Today I was removing my MP mold from a set of Lee handles so I could use them with another mold. I had let the bolt set overnight with penetrating oil. I thought the bolt had broken loose but the bolt broke.
It is a brass mold. So who can drill and remove the broken bolt? I do not have equipment to precisely drill the bolt and would probably ruin the mold if the bit wanders into the brass.
So who can drill it out and where can I get a replacement bolt?
Sorry re your challenge! Might you be able to take/post a photo? Perhaps it is my daftness, but I do not know what "the bolt" is? Are you referring to the bolt in the Lee handles, or one of the machine screws employed to fasten/secure the handles to the mould?
I'd find it the challenge to render a repair. Again, not knowing which "bolt" broke...
Again, might you post a photo?
Re who you can send it to, I'd check with two vendor sponsors of this site: KAL Tools, and Lathesmith.
BEST!
geo
A pic would help a lot determine what its going to take.
Sometimes be taken out with a pic and small hammer working carefully. A regular screw can easily be drilled out most times depending on the break a good clean break isnt to bad a angled break means it may need to be "cleaned up to square" before drilling. An allen head screw or bolt is much harder material. A left hand drill set also helps with this chore. I have the mill and most of the tooling but we are a ways apart.
If you have to ship it to get it fixed I would first contact the manufacturer and see if they can do the job.
The "bolt" is a socket head cap screw used to attach the mold to the handle. The SHCS has the threads turned off one end so that the remaining screw goes through the hole in the handle. The lower threaded part screws into the mold. The SHCS broke just under the head. I think I will leave it alone and use it as is. I just can not use the handles for any other mold.
Over time the using it may loosen the broken screw and walk it out from vibration and heat cooling cycles
You can take to a machine shop job shop they will be able to get broken bolt out
Are you sure it is a brass bolt? That would be an odd choice, and a socket head brass is especially odd. It might be a plated steel bolt that has a brass like finish. If it is in fact brass, your job is fairly easy. You don't need any special equipment, you don't even need a drill press. You just need a center punch, a few drill bits, and an easy out extractor. You center punch the bolt, carefully drill down with a small drill bit, a hand held drill is fine for this. Then use a larger drill size, just large enough for the extractor. Finally tap the extractor in, and remove the bolt.
So, the bolt broke near the head and the unthreaded portion is still pinning the block to the handle.
I'd try drilling it out with a left handed drill. The mold won't be ruined unless you drill all the way through the handle and into the threaded portion of the block, and even them it might be salvageable: drill the damaged threads out and make an insert or just drill through and use a longer screw with a nut. Ugly but functional.
Handles are intentionally 'loose' so the blocks will align as the pins find their respective holes; the mold shouldn't depend on the screws for that.
Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.
Just leave it. If you sell one day take it out then. Just dedicate that set of handles to that mould.
The metric socket head cap screws MP uses are probably equivalent to our grade-8 so trying to drill will probably make a mess of things.
I agree that it would be best to just leave it as is and consider the handles as permanent on that mold.
S&W .38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator
I own a few of his molds and they are pretty near amazing, I hadn't considered that.Originally Posted by GLL
Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.
From now on put some copper anti seize on the threads and this probably won't happen. Works for me. I have about 80 moulds I use and I am not buying handles for allof them, so I take the handle screws in and out regularly, and haven't broke any yet.
Use an abrasive bit like for sharpening chain saws with a cone or rounded head. Carefully grind on the broken bolt shank till it is smooth & concave. THEN you can use the left handed bit to try to remove the shank. It should self center. Alternately a diamond micro but on a Drexel ( head of pin sized) could be used to grind a deep slot for a small hollow ground bit...
If you have a welder... There are plenty of options..like welding the shank to a nut..done that many many times..
Leave the thing alone, buy some more handles
Is there reason to use the copper anti-seize vs the gray/silver anti-seize? (the the label says it's good to 1,600 degrees)
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I have had luck turning with a pick in some instances as in clean threads and no tension as the head is MIA.
Other little buggers were the tiny allen or torx screws on Chinese 1/4 inch lathe tool bit holders that take replaceable cutting edges. They strip easily being small and made of Chinesium. What I would do is put the tool in the drill press vise and use a broken small drill bit with a grainy snaggled end. Using no power from the electric motor but would turn the chuck by hand in the reverse direction while maintaining downward pressure. It worked in the handful of times I tried it. Sometimes easily, sometimes with a lot of working at it. Doing it by hand allows you to feel and control the pressure and be your own clutch. It also avoids the drill bit slipping off the bolt shank.
Don’t own a mill, just a lathe and the drill press.
Last edited by Lance Boyle; 01-01-2023 at 12:54 PM.
A quick google search on anti-seize show that copper grade may be better for soft metals, otherwise they are about the same.
https://www.crcindustries.com/world-anti-seize/
I just lightly snug those fastners. The copper anti-seize is a good idea for the sprue plate fasteners though.
When next you cast with it put some Ed’s red on it when it’s up to temperature.
Hopefully it will be able to undo easier if you have some game plan managed.
I’d leave it and hope it stays in.
I’m sure it will then unscrew and fall to the floor at about the time you have forgotten about the screw.
A new set of handles might be in order if it were me.
You maybe able to rust it out being brass and steel screw.
Yes anti seize is good stuff.
if the bolt is steel, chemical removal is possible with an alum solution. I have removed broken taps from aluminum with an alum and water solution heated...it just dissolves the steel....
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." -- Aesop
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