CWME
01-01-2010, 07:32 PM
I picked this mold up a few months ago and just got around to working with it.
The first thing that struck me was the amount of what I assume was release agent in the cavities.
The second thing that struck me was how the mold looked BRAND New. However it came in one of the old Lyman white boxes. So not really sure how old it is but it is not a new production piece.
About an hour of tedious cleaning got the junk out of the cavities. I smoked it up a bit with a lighter and went to casting.
I got the sprue plate a little tight so I wasn't getting enough venting. I loosened that up a bit and went back at it. The two outer cavities started dropping perfect bullets. The two inner cavities were all wrinkled and the bases were not filling. Thinking it was a heat issue I kept at it to no avail. I finally let it cool off and pulled it off the handles.
A razor blade was used to trace out all of the vent lines. What I found was suprising. The horizontal vent lines for the two center cavities had a microscopic "bur" at every intersection with the bigger vertical vent lines.
Not sure how the vent lines are created but it looks like the vertical lines were cut after the horizontal lines. This left the small bur that blocked the two cavities from venting properly. The razor blade knocked out the metal and I went on to cast 200 perfect bullets with the mold. Looking forward to tossing these little babies down range tomorrow.
I know I am not the first to find this type of issue but thought I would share it anyway. These old Molds all have a story to tell. Mine was obviously used so little because of the venting issue. After the mold release didn't help the former owner sold it to Kittery Trading Post where I picked it up:drinks:
The first thing that struck me was the amount of what I assume was release agent in the cavities.
The second thing that struck me was how the mold looked BRAND New. However it came in one of the old Lyman white boxes. So not really sure how old it is but it is not a new production piece.
About an hour of tedious cleaning got the junk out of the cavities. I smoked it up a bit with a lighter and went to casting.
I got the sprue plate a little tight so I wasn't getting enough venting. I loosened that up a bit and went back at it. The two outer cavities started dropping perfect bullets. The two inner cavities were all wrinkled and the bases were not filling. Thinking it was a heat issue I kept at it to no avail. I finally let it cool off and pulled it off the handles.
A razor blade was used to trace out all of the vent lines. What I found was suprising. The horizontal vent lines for the two center cavities had a microscopic "bur" at every intersection with the bigger vertical vent lines.
Not sure how the vent lines are created but it looks like the vertical lines were cut after the horizontal lines. This left the small bur that blocked the two cavities from venting properly. The razor blade knocked out the metal and I went on to cast 200 perfect bullets with the mold. Looking forward to tossing these little babies down range tomorrow.
I know I am not the first to find this type of issue but thought I would share it anyway. These old Molds all have a story to tell. Mine was obviously used so little because of the venting issue. After the mold release didn't help the former owner sold it to Kittery Trading Post where I picked it up:drinks: