Warped mold?

[Burnt Fingers]

I picked up a second hand NOE 310-198 SP four cavity mold. I fear one or both of the blocks are warped. If I hold the blocks up to the light I can see light. I can close up one end or the other of the blocks.

Is there any hope for this mold?

I'm getting whiskers and very light flashing on the boolits.

[Beagle333]

I suppose you've checked well, but there is no buildup of lead or tin at all between the cavities?

[Winger Ed.]

I've got a mold I can see light through.

Backing off the heat some, and using a higher amount of Lead in the alloy, it eliminates the whiskers and works OK.

That worked for me without having to get violent with it.

[Burnt Fingers]

There's no build up of lead. I need to locate my steel ruler and check for flatness.

[super6]

send to noe. otherwise surface grind and get a cherry.

[Burnt Fingers]

I went out and ran my steel straight edge over the mold yesterday. The mold halves are flat. The straight edge doesn't rock and there is no bow.

However when the halves are placed together you can rock them and open up one end or the other.

[StratsMan]

Debris in the pin holes??

[poppy42]

Not familiar with NOE molds but I would check the alignment pins, remove them and check and make sure There are no raised areas around the alignment pin holes. I’ve had that issue with several secondhand Lyman and rcbs molds. It doesn’t take much to stop a mold from closing completely. It’s a simple fix to carefully stone any edges you might find. go low and slow! The first step would be to see if the molds close without the pins in as it could be the pins themselves. In either case it’s a relatively simple and easy fix

[Conditor22]

You could put the mold in a vise, line the jaws up with the pins and snug it down DON'T GET CRAZY, IT'S ALUMINUM. Often the pin (s) will move and all will be fine.

[country gent]

Before getting to drastic modifying the blocks check the handles and bolts to moulds to make sure there isnt a bind there. You might just need to open the holes in the handles a few thousandths to allow them to "float" a little more. Then look at the pins and their mating holes. Look for fine burrs raised areas and depth.
If this is a used mould as implied look at the faces for "bright spots" these indicate high spots or areas bearing harder.

[georgerkahn]

I concur with above posts, and add something which worked for me on what appeared to be a warped mould I had. Kind of hard to find nowadays, but I cut a few squares of plain-Jane carbon paper, putting two pieces -- carbon out -- between the mould halves, and while using ONLY the handles to apply pressure, pulled the carbon paper out. In my case, it turned out that there was a smidgeon of ???? around one of the pins-- clear to see from the absence of carbon -- and after removing the pin, cleaning, and reinsertion -- the "warp" disappeared. (My mould was a Mountain, brass)
Good luck!
geo

[Burnt Fingers]

When the blocks are cold they are square.

When hot the right block is warped.

I've contacted Al and it's going back today.

[cupajoe]

Al will no doubt make it right.

[dkf]

I let the bullet tell me if there is a problem or not. If the bullet that comes out is not excessively out of round, has high spots, etc then tiny amount of rock doesn't bother me.

[Dragonheart]

I think you did the right thing in sending it back. I would try to figure out how it happened, maybe Al will give you an answer.

[Burnt Fingers]

I let the bullet tell me if there is a problem or not. If the bullet that comes out is not excessively out of round, has high spots, etc then tiny amount of rock doesn't bother me.

The rock wouldn't bother me either, it's the fins on the boolit noses that bother me.