Mold Problem, need advice

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

My Lee six-cavity mold has small splaters of lead imbedded inside faces of the aluminum blocks that prevent the two halves from closing completely.

The faces have a "micro-knurling" that I'm afraid I'll damage if I scrape the splaters. How can I remove the lead without damaging the faces of the blocks?

Gary Van Kauwenbergh
114th ILL Vol Inf

[R. McAuley 3014V]

CENSORED

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that I did try alcohol soaked cleaning patches, but that didn't seem to do any good. Then I grabbed a dental pick and as soon as I touched it to the surface, I backed off and posted to the bulletin board.

I did some googling and read about some folks using acetone and brake cleaning fluid to clean with. If this were a set of Lyman steel blocks, I'd gentle scrape it off, but it's really imbedded in that knurling or what ever you call it on the block faces.

I love my six-cavity molds, but I don't like paying for new ones...

I'm thinking about a couple drops of Kroil (penetrating oil), letting it sit over night, followed by a bath in my ultrasonic cleaner. Any other ideas?

Gary Van Kauwenbergh
114th ILL Vol Inf

[RaiderANV]

This has happened to mine for years and I've always just used a razor blade and scraped it off with no problems.

[Edwin Flint, 8427]

I have used a freezer to loosen the lead. The aluminum and lead cool at different rates as they absorb/discard heat at different rates. 5-10 minute is the freezer usually loosens it up so that a brass scraper I have allows me to flake it off.

If firmly in there, I let it freeze then watch it as it cools. Same principle applys by periodically using the pick to flake it off. No damage to the mould.

[Lou Lou Lou]

Try using those round toothpicks. Run them in the groove and they will pop out the lead.

[Tom Magno, 9269V]

When I get lead on my mould where it doesn't belong, I heat the mould up until the lead becomes molten, then simply wipe it off with a damp cloth. Let cool completely, then recoat with mould prep.

Keep the damp cloth well away from your lead pot - danger.

Tom

[Paul Lampman 263V]

Keep a brass brush close by on your bench. When the lead gets too hot and smears or sticks to your mold, a light swipe with the brush will do the job.

[Mike w/ 34th]

The grooves on the mould face are to let air escape as you fill the cavity with lead. As long as you don't scratch into the mould cavity or raise a burr, it's not a disaster if they get a little scratched.

Someone will no doubt disagree with me. That's the beauty of the internet.

[Gary Van Kauwenbergh, 101]

Thanks for everyone’s advice. I also sent Lee Precision an e-mail asking for guidance.

Lee got back to me the next working day, and told me to “flick it off with the tip of your pocketknife”.

The freeze/thaw technique didn’t seem to work, neither did my Kroil (penetrating oil) soak followed by the hydro sonic cleaner. So I got out my Exacto knife and gouged it out as gently as I could.

As it turns out, that wasn’t all that was wrong. The male side of my front alignment pin moved enough to prevent the two halves of the molds from completely closing. It took me a while to figure that one out, but once I did, I gently pressed it back in using a vise.

I’m back in business. Thank you all for your advice, and Merry Christmas!

Gary Van Kauwenbergh
114th ILL Vol Inf