Mold Prep

[joatmon]

Where can I find the way to heat cycle the alum mold's.
Thanks Aaron

[gwpercle]

The NOE forum has a section called Hints and Tips for Casting with NOE Moulds with directions for Cleaning , attaching handles and Heat Cycling etc., etc., ... but they involve a hot plate and digital thermometer with a probe to check the mould temperature ...the mould needs to be drilled for the probe... if you have all this go to NOE Forum site www.noebulletmolds.com under the heading Casting and Reloading .

If you are like me ... and dont have any of that high tech stuff ... this is how I heat cycle :
After cleaning the cavities with acetone ... I don't want water in my mould ...Acetone and toothbrush scrub is my way . After it's clean lube the pivot points ... that's another topic
1.) Plug in my Lee Magnum Melter , turn the dial to 8.5 or 9.0 to get going , make sure it's at least half full of casting alloy , sit my mould on top so the blocks are on the metal pot rim . Let everything heat and melt 15-20 mins . Check and when metal is melted ...
Flux the pot , skim and put the ladle in the alloy to heat , put the blocks back on the rim . Heat another 15-20 mins. untill the metal flows like water from the ladle .
2.) Dip a corner of the aluminum blocks into the melt for 45 seconds , when lead no longer sticks to corner of blocks , start casting boolits ... do not worry about what they look like , just cast away , fill all cavities , let the sprue harden , bust them open keep casting untill they start filling out and are casting frosty ...frosty is a sign of good heat , practice casting some and when the mould is nice and hot , knock out last boolits , close mould and set it back on the pot rim , unplug the pot and let everything slowly cool down overnight .

Repeat this Three (3) Times ... start with acetone clean and relube ... the heat from casting drives cutting oils from deep in the pores of the aluminum out so you want to clean it before each heat cycle ... this also "seasons" the mould cavities and three cycles will insure a good seasoning and you should never have to "smoke" or use that awful Mould Release ...Drop Out ... it's not that awful it just builds up in your cavities and is a bugger to get cleaned out .

Hope this helps ... the heat cycling does work ... back in the old days we simply cast lots of boolits until the moulds were seasoned and broken in and started dropping good boolits .
Gary

[Winger Ed.]

I just got in a Lee 2 cavity to knock out a few 9mms for the neighbor.

The little instruction sheet for it said to clean it with a petroleum solvent (even gasoline),
then 'smoke' it with a candle or even a butane lighter. After that, heat it up, and rock on.

I've found that Lead doesn't want to stick to Alum. and an exotic mold prep. isn't really necessary.

[Beagle333]

Here's how I prep my molds, MP or NOE or Accurate or any other...... wash good with Dawn and a toothbrush, then apply super light lube (2-cycle oil) on the sprue screw and alignment pins, preheat in the mold oven and start casting. After the third casting session, they are all working like designed. I just get a few more rejects in the first two sessions, but they'll all settle down by the third. Never smoke any mold. I have well over 200, mostly HPs too, if smoke was necessary, I'd know it.

[joatmon]

Thanks for the responses, I need to start using some of these 6cav. I told the wife I really needed to buy.
Aaron

[GregLaROCHE]

There are a lot of opinions and different methods for seasoning a mold and depending on what they are made of. I personally just start casting and eventually the molds start dropping good boolits. I do have a Pedersoli steel round ball mold that cast perfectly the first time. That was an exception. My experience has only been with steel and aluminum. I have a brass mold, but haven’t tried it yet. From what I’ve read here, they may be trickier. Of course with all new molds, you need to remove all grease and oils they were shipped with.

