Goatlips wrote: "Dang it, Pigeonroost, I purposefully bent that sprue cutter out a bit so as to leave that purty skirt on the boolits! After ya size 'em Lee fashion it leaves a nice cup on the bottom to grip the rifling! Hadda flare my brass out an extry eighth of an inch to get 'em seated easier. Don't know why ya'd have to clean the mold after I wire brushed it so well."
PRS responds; "Harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
I hope there was a goodly measure of jest in your above quoted statement. The sprue plate was bent a tad. I reckon ya can bend it again if'n ya want?!?!?!?!?!???
I also found two factory defects on on of the block halves and maybe other folks want or need to look for these common mold faults (not just Lee, others too). (1.) A guide pin was not fully seated in one block half and the shoulder of that pin was contacting the rim of the pin guide bushing in the mating block half -- this kept the mold from closing totally. (2.) A similar, defect was noted on the same block half at the other end. there the pin guide bushing for the pin of the opposite block was seated well, but a tiny bit of of the aluminium block material was mashed over its shoulder and keeping that end of the block from fully closing too. No wonder Goatlips was getting alloy stuck to the block faces -- there was an actual tiny gap between them. I used a press to seat the offending pin and the dental tool to clean up the shoulder of the other pin guide.
Close inspection in a darkened room with a bright light shining into the cavities continued to show just a wee bit of daylight at one end. There was a slight ding on the edge of the mold block end of just one half as if that mold half had been dropped or bumped (ya gotta be careful with molds that way) and another lesser defect where the sprue handle fulcrum had pinched the mold block (opening the sprue handle with very well cooled alloy?) The damaged areas of the mold block mating surfaces were removed (you can do that so long as the damage does not abutt a cavity and the "daylight" disappeared.
Goatlips mentioned cleaning the mold faces with a wire brush and folks have done that without real damage, I am told; but ya don't have to and ya should not IMHO. I should have put this into my "tips" posting. Bullet lube and lead splatter do have ways of getting onto the surfaces of the mold blocks and sprue plate. They can build-up and interfere with the quality of the castings or operation of the molds. This is very easily cleared while the molds are at working temp. Simply take a clean dry cotton rag or cotton terry cloth and wipe the entire mold clean just like plumbers wipe sweat soldered joints. Wear gloves! The brown Jersy cotton gloves are excellent for bullet casting -- just keep them dry! If your alloy has any trace of antimony or arsenic in it at all, it should come right off on the cloth and not solder to the mold (that is why solder is free of those elements). Aluminium molds really don't solder much anyway. Even those fancy swirl patterns on the Lee mold block faces wipe clean easily. If lube gets in a cavity, ya got to stop, let it cool, and clean it -- unless yer real patient and want to let the casting slowly burn it away as you cast.
Ready to cast again when I get time.
prs
