Mould Rust

[boogerloo]

I did a BAD thing. I bid on and purchased a mold (Lyman 31141) on sleeze bay. A 4 cavity mould. When it arrived, it doesn't look near as good as it is pictured. He had to do a lot of heavy buffing on the outside to remove rust and the inside (in the moulds itself) shows some what looks like mostly surface rust. Is there a way to remove the rust without harming the mould inside?
Kevin

[Maven]

If the rust is merely on the surface, the easy thing to use is bronze wool on a worn or slightly undersized bore brush that you chuck in a var. speed elec. drill and rotate in each cavity, replacing the "wool" as needed. Since bronze wool isn't so common, you can substitute 0000 steel wool. However, I generally use new, dry and slightly OVERsized bore brushes, e.g., 8mm, chuck them in a var. speed elec. drill and rotate them in each cavity.* Degrease the mold with your favorite solvent (paint thinner/mineral spirits works well) and begin casting. (You won't get perfect CBs.) Once the mold is hot, smoke (i.e., deposit a layer of carbon) each cavity with a butane lighter or a wooden match and begin casting.


*If there's still rust, cast and segregate some bullets by cavity. When they and the mold are cool enough to touch, coat each [segregated] CB with fine lapping compound or something like Comet cleanser in ATF or use Pearl Drops toothpaste. Drill & tap each CB, insert into the aprropriate cavity, and rotate the tap or bolt via an elec. drill: Hold the mold/handles in one hand and the drill in the other and let the mold move about some (prevents oval cavities). Btw, an appropriate sized drywall screw minus the head works about as well as drilling & tapping. Degrease or wash the lapping compound away and make sure the mold is 100% dry before casting with it.

[GabbyM]

I've a 6 cavity 38 cal wad cutter mold waiting for the same lap treatment. Just haven't got around to it. It's an H&G I gave $145 for on evil bay. :(

[trooperdan]

The safest and the most effective is electrolytic. Here is a link below:

http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html

[HeavyMetal]

A no. 2 pencil eraser works well for light rust, add a little comet as needed dry.

If this won't get rid of the rust I think I'd call the guy that sold the mold.

I will also check out Trooperdan's site later today, might be darn interresting!

[sturf]

If you take a 7/16 nut and place it over the hole (with the sprue plate off) and pour lead into the cavity and let it come up through the nut; when it cools, you can turn it with a wrench. a lot easier and less likely to damage mould.

[jameslovesjammie]

Heavymetal's suggestion of using a pencil eraser works EXTREMELY well! I have a Saeco mould that got wet when we moved and had some surface rust in the cavities. The eraser was suggested on here and I tried it. I was skeptical that it would work, but hot-dang! It's like a new mould! Casts wonderfully! Saved me $125 to replace it with another 4 cavity.

[imashooter2]

The safest and the most effective is electrolytic. Here is a link below:

http://www3.telus.net/public/aschoepp/electrolyticrust.html

I agree. Don't be scared by the description, the set up doesn't need to be very elaborate. Here's a quick and dirty rig that's worked for me on a few projects:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-out.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/ERR-in.jpg

[Murphy]

boogerloo,

How about posting the sellers name? It may prevent someone here from suffering the same fate as you've ran into.

Thanks,

Murphy

[dominicfortune00]

You could try soaking the mould in Ballistol.

It will dissolve the rust but leave the metal alone.

Great stuff.

Good Luck,

dominicfortune00

[longbow]

Another option that won't hurt the mould is to use naval jelly or phosphoric acid in some other form. It will dissolve the rust but not touch the iron. It should be available at hardware stores or automotive supply stores.

Just wipe it on, let it sit, then wipe off the goo. The phosphoric acid dissolves the iron oxide into a mush. It will probably also take off the heat bluing too as it is an oxide. Probably best to wash the mould in hot water after, then dry and oil it.

If it isn't really badly pitted you might as well give it a go and see how the boolits come out. If it is a little undersize, as many are, a little light lapping will open it up by a thou or two and clean out minor imperfections as well.

Longbow

[mooman76]

If the rust is real light you can take the lead end of a pencil, I think a carpenters pencil works real well for this. Anyway sharpen the pencil and draw over the entire surface and then remove it when done. I learned this from someone here.

