Lee Sprue plates

[casterofboolits]

Can the screw for the one and two cavity Lee molds be loosened to remove the sprue plate for cleaning?

I have somehow accumilated a number (10?) of the Lee molds and want to clean them up for sale or trade. I haven't used any Lee mold since about 1984.

I tried a phillips srew driver, but they won't budge. I don't want to add more leverage and break something if they are permantly fixed in place.

Any ideas? :???:

:castmine:

[Frozone]

heat em up, they'll come loose when the mold is heated

[462]

Secure the mould in a padded vise.

What are they and how much do you want?

[JIMinPHX]

A board member here posted a trick a while back that works better than anything else I have ever tried. Unfortunately I can't remember who it was to give him credit.

Basically, you chuck a Philips head bit in a drill press, use the down force of the drill press to hold the bit firmly in the screw & turn the screw out.

that method has yet to fail for me.

Before doing that, I would first try vice grips, then if that didn't work, I would file 2 flats on the screw head & use a wrench.

[nes4ever69]

a video on you tube showed heating up the mold will melt the lead in the threads and allow the screw to back out.

[mooman76]

I just use (I don't remember what it's called) a wrench shaped like a double ended allen wrench that has a phillips head end. Gives me lots of leverage.

[excess650]

I had one that the sprue cutter was waaaay too tight right out of the box. The screw was so tight that I ended up cutting flats on it and using a wrench. I hadn't thought of trying heat.

[casterofboolits]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will put your ideas to work today as the heat index will be over a hundred, a nice dry,cool basement has it's appeal!

The boolit shack isn't air conditioned, so I'll stay in the cooled area and continue my inventory of casting and reloading supplies. I'm feeling my mortality and am trying to get everything listed and priced just in case. :violin:

After over fourty years of reloading and casting, I'm finding an amazing amount of stuff tucked into cornors and the back of shelves that I don't even remember having accquired, Like all reloaders, I am a pack rat and there is probably over fifty thousand assorted pieces of brass tucked away in my reloading room. 9mm, 38 Super, 45 ACP, 38/357, 40S&W, 22 Hornet, 222, 5.56, 30-06 and even a can of belted 7.62 Nato blanks. :drinks:

Happines is having enough brass, primers and powder to fight a small war! [smilie=w:[smilie=w::bigsmyl2:

Pardon me for rambling, but I'm at that age!

[casterofboolits]

[smilie=s:

Fileing flats on the sprue cutter attachment screw worked the best for removing the sprue cutter.

As an added note, I find that all the Lee sprue cutters, single or double cavity, have a small raised burr around the bottom of the filler holes and can cause galling on the top of the mold.

All new Lee sprue cutters should be removed and the bottom of the plate stoned flat. All eight of the molds I have had this problem, some more than others. [smilie=b: