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Thread: Ouch-Repair suggestions.

  1. #1
    Boolit Master MOA's Avatar
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    Ouch-Repair suggestions.

    Picked up a slightly scored mold. They are fixable, just not sure how long it would take with wet/dry paper on glass to clean it up. As you can see the scoring has crept into the boolit base area. If I can finish with a 400 and 800 grit, I'm sure it will be sufficient. What grit should I start with? What would be the best progression of grits I should use so I finish this fix sometime this year. Lol. A machinist who understands molds would be great but money's just not there and I do have time to hand work this problem fix unless this cannot be fixed except by machining. Thanks.



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  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
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    If it were me I'd probably start at 220 and see how it goes. May need to go more aggressive. As far as progression I wouldn't skip too far ahead. If 220 works I'd probably go to 280 320 400. Was always told when lapping to go in figure 8 pattern. Good luck.

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    Boolit Master MOA's Avatar
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    Good info hawk.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I would start with a coarse grit metal grade wet dry paper around 150 grit. With this and the next couple grits I would glue the paper don with rubber cement. I would wet the paper with water to keep it from loading up. Grit progression 150, 180, 220, ( these would be glued down as there a lot of grab to them) 320, 400, 600,800, and possibly 1000. Watch the patterns as when it becomes consistent its time to go to next grit.Once you get the scoring out with 150 the rest will go fast. Once you get the pattern then its just getting the new finer finish. Switch directions often left right circle, make 6-8 strokes rotate 90* 6-8 strokes then 6-8 circles this keeps the lines "crossing" over and gives a better finish faster.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master MOA's Avatar
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    Very helpful CG.
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  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy

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    When lapping parts, I use a piece of glass for my backer under the paper. Mine are extra lenses from welding helmet with large lens. About 5x5 GW

  7. #7
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    That doesn't look too bad ... I have a sneaking suspicion that you will not need to completely remove the marks to cast good boolits . I would get a small assorted pack of Wet-R-Dry , start with 220 and work through to 400 ... then make a few test castings ... if OK finish the job with 600 .
    Do all on a piece of plate glass to keep it flat and use water or oil on the wet-r-dry abrasive paper when polishing .
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  8. #8
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    When I had a lathe I chucked one up and milled one that way. Even though it was an interrupted cut it turned out very well.

    Ken

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    I would start and finish with 80 grit. Any scratches left are vent lines.
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  10. #10
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    You know anyone with a milling machine? Thats a ten minute job. Any high school with a metal shop maybe? In the past, I have milled projects with a drill press and a cross slide vice. Turned out purty nice too. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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    Might be a good time to buy a diamond sharpening stone .

    Ovals or circles 5-10 or the length of the stone , turn the mould 180° , 00000/length of the stone , turn 120/90/60° repeat . Turn the stone around start again . The course side cuts very fast but fills up just as fast . Be aware of that .
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  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    I have done a few like this. Surface grinder is nice if you can get to one. Grind the back side ( bottom) first so the top will lie flat. By hand, C.G. is right. I bought a glass plate about 12" by 12", two sided tape to keep it on the table, lead weights to keep the paper on the glass. I start with small, fine grit. It will tell you to go up to bigger grit if needed. I use a figure " 8 " pattern and rotate block 90 degrees every 4 or 5 "8's". Be sure that pins are nice and tight before you start. Also, clamp the halves together somehow. I have used vice grips or small " C " clamps. I have always gone dry. It goes fast once your set up. you may need to debur the holes when done, just a wee touch good luck

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    I'd get a sheet of 220 and 320 wet or dry.
    Lay them out on something flat like glass or a piece of formica counter top.
    Keep plenty of water going onto them so the slag rinse away and the grit doesn't clog.
    Use the 220 first until it's worn out, then do it again with the 320.
    That might get you where you need to be without major surgery.

    Then come to grips with the sprue plate also.
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    Boolit Master MOA's Avatar
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    Amazing the approaches possible for this kind of fix.
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    I've got a set of Lyman #375449 with exactly the same problem. The scoring is so deep that the sprue plate won't sit square on the top of the mold. I'd thought about sanding down the top of the mold with some wet/dry sandpaper and a surface plate, but was worried that it might make the gas check shank too short. After reading through these posts I realize that sanding the top of the molds is the best solution. It's very likely that the shank will still be long enough for the gas check after the scoring's been removed, and because the mold in it's current condition is unusable I really don't have anything to loose by trying it.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by 405grain View Post
    It's very likely that the shank will still be long enough .
    I'd measure the height of the check, and the depth allowed for it in the mold.
    It'll tell you how much you can shave off.
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  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by skeet1 View Post
    When I had a lathe I chucked one up and milled one that way. Even though it was an interrupted cut it turned out very well.

    Ken
    A friend cleaned up a couple of Lyman double cavity blocks for me this way also - squared it all up in a four jaw chuck and turned off enough to get it clean and level.

    The pin that stops the sprue from swinging has to be pulled or drilled and replaced at the end.

    In both cases there was enough spare gas check shank that everything worked OK afterwards still.

    After that, make sure you leave the sprue plate with enough play so it can sit flat on the blocks under its own weight, i.e. don't over tighten.
    Last edited by Wilderness; 05-14-2022 at 07:42 PM.
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    I acquired a garage sale mould years back with similar gouging. Bion (actually, easy for me ) I made it worse! "How?" By not being smart enough to maintain perfect planeness and keeping all square. I ended up with a relatively flat end result, void of the scratches, but no matter how tight I squeezed handles there was always enough space on one side to guarantee a large fin.
    I then bought some wet n dry paper which I folded so cutting side is up on top and bottom, and ran that thru hoping it would fix things. It didn't .
    Good luck to you -- my "hindsight" thought was had I adroitly cut a square in a hardwood block to drop the offending mould half in -- a tight fit in perfect alignment -- perhaps I could have run it as such on wet paper on a sheet of glass to have achieved better result. The large wood piece would have avoided tendency to not maintain requisite parallelism. ("Yes!" re suggestions vis milling machine) Again -- just a thought here. Good luck!
    geo

  20. #20
    Boolit Master Rapier's Avatar
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    I have a Bridgeport mill, so would mill the top to repair the scoring grooves and wet/dry the bottom of the sprue plate on plate glass to prevent a repeat of the scoring. I have a 18” square plate glass table, that I made, to do finishing on, you measure the surface height off the glass, corner to corner, to get a perfectly flat and parallel surface that is flush with the mold body when finished.

    Times like these, I wish I kept the surface grinder…..a three phase, only have two phase and one converter at the moment.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check