Lyman mold

[Coco89]

I have a single cavity steel Lyman mold one of the alignment pin popped out a little. Not sure if I can use a vise to push it back without any damage. Any suggestions is appreciated.

[Bazoo]

Howdy and welcome to the forum. A vise would work provided, you're careful, the vise is square, the pin isn't super tight. I lay the half over my bench leg so it's solid and use a brass punch and hammer to drive a protruding pin back in.

[poppy42]

A vise would work, Would but be advised if that pin isn’t perfectly perpendicular to the mold and you apply pressure with a vice it would be very easy to distort the pinhole. In my opinion a much better option would be a small brass hammer gently tapping the pin in.

[kevin c]

I wouldn't trust myself (YMMV) to hit the pin with the hammer face parallel enough to the mold face to avoid marring it (my molds are aluminum, maybe not an issue with brass or iron molds?). Ditto with a punch.

For those with softer molds, or lacking brass hammers, would hammering a piece of hardwood on top of the pin work to drive it in?

[Tatume]

Try pushing it in with a piece of wood. Just push, no hammer. If that doesn't work, try a couple of light taps on the wood block with a small hammer.

[longbow]

Kinda depends on how/why it "popped" out.

If it "popped" out while you were using it that implies to me that the pin is very loose. They should be a pretty tight press fit. If it is loose then it should be removed and dimpled with a cold chisel or center punch (or knurled) then re-installed.

Alternately it could be pushed back with the vice or a brass punch and hammer then staked in place but likely easier to remove and dimple then re-install.

If it is protruding a bit much and that's the way you got it then the pin is likely a tight press fit but needs to be set back a bit.

I'd recommend a brass punch and hammer as mentioned above. A couple of moderate taps should do it. A vice should work fine as well but use soft jaws of aluminum or brass to protect both mould blocks and alignment pins as the vice jaws are likely fairly hard and probably knurled so could easily mar mould surfaces.

Longbow

[Coco89]

Thank you all for the advice, it popped out a little while I was casting. I will try with pushing it back with wood then brass hammer and will try the vise if that doesn't work.

[country gent]

A small c clamp might be enough. Ive found when adjusting mould pins the vise is hard to fet it right as they build pressure then the pin "jumps" until more force is built up. The small brass punch and hammer work best got me.

Set it on a solid bench over the leg is very good and with a piece of brass copper or aluminum tap in place working slow and easy

[Coco89]

A small c clamp might be enough. Ive found when adjusting mould pins the vise is hard to fet it right as they build pressure then the pin "jumps" until more force is built up. The small brass punch and hammer work best got me.

Set it on a solid bench over the leg is very good and with a piece of brass copper or aluminum tap in place working slow and easy

Thanks will definitely try the c-clamp before I use the vise. Thank you everyone for the reply.