil and rub the eraser around the cavities. I usually do it across the cavity, inline with whatever grooves there are. Also run it around the edges or the cavity for those undetectable burrs.

A pencil eraser is a pretty fine abrasive, I haven't harmed a mold with one yet.

Robert

[ArrowJ]

Follow up. After trying and trying I finally sent an email to Lee. After sending the mould back they sent me a new one. It works great with a couple taps on the handle bolt. Thank you for all the suggestions, and thanks to Lee for making it right. I dropped around 600 bullets from it the morning. Good Father's Day morning.

[gwpercle]

I am definitely going to give the dry lubricant a try. Do you apply that each time before casting?
After casting , I clean the residue from the mould , inside and out , then give the sprue plate, both sides , block top and cavities a coat with Qtip and put it away for next session. Usually that's all that's needed. The cavities will season and not need it but I like a coat on bloock top and sprue plate. Retards lead sticking.
Gary