HeavyMetal
10-31-2009, 07:39 PM
Planning on giving the BIL a birthday present next year of a set of HP molds and a handle. Gonna do it all up in a nice box like a real gift and all.
Started collecting the three molds I want to give him:
429421
452374
358477
Now the fun starts! currently working on my forth 452374 the others all mike'd .455 when I cast with them! Go figure. Still looking for one that casts .452
429421 bought one off Gunbroker Darn thing is perfect! Casts great, boolit falls out of the mold and it mike's .431! Yahoo a keeper! Wish it had a square lube groove.
Now the really fun one: the 358477. I also bought this off gunbroker one picture posted of the single cavity nice and clear. Cavity looked, and is, in great shape.
However when the mold arrived I was shocked to see that it didn't have a straight panel on it! Seems it was beaten with a small ball peen hammer!
Even the Sprue Plate screw was so badly peened that I had to put it in a small vacuum vise on my work bench and take a file to the screw driver slot before I could remove it from the mold!
Before I did anything to it I decided to cast a few. As I put it on a set of handles I realised that 6 to 8 thousandths of an inch of movement back and forth on the pins was not going to get it done! I tapped them out until the play went away and then set up to cast.
Made a whole 10 boolits. I now know why the mold was beat on the boolits would not come out without a lot of persuasion!
Called a halt to casting and let the mold cool down. Examined the boolits under a strong magnifiying glass and saw big burrs cut into the bearing area and almost a double parting line.
Sure enough when the mold cooled of and I stripped it down I found a huge burr in the upper corner near the boolit base that had most likely been there from the moment the cherry left the mold .
Gotta wonder how things get past some people.
I also found a bit of light showing throught the mold, great!
Sprue plate was bent to, hey why not everything else was beat!
Now for a cure! Knocked the alignment pins back into the mold so I could run both halfs of the mold over some 600 girt sand paper placed on a piece of glass.
two or three quick pass on each half showed some burrs and highpoints that came right off with out a lot of sanding. Now both halfs actually stick together with no light showing!
Deburred the alignment pin holes on both sides of the mold blocks then tapped the pins out again until no movement was felt when the blocks were held together.
a soft cratex tip dremel bit, used by hand, and an exacto knife removed all the burrs on the parting line. My old 38 S&W mold donated it's sprue plate and screw for the greater good ( and until I can buy a replacement)
Put the mold back together with a bit of antisize under the pivot point on the sprue plate and fired the lead pot back up.
What a difference a little care can make!
Open the mold and the boolit drops into my hand! Boolits look good and I made about 40 or so then pulled the plug.
they mike .359 all the way around! No high points and no dings.
I'll now set this one aside and Hp it when funds are better at the end of the month.
As for the guy that sold it on gun broker?
I haven't said anything to him but I'm not going to post feed back, good or bad. I managed to save the mold, sending it back would have only gotten it passed off to someone else, and posting negative won't help any one as this guy isn't a caster he's just moving his dads casting gear.
What have I learned from this?
Ask for picture of both inside and outside of a mold!
Had I seen how beat this thing was I wouldn't have ante'd up $25.00 for it!
Glad I could save the mold and Posted this thread so someone else might learn from my experience.
Started collecting the three molds I want to give him:
429421
452374
358477
Now the fun starts! currently working on my forth 452374 the others all mike'd .455 when I cast with them! Go figure. Still looking for one that casts .452
429421 bought one off Gunbroker Darn thing is perfect! Casts great, boolit falls out of the mold and it mike's .431! Yahoo a keeper! Wish it had a square lube groove.
Now the really fun one: the 358477. I also bought this off gunbroker one picture posted of the single cavity nice and clear. Cavity looked, and is, in great shape.
However when the mold arrived I was shocked to see that it didn't have a straight panel on it! Seems it was beaten with a small ball peen hammer!
Even the Sprue Plate screw was so badly peened that I had to put it in a small vacuum vise on my work bench and take a file to the screw driver slot before I could remove it from the mold!
Before I did anything to it I decided to cast a few. As I put it on a set of handles I realised that 6 to 8 thousandths of an inch of movement back and forth on the pins was not going to get it done! I tapped them out until the play went away and then set up to cast.
Made a whole 10 boolits. I now know why the mold was beat on the boolits would not come out without a lot of persuasion!
Called a halt to casting and let the mold cool down. Examined the boolits under a strong magnifiying glass and saw big burrs cut into the bearing area and almost a double parting line.
Sure enough when the mold cooled of and I stripped it down I found a huge burr in the upper corner near the boolit base that had most likely been there from the moment the cherry left the mold .
Gotta wonder how things get past some people.
I also found a bit of light showing throught the mold, great!
Sprue plate was bent to, hey why not everything else was beat!
Now for a cure! Knocked the alignment pins back into the mold so I could run both halfs of the mold over some 600 girt sand paper placed on a piece of glass.
two or three quick pass on each half showed some burrs and highpoints that came right off with out a lot of sanding. Now both halfs actually stick together with no light showing!
Deburred the alignment pin holes on both sides of the mold blocks then tapped the pins out again until no movement was felt when the blocks were held together.
a soft cratex tip dremel bit, used by hand, and an exacto knife removed all the burrs on the parting line. My old 38 S&W mold donated it's sprue plate and screw for the greater good ( and until I can buy a replacement)
Put the mold back together with a bit of antisize under the pivot point on the sprue plate and fired the lead pot back up.
What a difference a little care can make!
Open the mold and the boolit drops into my hand! Boolits look good and I made about 40 or so then pulled the plug.
they mike .359 all the way around! No high points and no dings.
I'll now set this one aside and Hp it when funds are better at the end of the month.
As for the guy that sold it on gun broker?
I haven't said anything to him but I'm not going to post feed back, good or bad. I managed to save the mold, sending it back would have only gotten it passed off to someone else, and posting negative won't help any one as this guy isn't a caster he's just moving his dads casting gear.
What have I learned from this?
Ask for picture of both inside and outside of a mold!
Had I seen how beat this thing was I wouldn't have ante'd up $25.00 for it!
Glad I could save the mold and Posted this thread so someone else might learn from my experience.