[walltube]

http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/kk401/AuntJanie/MyStuff008.jpg

Best stuff yet I've found to remove rust from moulds. Use with a denture brush to scrub the cavities and I think your grief will turn to sunshine..:)

Somewhere in the archives I have a post with images displaying some before and after results. EVAPORUST is available at Auto-Zone. Keep us posted.

Good luck to you,

Harold der Walltube

[boogerloo]

Thanks for all the good info. I bet I can find something that will work.
Look at item # 260268159023 and tell me if I'm wrong to expect a good mould. I really wanted to get in on group buy 311440 but thought I could get this mould faster!
Thanks for everything.
kevin

[jameslovesjammie]

Do you have a digital camera? If you could take a better pic of what the cavity looks like maybe we could help out. From the pic on Ebay, I would say to try the eraser trick. That is about what my Saeco looked like before I started on it. A better pic may tell us if it is too far gone.

[imashooter2]

Thanks for all the good info. I bet I can find something that will work.
Look at item # 260268159023 and tell me if I'm wrong to expect a good mould. I really wanted to get in on group buy 311440 but thought I could get this mould faster!
Thanks for everything.
kevin

He never said anything at all about condition. He said he was selling for a friend. He stated that he was "not very knowledgeable" about bullet molds. He posted a single picture taken from across the room.

All the warning signs were there and you ignored them. Sorry boogerloo...

[boogerloo]

I agree I should have known better! But somebody went to a lot of trouble buffing a lot of HEAVY rust on the outside of the mold not to say something about it. I will know better next time!
Marc- I hope your mold is in better shape than mine!
kevin

[GabbyM]

That's what the feedback is for.
He's comming up on one thousnad responses but he's just selling the mold for a buddy, right.

I'd give that mold a quick work out to see if you can get good bullets. If not I'd contact the seller about a return.

As I said in post #3. I got one too. Mold does make nice uniform, across all six cavitys, bullets. Just little blems in them all. I'll point out that anyone not using the macro setting on their camera to show you a photo is hiding something.

[boogerloo]

I think I will try the electrolytic when I get time and see how it looks. I'm not set up yet to cast with it. I don't have a set of handles yet.
Thanks again for all the info. I didn't know where to start, I'm afraid to do too much scrubbing-cleaning on the insides.
Kevin

[mold maker]

That is whats known as creative photography. The shadows hide what they don't want you to see. I'd discuss the problem with the seller. He has several more molds on fleabay right now. They may all be the same way. Thanks for the heads up.
Every time I have had a problem, the seller was selling, for some one else, and knows nothing about the item???????As if ignorance is an excuse for not describing accurately, the condition of the item you offer.
As always, ask pointed questions and buyer be wary.

[cuzinbruce]

It is a lousy picture, made worse by eBay's lousy picture hosting. You only get a tiny thumbnail from them, unless you pay extra for jumbo pictures. When I sell on there, I use my ISP for the picture host and I can put up much bigger photos.
With your mould, I would try the bronze wool. If you have it, I would also put some Flitz metal polish on it. Flitz can take rust off and leave the bluing. Ace hardware has, or can get the bronze wool. Flitz, try Brownells or (I think) Midway. Sometimes knife dealers, gun shows.

[boogerloo]

Can I use Chore Boy copper scrubbers?
Kevin

[Dye]

I did a BAD thing. I bid on and purchased a mold (Lyman 31141) on sleeze bay. A 4 cavity mould. When it arrived, it doesn't look near as good as it is pictured. He had to do a lot of heavy buffing on the outside to remove rust and the inside (in the moulds itself) shows some what looks like mostly surface rust. Is there a way to remove the rust without harming the mould inside?
Kevin

Kevin
Take a mix of molasses and distilled water (5 parts water to 1part mollasses) and soak it for a couple weeks in the solution. Wash it in hot soapy water and check it a magnifying glass. IF it is to rough blast it with baking soda,cast some bullets to check it before you try to lap it. I have made some sorry moulds cast good bullets this way

BE carefull Dye

[imashooter2]

Can I use Chore Boy copper scrubbers?
Kevin

I wouldn't. They're too heavy to get down into the cavities without a lot of force. The edges of the cavities will round over VERY easily.