Soaking mold in Ed's Red

[slide]

I have a mold that was given to me. Not sure what it is. Has anybody ever soaked a mold in Ed's Red to loosen up the crud? Might not be able to salvage this one.

[country gent]

b What is the crud you speak of? if just casting dirt and grime release agents, tinned spots, and such nastiness then a goods solvent cleaning with a soft tooth brush may go along ways to cleaning it up. If its ruet and corrosion then It may take a more concentrated effort. I heard and read evaporust does a good job on corrosion.

What I would recommend at this point starting out is

a good cleaning with solvent (acetone, paint thinner, Lauquer thinner, in a pinch gasoline) and an old tooth brush. Let uit soak for a ittle whileand relly work it over with the toothbrush keeping the surfaces wet while scrubbing. This should loosen and remove a lot of the crud.

Examine the dry blocks with good light and a magnifying glass to see what you have as to pitting and damage. Look at the edges of the cavities close for damage as this is the hardest to fix. Drag the edges and rub the cavities with a clean dry soft q-tip this will show burrs and rough spots ( fibers pulled and stick to them).

Depending on what you find above will determine the path of what to fix it. also make some casts with it to confirm actuall bullet dia it throws. Some times pins can be removed and a couple thousandths removed from the faces ( don't go much more than this at a time) reassembled and then some slugs cast and the cavities lapped to clean up and round them back up. the lapping is last case senerio.
If the mould is in really bad shape then also check the alighnment pins and mating holes for wear and corrosion as damage here will cause alighnment problems. Here worn holes can be bushed and new pins made but that a lot of tedious work.

[Outpost75]

I have used ER to clean up gunky molds, also sprinkling with Bar Keeper's Friend or powdered Bon Ami, used with a soft toothbrush creating a pink paste with the ER to remove surface rust. This does not scratch the iron, but removes loose rust, leaving a nice brown patina on the metal.

[reddog81]

What I would recommend at this point starting out is a good cleaning with solvent (acetone, paint thinner, Lauquer thinner, in a pinch gasoline) and an old tooth brush.

If you combine what you recommended it is basically ed's red without the ATF... This combo of any one of the components is a reasonable start. Without knowing what kind of crud it is the best we can do is guess.

[Grmps]

Slide, you never mentioned if the mold was aluminum, steel or brass.
I'd scrub the mold with the appropriate brush and cleaning agent then soak it in ATF)/Acetone mix

“Machinist Workshop Magazine” did a test on penetrating oils.
the torque required to loosen them.
PB Blaster: 214 lbs;
Liquid Wrench: 127 lbs,
Kano Kroil: 106 lbs
(ATF)/Acetone mix (50/50): 50 lbs."

[gwpercle]

I had several extremely cruddy Lee moulds fouled with smoke , beeswax, spray on graphite mould release. They were nasty. I scrubbed them with a toothbrush and acetone until all the crud was removed. I didn't have Ed's Red at the time , I have it now and it should clean the moulds just as well.
Give the cleaned moulds a final cleaning in acetone to remove any ATF that might be on the mould and you should be good to go.
A coating of the cleaned cavities with Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant before your first casting session will have the boolits jumping right out.
I no longer use smoke , beeswax or spray on mould release. I clean the mould, coat the surfaces with Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant and put away for the next casting session. Next time I just heat it up and start casting .
Gary

[slide]

Sorry about not giving enough info. This is an old steel mold of some kind. The best way to describe the crud is what gwpercle described. It is bad enough I can't see who the maker is. Could only get it to open just a little. It is a two cavity. I went ahead and put it in to soak in Ed's red. It didn't cost anything but I would like to salvage it if possible. Thanks guys!

[barrabruce]

I've used bees wax in the hot mold and kept pouring bullets and re coated it several times before to clean up a rusty looking mould when I first got it.
Bullets weren't any good till I cleaned and burnt out the bees wax but it did take out all the rust and cast good after that.

I put eds red on my still warm moulds before storage and have no issues with rust.
A quick srcub out with metho and a tooth brush before casting and if I am still getting wrinkled bullets I pour metho in the hot cavities and let it evaporate and bubble away for a while.
Seems to clean them out and cast clean bullets after that.

[pworley1]

I have used Ed' Red to clean old molds with very good results. I cover them in a glass jar that has a metal lid (Ed's will melt most plastic) and just leave them for a few days. They usually come out looking good with only a light brushing. Good luck with yours.

[gwpercle]

Sorry about not giving enough info. This is an old steel mold of some kind. The best way to describe the crud is what gwpercle described. It is bad enough I can't see who the maker is. Could only get it to open just a little. It is a two cavity. I went ahead and put it in to soak in Ed's red. It didn't cost anything but I would like to salvage it if possible. Thanks guys!
Sounds like Ed's Red soaking and toothbrush scrubbing would be just the ticket. Don't be afraid to let the moulds soak for several days or even a week, long soaks will not hurt the steel ones .

I found a pair of side cutters buried in the back yard, just a big glob of frozen rust , two months of soaking in Ed's Red , with periodic scrubbings saved them....I still use them.
I bet they will clean up and be useable again.
Gary

[ascast]

I had several extremely cruddy Lee moulds fouled with smoke , beeswax, spray on graphite mould release. They were nasty. I scrubbed them with a toothbrush and acetone until all the crud was removed. I didn't have Ed's Red at the time , I have it now and it should clean the moulds just as well.
Give the cleaned moulds a final cleaning in acetone to remove any ATF that might be on the mould and you should be good to go.
A coating of the cleaned cavities with Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant before your first casting session will have the boolits jumping right out.
I no longer use smoke , beeswax or spray on mould release. I clean the mould, coat the surfaces with Liquid Wrench Dry Lubricant and put away for the next casting session. Next time I just heat it up and start casting .
Gary



is that a graphite solution? I use one myself and find it better all around.

[MT Gianni]

A trick Felix recommended was to go over the entire surface of the mold and exterior with a sharp #2 pencil. He recommended a standard yellow as the wood was likely to be Osage Orange, When you have the entire thing graphited break off the tip and go over it again with thee wood to remove the graphite. It really cleans up a mold without removing much metal.

[BHill]

I have used kroil on a few molds that were in bad shape. A couple turned out very well and a few were clean but still pitted. Ed's red should do a similar job.

[rintinglen]

From the sounds of things, you may benefit from starting with a good soaking in Evaporust, then proceeding to dry it with a hair dryer or heatgun and then giving it a solvent and tooth brush scrubbing. You did not specifically state that there was rust, but if so, Evaporust is your friend.

[Handloader109]

I'll second evaporust if the mold has rust on it. Degrease first, let dry then dunk in new evaporust for as long as you want.
then clean up. I've used on a lot of steel and works great with no damage at all. If greasy, it will turn steel black, and not work well.

[John Boy]

Soak the mold in a 50:50 solution of Mystery Oil or ATF and Acetone

[barrabruce]

I put eds red on my still warm moulds before storage and have no issues with rust.
A quick srcub out with metho and a tooth brush before casting and if I am still getting wrinkled bullets I pour metho in the hot cavities and let it evaporate and bubble away for a while.
Seems to clean them out and cast clean bullets after that.
Just for clarity

Metho is methylated spirits.

Alcohol 95% with some of the other bad alcohol "methanol" ?? mixed in and sometimes a purple dye type stuff that makes you want to puke....apparently.

Works for me.

[kungfustyle]

If its rusted this stuff works like a champ and you can reuse it. I think Harbor Freight may have something similar.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Workshop-Hero-1-Gal-Metal-Rescue-Rust-Remover-Bath-WH290487/203247483
Saved quite a few molds with this.