Bent Handle

[Newtire]

This morning it was raining so cancelled my range trip & went down to make up some 120 gr. Lee .30 for my carbine. For the first time, I tried the Bruce B. Sprue Plate cool down technique & was just going to town prying on the plate with my gloved hand & then...the handle bent. I had it pinned in place & even put another pin in it but alas...I have done all the Lee-menting I thought you could do to this mould with the sprue plate set-screw, pinned handles. smoked cavities. finished off the pot with the RCBS 32-98. I must say, the sprue plate cooling really makes for a smooth cut-off. Anyone have any suggestions for handle modifications for a Lee 2-cavity? ("Lee-Haters" need not respond.)

[454PB]

I'd like to see a picture of that. Are you saying one of the pins securing the mould half to the handle fell out, or you actually bent the handle?

With the Lee moulds, it's not uncommon for the pins to loosen, but I've never seen the handles bend. When I get a new Lee mould, one of the first things I do before using it is check and re-peen the pins if required. I use the old crude hardwood dowel to knock them open, I don't like wearing welder's gloves while casting.

[44man]

When I work on a Lee mould and have to remove the pins, I drill and tap the holes for a setscrew. Just don't tighten it against the pins too tight or the mould can warp, just touch them or shorten the pins a little.
I don't think the handles are strong enough for hand cutting sprues once the lead gets real hard and a hard alloy will put a lot of stress on them. To change to a different handle would require milling the slot wider and maybe deeper.

[Newtire]

When I work on a Lee mould and have to remove the pins, I drill and tap the holes for a setscrew. Just don't tighten it against the pins too tight or the mould can warp, just touch them or shorten the pins a little.
I don't think the handles are strong enough for hand cutting sprues once the lead gets real hard and a hard alloy will put a lot of stress on them. To change to a different handle would require milling the slot wider and maybe deeper.
There was no trouble with the handles until I started getting into this using a gloved hand to cut the sprue thing. Worked great with the bigger Lyman/Saeco/RCBS handles but those little Lee handles bent where I drilled thru the little chrome handle ring to pin the hanle to the wood like I have been doing on my moulds to keep the handles from falling off. Guess it took away too much metal & also the handles are probably just not robust enough for the hand shear method.
Thanks for the advice,
Newtire