anyone try modifying a mold on their lathe?

[abob]

Was thinking of ordering a couple of the economical Lee surplus molds for experimenting with on my lathe. They already come with handles, should be easy enough to remove..... all replies or opinions welcome. Like the surplus mold .338 and make up something for my 45-70, large flat nose PP for hunting. Winter setting in here, hunting seasons over and now is the time to enjoy inside projects :idea: :smile:

Season greetings ... Bob.

[StarMetal]

Was thinking of ordering a couple of the economical Lee surplus molds for experimenting with on my lathe. They already come with handles, should be easy enough to remove..... all replies or opinions welcome. Like the surplus mold .338 and make up something for my 45-70, large flat nose PP for hunting. Winter setting in here, hunting seasons over and now is the time to enjoy inside projects :idea: :smile:

Season greetings ... Bob.

How much does Lee sell those for? I've made a 30 Luger mold TC nose 100 grain on my lathe. I believe the hardest part is making a good cutter tool that doesn't bent. The longer the bullet the more you have to deal with flex. I cut a half decent mold that I've been using and it shoots very well so I must not have done too bad.

Joe

[abob]

Joe --- Lee sells them for $14.00 ---- thanks for indirectly pointing out... just realized I should order a couple today as after this thread posting guys might scoop them all up. :( Also have some pieces of aluminum to try but for my first molds I like the idea of not having to do all the other things like attaching handles... just get to my project end faster... Bob.

[arkypete]

Something I've learned over the years, you get exactly what you pay for.
I lapped the nose on a single cavity Lyman # 375296 to make it engage the rifling, as an experiment. It worked made a nice accurate low velocity target/plinking round for my 375 Whelen.

Jim

[mooman76]

abob,
You could probably pick up a few moulds here for next to nothing that someone doesn't want anymore that are slightly damaged or they just plain don't want.

[theperfessor]

abob-

A while back I posted this link:

http://www.usi.edu/science/engineering/moldfixture/MakingBulletMolds.doc

It covers the process I used to make a lathe fixture and then make my first multi-cavity bullet mold on a lathe. You can blow through the first part, which covers building the lathe fixture, since you will most likely be using a four-jaw chuck. You can also go past the section on making the blocks, since you will initially be using pre-made blocks. The last section shows the tooling and process for boring the cavities using a profiling type of tool. This might give you a little more background information.

Be prepared to retap or otherwise rework the sprue pivot pin screw hole on a Lee one or two cavity mold - a lot if times it will strip out when removing the screw from the block. You were going to drill and tap for a lockscrew anyway, weren't you?

[abunaitoo]

That is a great write-up.

[303Guy]

I looked at doing just exactly that then discovered that the handles are crimped onto the mold blocks!

A boring bar slash internal grooving tool is not too bad for a 45 cal. Try it for a 30 cal![smilie=b:
(No, I did not succeed - I went smooth sided, surface lube, and that worked).

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/MVC-010F-1.jpg 1800fps!

They do actually work, even without knurling.

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/MVC-457F_edited.jpg

[abob]

Thanks everyone for replies. That's a great resource perfessor ... thanks, yes I would put in a set screw for the sprue plate screw. 303guy looks like you got great results on that target - was that at 100 yards or meters? What velocity did you push that at and what was the nose profile? Thanks again for replies....Bob.

[303Guy]

What velocity did you push that at and what was the nose profile?About 1800fps, maybe as much as 1900fps but it could just as easily have been only 1700fps. They were 225gr and I used Varget/AR2208. Nose profile? RN hollow point. The hollow was not deep at all. The idea was actually to get the sprew remnants as close to the centre of spin as possible.


- was that at 100 yards or meters? Ummmm...... well......actually..... it was only 50yds!:oops:
I wasn't sure they would hit the target. That was the first attempt with my first castings and I only had seven samples. I can say 'though that with my makeshift rest and uncomfortable position, the rifle shake from my heartbeat was as much as the spread. The other five rounds printed the same. One day I'll load up another batch and test them at 100m. For now I have gone paper patch. Now that is a heap of fun - but slow.

