Lee mold troubles

[mwells72774]

I've had this mold for some time and have never been able to get it to throw good bullets. Here's what I get. Any way to fix?

[Mike / Tx]

Well just looking at them I would say the mold was too cold for starters, and your alloy might need a bit more heat, and/or a bit of tin.

Here is what I would, or have done when I get bullets like those. First off I will usually clean the mold again with a tooth brush and some liquid detergent, in as hot of water as I can stand. After the mold has dried and I put a dab of lube under the sprue plate I try it again.

If it still throws wrinkled, I pour faster until I get them falling out frosted. If at that point they are still coming out wrinkled, I dump them all back in the pot, and I start adding in measured amounts of 95-5 solder to the pot.

I measure it so I can keep track of how much I added or might need to add later on. My strips are usually about 4" long. After I add one, I stir it up really good and pour some more. Again I make sure I pour them fast enough to get them dropping frosted. This way I know for sure and certain that my mold is up to temp.

If at this point they still do the wrinkles thing, I will add another 4" of solder. I do this usually three times and then I will grab another mold and pour that batch of alloy into something else. I don't like to waste the tin and I know from experience that if I start out with straight wheel weight alloy I should have VERY pretty bullets by this time.

With Lee molds however sometimes there is a period of conditioning, it might take cleaning them several times before you get all of the cutting oil out of the pours. Then just when your about to pound it into submission with a 4# hammer, they start dropping great bullets.

One last thing about Lee molds. When I first started out a few years ago, I read all about smoking the cavities. To date every one I DID smoke has been scrubbed clean. It isn't necessary once you have them cleaned and the oil out of the pores they will cast great just as they are. Plenty of folks still use something, but I gave it all up and just use them like they come now. To be honest I found out by personal experience that the "smoke" can and will induce issues that have you chasing your tail, as will not having enough tin for a good fill out, or not having your mold or alloy up to temp.

I sent one to another fellow here on the forum not too long ago. I poured up 10# worth about three days before I sent it to him and he got it just like I left it. Ready to cast with.

Hope this helps.

[mehavey]

1. Any lube, anywhere, will eventually migrate to the cavity. I recommend against it in favor of loosening the sprue plate sufficiently to give a clean swing. Holding the lead dipper spout against it during pour will provide uniform results.

2. Scrub the dickens out of the mold with a toothbrush/dish soap a few times. It needs to foam up well to indicate all the oil gone.

3. Preheat the mold on a hotplate (with another very small pot from WalMart over top of it to form a dutch oven) while the lead is melting. "Medium+" heat (4 out of 6 on the dial) is usually a good starting point.

4. Lead does not need tin to pour cleanly (at least to the point of eliminating the wrinkles seen here). Yes, a few (very few) % tin will brighten things up, but a lot of us cast an awful lot of pure lead in N-SSA work and get beautifully precise edges/grooves on things like Sharps buffalo slug projo's.

5. Heat the lead to ~750° and using a good lead thermometer, maintain it there.

6. For the first few bullets, pour excess molten lead onto the sprue plate as you pull the dipper off. This heats the plate up quickly to working temp. Once you get good clean/sharp bullet base edges you can revert to just a normal small puddle to allow for sucking down/shrinkage as things cool/solidify.

[skizzums]

As they said, just to cold. The ripples are the hot lead hitting cold mold and hardening before its full. I use a ten dollor side burner from walmart to keeps my mold at temp while im running

[Beagle333]

I'm thinking oil in it as well. I usually get wrinkled noses if it is too cold and wrinkles on the side and on the driving bands with oil contamination. I don't use oil on my sprue plate on some of my molds because as Mehavey says, it somehow always seems to get into the cavity. Not on all my molds, but some. I haven't figure out why it doesn't happen to all. But, on those that do, I just scribble on the top of the block and the bottom of the sprue plate with a pencil, as much as I can shade it in, and use that graphite for lube instead of any kind of oil. It works very well for me. There are lots of things to try to get rid of wrinkles. If your heat is right, try scrubbing with a toothbrush and Dawn as mentioned, and shade it as dark as you can get it with a pencil and get all the graphite powder sticking to the top of the mold as you can. That'll let the plate slide freely and also it won't matter if you get any in the cavity, it'll just become part of the bullet and you won't notice. You can also stop casting briefly and reapply new graphite with the pencil every now and again, since it goes on even better when it is hot. Be careful holding and scribbling on a hot mold though. Good luck!

[adrians]

Give that sucker a good cleaning and crank up the heat and keep it hot,,,

I Bet you see much better results,,
the hot plate idea is the way to go.

happy casting,,,,

[stubbicatt]

The only thing I say is if you heat lead to 750 degrees, IIRC, it starts to vaporize, and you risk inhaling lead vapors. Not healthy.

I agree that the bullets look like the mould was too cold.

I could be wrong, but I usually keep my melt at 700. I have found that using a dipper as opposed to bottom pour, it will make better bullets in longer cavities, such as the one you are attempting. This because the pour is faster.

Also, tin is your friend.

[mehavey]

900° is the "generally" accepted beginning of really long term exposure concerns.

Vapor pressure of lead kept at 750 is approx 0.000000007psi (You'd pretty much
have to snort right at the molten lead surface to get even a wiff -- and I'd advise
against that for all sorts of reasons)

See HERE:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post1323840
(particularly the hyperlinked vapor pressure chart)


Still... make sure you are well-ventilated just on general principles.


.

[snuffy]

Your mold is too cold. Never mind the lead alloy, it only needs to hit 700-725 degrees. Get that mold hot! It needs to be around 450 degrees to work right. THEN don't pause to admire or check each bullet. Get a move on, cast as fast as you can. One indication that your mold is up to temp is how long it takes for the sprue puddle to harden. Lead alloys go through a color shift when they first harden or freeze on the sprue plate. The first phase is shinier, then a couple of seconds later a duller look. The first phase should take 4-5 seconds. You will notice the bullet sucking a little bit of the sprue into the hardening bullet. That's how it's supposed to work, and is another indication that your mold is up to temperature.

And you may have oil left in the cavity(s). ANY new mold I get I put in a pot big enough for it to lay flat on the bottom. Then I submerse it in hot water, and a healthy squirt of dish washing detergent. It then goes on the gas stove burner,(or electric), bringing it to a boil. An old tooth brush then to finish the job. Let it dry after rinsing it very hot water.

The lee instructions are best put to use on the bottom of a bird cage . He always says to smoke the cavities, and to use some bullet lube to lubricate the sprue plate and mating pins. It always ends up in the cavities. A vendor over on the cast boolits forum sells what he calls bullplate lube. It's nothing more than SYNTHETIC 2 cycle motor oil. Ya know the stuff you mix in the gas? Get some, use it to lube the sprue plate hinge bolt, the underside of the sprue plate, and the alignment pins. Now don't get it dripping wet with the oil. Dip a "Q" tip in the oil, squeeze most of it out, then apply a light film to the mold surfaces. It's a high temp lube that won't carbonize and create a build-up in the mold. It's best done on a hot mold.