Tried to make a sprue cutter...

[Maillemaker]

Well, having no luck contacting the fellow here who makes the sprue cutters, I tried to make one. You can see pictures here:

http://imgur.com/a/k9iEC

Sadly it does not work very well. It kind of skips of of the ball or otherwise grabs and wiggles the ball. Maybe if I made a block of wood with a hole cut in it to set the ball in, then I could push the cutter down into the ball from above.

Does anyone have pictures of the commercial sprue cutter?

Steve

[R. McAuley 3014V]

I use an upright 1" belt sander to "knock off" the sprues flush to the ball, and recycle the lead dust. Trouble with this method, like the "sprue cutter" you picture, they are both rather hazardous to one's fingers.

One of the gents with the 37th GA has a gismo made by a machinist friend of his that is made like the two interlocking halves of a movie reel cassette but of machined steel. The lead cast round balls with sprues are placed inside between the two halves, which has a centering device along with a handle permitting the larger outer half to turn and rotate against the inner half, and causes the balls inside to roll against the two inside smooth surfaces as well as against one another. From his description of how this device works, the sprues are flattened out and the device helps to make the balls perfectly spherical to a single uniform diameter. One possible improvement on this device may be to stipple the surfaces inside so they will roughen up the balls, for use with Alox lube coating.

[jonk]

With soft lead anyhow, putting the balls in a coffee can and shaking hard seems to uniform them pretty well.

Since I shoot hard out of my smoothbores, I've taken to marking the sprue with black marker so I always seat it the same way (usually down).

My personal feeling is that the sprue, while sometimes messing up loading (1-2X a year it turns sideways and jams) creates a drag stabilization effect that is beneficial.

Then again I've never gotten to experiment much with sprues removed.

It's a shame that the Lyman molds leave such a big sprue, Lee and Moose don't at least.

[Maillemaker]

I'm using an RCBS mold. The cut-off is tangential, but there is still a sprue. I'm casting out of wheel weight lead. I put them in my industrial rotary tumbler for 30 minutes or so and while they come out very smooth they still have their sprues.

Steve

[stubby8990]

I have one that work's well in a small drill or drill press at a slow speed. I have a Rapine 680 RB Mold. but can't seam to put a Photo of it up here.Have one on my I Phone I can send you. In a Text Message . PM ME A Phone number

[John Gaskill 3037V]

[QUOTE=Maillemaker;44309]Well, having no luck contacting the fellow here who makes the sprue cutters, I tried to make one. You can see pictures here:

http://imgur.com/a/k9iEC

Sadly it does not work very well. It kind of skips of of the ball or otherwise grabs and wiggles the ball. Maybe if I made a block of wood with a hole cut in it to set the ball in, then I could push the cutter down into the ball from above.

Does anyone have pictures of the commercial sprue cutter?

Steve[/QUOT
Measure the height of the sprue and then use a surface grinder to remove the same amount from the top of your mold. Worked for me.

[John Gaskill 3037V]

Measure the height of your sprue then use a surface grinder to remove the same amount from the top of your mold. Worked for me.

[Maillemaker]

Measure the height of your sprue then use a surface grinder to remove the same amount from the top of your mold. Worked for me.

My sprue plate cuts nearly tangential. If I reduced the height of the mold, there would be a flat spot on the ball.

http://i.imgur.com/QHk0MxM.png

On the left is what my balls currently look like. The sprue plate cuts tangential to the ball diameter, but there is a "collar" where the sprue is. If this were trimmed away entirely there would be a flat spot.

Steve

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

When I got my sprue cutter from Bob Elka, I used this e-mail address: custom.moulds@gmail.com,

I tried using it on a drill press, but I prefer chucking it up in a battery powered variable speed drill so I can feel what I'm doing.

If the e-mail address doesn't work, send me a PM, and I'll send you his snail-mail address.

[Greg Ogdan 110th OVI]

If you cannot get Bobby, try Mike Rouch, Miamivsutler.com.

[Joe Plakis, 9575V]

Can someone post a picture of a spru-cutter that actually works?

[Maillemaker]

I gave Mike Rouch a call and he's setting me up with one.

Basically the device is a cylinder with a concave, spherical end that matches the ball diameter, and then there is a groove cut across the face of the thing, forming a cutting edge in both directions.

Steve