NEI Maintenance Question

[Byron Cromwell]

I have recently taken posession of my first aluminum bullet mould in over 25 years. (That one was a Lee .457 roundball mould in double cavity that galled along the top underneath the sprue plate and had to be discarded after a short series of sessions. I broke my promise not to ever go back to aluminum but NEI is not Lee and this one was highly recommended to me.) Here's my question.
How do I keep this used/excellent condition NEI .30 caliber mould up and running as well as iron moulds I have always used? It appears to have been treated with some kind of mould release agent which leaves a purplish/bluinsh hue along the top, sprue plate and cavities. I don't want to start off damaging this piece of custom precision equipment.
I ask because two years after the Lee debacle, I met a professional bulletcaster at the firing range ( he made a business selling his cast bullets) who told me aluminum moulds will wear out in normal use.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. I don't wish to spend the time and invest the money replacing it.

Byron

[BABore]

Make sure the sprue plate is not overly tight so it drags hard acrossed the block tops. Use Bullplate lube on the underside of the plate on a regular basis. Also a dab on the alignment pins. If, during a casting session, you feel any drag or grittyness when opening or closing the sprue plate, immediately retreat it with BP lube. If it doesn't go away, STOP. Let the mold cool down and find/fix the problem. The best way to screw up an aluminum, or any type of mold, is to just ignore a problem an continue casting.

[theperfessor]

Bullplate lube used as directed will work wonders b

[Byron Cromwell]

Awright then, so who sells bullplate lube? Midsouth, Graf and Sons, and Widner's all sell some kind of spray release agent, but do those double as sprue plate lube? I last cast bullets over ten years ago and used a piece of paraffin candle as both fluxing agent and bullet mould lube so I am not really familiar with these products.
Byron

[theperfessor]

Check "Bullshop" at the bottom of this page. They're good folks to deal with. IMHO a good mold doesn't need any release agent. If it doesn't drop bullets easily it needs deburring or light lapping.

[Shooter6br]

Anybody try 2 stroke engine oil?

[Byron Cromwell]

Another question, perfessor:
Will the use of Bullplate clean existing lead smears off the underside of the sprue plate? I had in the past kept an industrial razor blade handy to lightly scrape the underside of the sprue plates and top of the bullet mould (at least I never THOUGHT I damaged anything). This also involved stopping in the middle of acasting session and working with a hot mould --I kinda just got used to it. Will Bullplate work as a cleaning agent. I notice Bullshop specifically mentions prevention of galling on aluminum moulds.
Thanks.

P.S. Can anybody tell me what "IIRC" means? I keep seeing this acronym used and can't break it out...

[montana_charlie]

If I remember correctly (IIRC) the most popular way, among us, of removing lead smears is to rub a hot mould with a rough rag...burlap or terrycloth...but nothing synthetic.
It has been quite a long time since I last had to do that, but IIRC, I had best luck when the rag was damp.
CM

[theperfessor]

Bullplate has removed light lead smears from the sprue plate of some of my molds that accumulated before I learned about Bullplate from the old hands here. I used to heat the sprue plates up with propane torch and use a copper scrub pad.

It really does make things work smoother and alloys cutting sprues sooner w/o any smearing which helps keep the temperature high enough in low mass aluminum molds such as Lee two bangers.

[excess650]

You can remove the lead smears from a hot mold or sprue plate by rubbing with a cold bullet or ingot.

Bullplate works very well, and is better than rubbing the tops of blocks and undersides of sprue plates with a pencil like I had previously done. It is also better than the LBT mold lube which seemed to be graphite in some sort of wax.

[chasw]

Byron: Almost all of my molds are NEI brand aluminum jobs. All were made before 2000, IIRC. I not had any problems with sprue plates dragging and rarely have lead smearing on their undersides.

This latter problem seems to only occur when I get too hasty and don't allow the sprue to solidify completely. I'm not sure just what "Bullplate Lube" is, but when I first started bullet casting back in the 1980s, Walt Melander advised me to use ordinary beeswax based bullet lube to keep the sprue place hinge pin turning freely. A quick touch of a piece of lube to the hot pin does the trick. Its not necessary every session.

In summary, NEI molds work great, at least those made when NEI's quality was up to snuff. - CW

[Doby45]

I use Bullpate and I cut my sprues before the puddle even hardens somtimes. No smear what so ever.