[georgerkahn]

All posts thus far appear to be right-on ! I have found -- for me -- the two "bugs" vis moulds are temperature and cleanliness. I strongly concur with all comments re cleaning -- kind of funny (?) I once demonstrated super-OCD by using a toothbrush and either lacquer thinner or acetone -- do not recall which -- but it melted the toothbrush bristles and "glued" them to mould... (Live and learn, eh?)
In any case, I've learned that moulds must be 100% petroleum-free!
The purpose of "heat cycling", imho, is to have a microscopic coating of OXIDATION making a layer on the mould -- kind of like Teflon on a frying pan -- so your bullet alloy does not adhere to it.
There are other wrinkles (pun intended) generally, in my experience, from temp being too cold (the wrinkles), too hot (frosting); sharp segments incompletely getting filled (need more tin?), and -- the toughest too alleviate: the alloy itself -- generally improved by fluxing a couple of times. (Unless you have zinc... hopefully not germane here)
One of the beauties of aluminum moulds is lead alloy appears not to have an affinity to stick to it, so I do not believe one need knock themself out to put one through heat cycles to form any sort of that microscopic coating I mentioned.
What I would be fearful of is getting any mould toooo hot -- quite easily done (oops!) in warming attempts -- which may readily warp the mould, rendering it forever useless.
BEST wishes!
geo

[243winxb]

Hot tap water, Dawn ultra* , Stencel brush. Soap up, rinse. Wipe with towel. Sit on edge of pot while alloy melts. Start casting with pot at maximum heat. Frosted bullets, drop pot temperature a little. Let mold cool for a minute.

Works with Lee or iron molds. Been doing it for 50+ years.

Storage- On cold mold, apply Break Free CLP. Place in plastic zip lock bag.

*Dawn contains 5% ethanol.*

[gwpercle]

All posts thus far appear to be right-on ! I have found -- for me -- the two "bugs" vis moulds are temperature and cleanliness. I strongly concur with all comments re cleaning -- kind of funny (?) I once demonstrated super-OCD by using a toothbrush and either lacquer thinner or acetone -- do not recall which -- but it melted the toothbrush bristles and "glued" them to mould... (Live and learn, eh?)
In any case, I've learned that moulds must be 100% petroleum-free!
The purpose of "heat cycling", imho, is to have a microscopic coating of OXIDATION making a layer on the mould -- kind of like Teflon on a frying pan -- so your bullet alloy does not adhere to it.
There are other wrinkles (pun intended) generally, in my experience, from temp being too cold (the wrinkles), too hot (frosting); sharp segments incompletely getting filled (need more tin?), and -- the toughest too alleviate: the alloy itself -- generally improved by fluxing a couple of times. (Unless you have zinc... hopefully not germane here)
One of the beauties of aluminum moulds is lead alloy appears not to have an affinity to stick to it, so I do not believe one need knock themself out to put one through heat cycles to form any sort of that microscopic coating I mentioned.
What I would be fearful of is getting any mould toooo hot -- quite easily done (oops!) in warming attempts -- which may readily warp the mould, rendering it forever useless.
BEST wishes!
geo

Use Oral-B toothbrush ... they don't melt with acetone ... I'm not sure what they are made of but neither handle or bristles melt .
Oral-B toothbrush will not melt with Lacquer Thinner either .
I hate getting water around / in my moulds ... just don't like the thought .

I do believe in heat cycling (seasoning) aluminum moulds , of course you can just keep casting boolits until the mould gets seasoned / broke in but the heat cycling is just a short cut to the same end , a mould that drops good boolits easily .
Gary

[DocSavage]

On my noe molds heated oven to 450 degrees placed the mold set timer 30 min remove from oven to cool,repeat 2 more times.

[Mk42gunner]

In theory, aluminum molds don't need to be heat cycled. Aluminum oxidizes naturally in plain old air. Brass molds on the other hand really seem to need the help to get a good oxide layer / patina.

Of course brass is quite easy to solder with lead/tin solders if it is clean.

I did have one Lee mold a DC 312-185 that really seemed to benefit from heat cycling/ breaking in. The first few times I used it, it was so so on releasing the freshly cast boolits. about the fourth time it suddenly started to rain boolits as the handles were opened, like it wanted to be a Hensley & Gibbs mold or something.

I kept going and cast most of a coffee can full of them, been using them for several years. I'm down to an inch or so left, I need to heat that mold up and refill the can.

Robert

[John Boy]

Never used a mold prep …
* Bring pot melt up to casting temperature
* on gas burner or hot plate, bring mold up to casting temperature, checking with an IR heat gun
* Ladle pour and start casting