Advice needed on Arsenal mold issue.

[DaveN]

I bought two Arsenal aluminum 5 cavity molds a while ago. I finally got one of them out and fired up the pot.
I am not happy.......at all. I had a horrible time getting the mold to open reliably, as in most of the time it wouldn’t open. I realized the alignment pins are not cone shaped, but slightly beveled cylinders, which means the halves won’t pivot open, they have to come straight apart.
I did lube the pins, and tried both my Lee and M&P handles, but it was absolutely the most frustrating casting session in a long time.

Am I missing something? Is there a technique issue? I did try keeping the block halves parallel, with little success.

Any advice?

[slide]

Any trouble cutting the sprue? Most mold makers recommend tapping the mold apart. I tap lightly on the bolt head holding the handles together.

[DaveN]

The sprue cuts easily. I did try tapping the bolt lightly.
The halves had to come apart almost perfectly parallel or they stuck fast.

[slide]

I would contact Arsenal. There are going to be guys along that will tell you to do this and do that. I wouldn't mess with it. Send it back or get some advice from the maker. Try the other one and see how it does.

[Targa]

This seems to be an Arsenal issue in my experience anyway with both the brass and aluminum four cavity that I have. I learned from a member here to cut the sprue, invert the mold and tap the bottom of the nut vs. the top while applying a little bit of outward pressure on the mold handles. This opens the mold up very smoothly, I know this sounds kind of like a pain in the rear and although it shouldn’t be this way it really isn’t that much of a hassle.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I do the cut invert tap while applying pressure , I would like to see pins that look more like Mihecs bullet shaped ones , I emailed about my Arsenal mold that had this issue but never received a reply , I still order his molds when it is something I have a need for , but expect to develop your own rhythm and style with that mold .


I also have a mold from Mihec that over time the far end alignment pin and hole were sticky I lubed I cleaned I polished and it would still catch so then I went and got my lapping compound and lapped it a little for whatever burr or deposit had formed that I could not see and back in business , it had never shown an issue before and it is back to working smooth now .

Sometimes some molds just need a little different method and they seem to have there own personalities and quirks , When they are running smooth and the bullets are dropping and the melt is flowing and all the stars have aligned it is time to keep casting as long as it does and when you hit a day where things do not seem to work , take a break walk away go trim cases or one of the other things needs done as getting frustrated is not worth it .

[DaveN]

I’ll try the inverted tap next time I fire up the pot. And have another mold lined up just in case the IT method doesn’t work out.

I’ve been using the lube from one of my M&P sets. It looks like 2-cycle oil. Is there a lube that works well on your alignment pins? Will anti-seize compound work at 700+?

[Taterhead]

One thing to study is if the blocks have plenty of play on the handles. There should be some jiggle when the blocks are closed (don't squeeze the handles when assessing). I wouldn't think that straight pins would matter. That is how LBT are designed. They have no issues opening.

I do have one Accurate mold that doesn't open well, but that is the mold hanging onto the bullet, not the alignment pins.

[bosterr]

I have a 5 cavity Accurate aluminum mold that I have to push against one end of the mold with my hammer handle as I open it. It keeps the two halves parallel as I open the mold. For the guys who use a gloved hand to open the sprue they could use their gloved hand to hold the mold together as they open the mold.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have two different Arsenal 5 cavity molds. Both open and close just fine with my technique (cut, invert, tap)...same with NOE molds as they have very similar alignment pins. I have over a dozen NOE molds and I did have one NOE mold that opened and closed with considerable difficulty...after a talk with the Owner of NOE (Al), I took his recommendation of looking for a burr in the alignment pin receptacle, I found a burr and swiped it with a case deburring tool and that solved the problem of the cavities sticking together.
With that said, I don't know if Arsenal and NOE have similar or different machining processes to have the occasional condition I mention, but it's worth a looksie,

[Targa]

I do have to wonder why Arsenal and Noe haven't changed over to tapered pins. You wont find these issues with MP, Lee, Accurate etc etc

[Burnt Fingers]

I've never had a problem opening my Arsenal molds. I've got half a dozen of them. Never had a problem with my NOE molds either.

[slide]

Hey DaveN, I measured the barrel pins on my two molds and they stick out about 0.12. You might check yours and see what you get.

[Huskerguy]

I had a problem with my Arsenal mold as well. I was using in its second session and it started closing harder. I noticed one of the alignment pins had walked out ànd was hanging up. Took me forever to get someone to get back to me after emails and phone calls. Finally someone called me and I sent it back on my own dime. They fixed the pin and I haven't had further problems. It is not a good design though, in spite of all that. I am not home right now but I didn't think my NOE molds had the same pin system.

[Targa]

I sent one of my molds back to Arsenal as well to fix the issue, didn't work. The inverted tap with slight outward pressure on the handles did the trick for me so I just let it go. I will say that even during these goofy times, Arsenal (I believe it was Jared who I was dealing with) has been excellent just understandably delayed a bit in customer service.