[StarMetal]

If you get a set of Lee blocks you can use a countersink to open up the crimped over hole which the handle pins are in. Now if they aren't real tight you can then tap the mold on a block of wood to use inertia to drive the pins out. If they are too tight you can drill a little hole on top the blocks where the pin location would be and drive them out with a small drift.

Joe

[jbunny]

If you get a set of Lee blocks you can use a countersink to open up the crimped over hole which the handle pins are in. Now if they aren't real tight you can then tap the mold on a block of wood to use inertia to drive the pins out. If they are too tight you can drill a little hole on top the blocks where the pin location would be and drive them out with a small drift.

Joe
to open up the crimped over hole on lee molds, i use a sharp pointed knife. i then
pull the pin out with a piece of soft machanics wire. my work bench is grounded.
put the mould in the vice use an extention cord and plug one end of the mecanics
wire in the hot (small) slot of the extention cord. u then touch the pin with the free end
of the mecanics wire. ZAP. the wire is spot welded on to the pin. clamp on to the wire
with pliers and tap under the pliers with a screwdriver or such and out comes the pin
if the pin or easy out is deep in the hole, u shield the wire with tape or heat shrink
so u can't arc the side of the hole. wear gloves and use common sense. i know the school teacher type will say u can't do that, u will electricute your self.:bigsmyl2:
jb

[JIMinPHX]

This is the way that I did it -
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=45741

[Catshooter]

Jim,

any further progress on your mould making?

jbunny,

That was funny! As a life-long commercial/industrial construction electrician your method is, uh, imaginative, if there is such a word. I love it! Of course I would have never allowed it on a job site of mine, but I would probably have done it at home and taken it back to work to confuse the natives.

Did you use gloves, or just hold onto the wooden mould handles? :) Man, you got me laughing good here. I gotta go, my wife's gonna start wondering what site I'm logged into.


Cat

[jbunny]

cat; i have pulled lee mould pins out with this methodas well as broken
easy out. i wear dry gloves and use higher amp circuts for bigger wire that require
stronger pull. it helps if u file the end of the wire round ball . it realy sticks good. my friends call me mcgiver.:bigsmyl2:
jb

[mrbill2]

"my friends call me mcgiver"
I would use a different word, something squirrels eat.:bigsmyl2:

[JIMinPHX]

If you get a set of Lee blocks you can ...

If they are too tight you can drill a little hole on top the blocks where the pin location would be and drive them out with a small drift.

Joe

That's exactly what I do.

[JIMinPHX]

Jim,

any further progress on your mould making?

No time right now. Maybe between Christmas & New Years if the wife lets me have some time off.

[Buckshot]

..........To get the handle pins out of Lee blocks I just took a piece of 1/4" steel rod and drilled a clearance hole in the center, maybe 1/8" deep. Then I took Mr Destructo (Dremel) with a cutoff disc in place and roughly formed some course teeth. Doesn't need to be hardened, you're only cutting aluminum, and not very deep at that. Simply cutting out the upset aluminum will free the pin, and I use the DP holding the blocks via the handle on the DP table. Grab the pin with needle nose pliers to remove if they doesn't fall out when upended. Toss the tool in the rollaway until you need it again.

..............Buckshot

[303Guy]

JIMinPHX Great work on your molds! Wow! Ever thought of building a 'spin cast' mold?[smilie=1: (As in the current thread on that topic).:roll:

[JIMinPHX]

JIMinPHX Great work on your molds! Wow! Ever thought of building a 'spin cast' mold?[smilie=1: (As in the current thread on that topic).:roll:

I don't know what you mean by "spin cast". I must have missed that thread.

[deltaenterprizes]

"my friends call me mcgiver"
I would use a different word, something squirrels eat.:bigsmyl2:

ACORNS ?:kidding: