Mold fill out

[DCP]

I have a lee 2 boolit mold

The lead isnt filling the base on the hole next to the handle

I tried tilting the mold, it might work for a awhile then its back, always the same hole

Any help will be appreciated

[Moonie]

Make sure you have cleaned it real well and remember that aluminum molds lose heat quickly, cast fast and hotter than you would with iron molds.

[Echo]

+1 for Moonie.

[Ben]

Re-clean the mold with hot soapy water.

Once the mold is dry ( 101% ).........Lightly soot with a butane lighter and cast again.

Report back.

[mooman76]

If the above doesn't work try loosening the sprue plate. I have found that when one cavity doesn't quite fill out especially near the handle that if you loosen the sprue it sometimes helps. I think it's caused by a venting problem.

[HeavyMetal]

Turn the mold sideways and dip the sprue plate in the alloy until lead won't stick to it, then pour the back hole first!

Rare day that smoking works for me but check the mold and make sure it's clean!

[DCP]

Lots of good ideas here

I tried loosing the screw on the plate and it wont move

Here is what I do

1. Clean mold with gun cleaner or brake cleaner

2. deburr mold (its a Lee)

3. Smoke with a candle

4, lube with silicone grease


My 1st pour was good a week later not to good "(just the one hole)


Heat is back will have to wait for a cool morning

[462]

1. Clean mold with gun cleaner or brake cleaner Dawn dishsoap and HOT water work best, for me.

2. deburr mold (its a Lee) Excellent

3. Smoke with a candle As mentioned, I find no need to ever smoke a mould. However, if you choose to, a candle leaves a greasy residue...not good.

4, lube with silicone grease This may be your problem.

Does the sprue plate sit flush with the top of the mould?

[geargnasher]

Actually, dimethylpolysiloxane is the best thing in the Universe with which to lube an aluminum mould, although the grease form is simply thickened with fumed silica and that may not be the hot ticket. If the sprue plate pivot is over-lubed with anything, including silicone oils, it will migrate around that boolit base first causing uneven fillout.

My take is not the kind of lube being used causing a problem, but using way too much.

One more thing, someone else said it but I'll reiterate: When you get it cleaned up, try pouring the hole closest to the sprue plate screw first, or mabe alternate holes. I have some Lee two-bangers that like the alternating method or they will start having issues with the back hole.

Gear

[sagacious]

3. Smoke with a candle
Never smoke the mold with a candle or a match. Both can/will leave a thick waxy hydrocarbon film along with the soot.

Only use a butane cigarette lighter. It will leave only a very thin pure carbon soot layer.

There's a correct way and an incorrect way to smoke a mold. Butane flame is the correct way. Good luck.

[Doby45]

1. Clean mold with gun cleaner or brake cleaner Dawn dishsoap and HOT water work best, for me. I could not agree more. My Lees drops boolits like hot biscuits from a greased pan.

2. deburr mold (its a Lee) Excellent

3. Smoke with a candle As mentioned, I find no need to ever smoke a mould. However, if you choose to, a candle leaves a greasy residue...not good.Also could not agree more, I have not sooted any of my molds. I only have 3 as of now but they are all Lee aluminum.

4, lube with silicone grease This may be your problem.

Does the sprue plate sit flush with the top of the mould?

I would pour the hole closest to the handles first and multiple times without even looking at the boolit. If you find yourself needing to take a quick break leave the mold with lead in it. This will keep the mold warmer than sitting empty.

[myg30]

Some like it HOT. Dont know if you pour or dip. If all the above dont fix it, up the temp some, if you get frostys ,turn it down some.

Mike

[DCP]

Again thanks for the good ideas

The spruce plate sits flush with the top of the mould

I notice I was only getting 3/4 of a boolit out of the 1st hole

So I started filling it 1st. That helped but about 50% of the time the OD of the base didn't fill.

I was casting at 775

The 1st time I used the mold it was fine (Boy not this time)

She is clean now. I must of used way to much silicone grease.[smilie=1: A little goes a long way.

It to hot to cast now :(

[Ben]

dcp:

If there is a microscopic speck of your silicone grease in that mold cavity, you can totally forget getting a good fill-out.

[JIMinPHX]

I've sometimes noticed that I get better fill out on the cavity that I consistently pour first. I think that side of the mold gets a little hotter from having the hot lead sit in it a little longer. I've had experiences where reversing the order in which I fill the cavities has changed which cavity drops the good boolits, after 4 or 5 rounds.

I believe that the root cause of the problem is usually poor venting, assuming that the mold is already good & clean. Increasing tin content to 2% & increasing casting temperature as high as 730F are my first two tools for dealing with that. After that, I might try to loosen the sprue plate a little. The next is breaking the top edge of the blocks with a jewelers file. When i say breaking the edge, I'm only talking about taking off about .005". A piece of paper is about .004", so that ain't much.

I've just recently began to experiment with cutting vent grooves into the bottom of the sprue plate. I'll be posting more about that in a separate thread soon. I'm beginning to see promising results on long skinny rifle boolits that were previously problematic, but there are still some down sides to the method.

[MtGun44]

I find no detectable difference in function in smoked and unsmoked aluminum
molds, just a mess.

Scrub with Comet and an old toothbrush to deburr and clean cavities.

Lube pins and SPRUE plate with Bull Plate Lube (see BullShop ad at bottom of page).

Cast hotter.

Bill