[DaveN]

The alignment pins stick out 0.133 a d 0.132

[DaveN]

An Update: I fired up the pot Sunday, and got out the mold in question. The invert and tap method works well. If I lightly rested the opened sprue plate on something while opening the mold, it worked even better.

Thanks for the tip.

[Targa]

Glad it worked out for you

[megasupermagnum]

I do have to wonder why Arsenal and Noe haven't changed over to tapered pins. You wont find these issues with MP, Lee, Accurate etc etc

Tapered pins have to be set at precisely the correct depth. No you don't hear of sticking problems with tapered pins, but instead you hear about either misalignment (pins too deep), or molds not closing all the way (pins too tall). You don't have that problem with straight sided pins, and generally they open just fine. I've not had any issues with mine. If I were to build a mold, I would probably opt for the same pins Arsenal does. You rarely hear of any issues with Accurate's tapered pins, because Tom is so good at what he does. Problems with Lee pins are not uncommon. You hear about issues with MP from time to time.

[Mr.skrimps]

Resurrecting this thread. Received my first arsenal mold this week - 2 in fact. a 5 cavity aluminum and a 4 cavity brass.
Heated up the pot excited to try the aluminum first- and this exact situation happened to me. I couldn't get the mold open, very frustrating with a brand new mold. stop and inspected- the alignment pin hole looks kinda jacked. Stopped what i was doing and took pictures and sent an email to arsenal.

Moved over to the brass mold. Same thing happened in half the time. Both molds didnt even make it past wrinkled bullets.

I have countless lee molds and at least 10ish lyman/ideal molds. Ive never had this problem and Ive been doing this long enough im just not going to change the way I cast to suit these alignment pins. I have an uncle who was a career machinst and also reloads/casts. Before I get too crazy hating on arsenal I'm gonna have him go over them and see what we can do to make them both usable.

[megasupermagnum]

I wonder if your mold handles are off, and you are accidentally peening the holes when you close.

[Wasalmonslayer]

Easy fix for the issue you are having is push the alignment pins in just about 20 thou.
I have done it on every Arsenal mold and it cures the problem 100% along with a touch of lube on the pins a couple times during casting.

I use my vice with soft jaws and it take a bit of pressure but the will move.

[QuackAttack24]

Easy fix for the issue you are having is push the alignment pins in just about 20 thou.
I have done it on every Arsenal mold and it cures the problem 100% along with a touch of lube on the pins a couple times during casting.

I use my vice with soft jaws and it take a bit of pressure but the will move.
I have two Arsenal 5 cavity aluminum molds with the same problems described in this thread. I have a dozen or so Lee molds and never had a hitch with any of them. One of the Arsenal molds I put Lee handles on wouldn't open. Had to try two other handles before I could get the mold to open. It has gotten slowly better with use, and I think it's a good quality mold, but it is very frustrating to have to rap on the handle bolt 10 times to get the mold open and all the bullets to drop. I think I'll measure and try the vise trick to see if it helps. Good luck to all with your Arsenal molds.

[Wasalmonslayer]

I had Jared at Arsenal seat them deeper but they are still to proud so I push them back until the mold will open with no drag. Usually between 20-30 thou. This still of pin used by Arsenal and NOE are prone to this.
Al just sets his deeper from the word go.
It is an easy fix and will make the mold a pleasure to cast with!

The longer blocks on the four and five cavity never open square so the pins being too proud cause them to “stick”

[rintinglen]

^^^^What he said. I used a brass hammer and tapped mine in until I cleared up the problem.

[Huskerguy]

All this "adjusting" to the moulds seems ridiculous to me. I battled my Arsenal mould and eventually sent it back and it has worked fine since but really, if this was anything but a bullet mould, would you be satisfied with it?

Just turn it upside down and tap on it, then it will work? You are buying and paying for a precision piece of work that should function correctly out of the box and for a long time to come. I get all the "fixes" that we all have done on some things over the years but it strikes me as fixing someone else's problem that has now become mine. How many other things do you own would you tolerate this with?

Don't get me wrong, I love my Arsenal RCBS KT 150 Clone, it shoots lights out for me but the continual problems are real and should be fixed. It would do wonders for the company and the positive adjustment would be noticed. Instead, I, for one and only speaking for myself, question if I really want to order another one that may have the same issues and on top of that, even bigger issues getting someone to contact me back. Then we wonder why some go outside of this great country. Off the soap box now.

[DocSavage]

I've molds from NOE,Accurate and Arsenal and have had no problems with them. I did have an RCBS mild the had to set the pins back with a tap or 2 with a brass hammer. Have a set of handles that needed the bolt to be adjusted for alignment with one mold.

[rockrat]

I have had to set back pins on NOE(2), Arsenal(2), Lee(6+) and NEI moulds(1). Lee being the worst. NOE, two out of 35 moulds isn't bad and Arsenal, two out of 10. 4 and 5 cav. moulds. Maybe 10 thou' or so. No big deal