Breakin proceedure
- Thread starter yomomma
- Start date
I clean it once with hot water/soap and or brake cleaner. Then start using it without the heating cycle. After 2 or 3 uses I get less rejects. I don't smoke my molds, they are to pretty to blacken.
Here is what noe molds recommends,
Here is what noe molds recommends,
New molds will sometimes have petroleum based cutting lubricant dried on them from the machining process. Sometimes it can be a real ##### to get them working if this is the case. I use a toothbrush and first scrub with penetrating fluid and then with dish soap/water to remove the penetrating fluid. Rinse with boiling water.
Paraffin will make a mess of your molds in a short period of time, as I have experienced. Try ester automotive air conditioning oil, or if you can't find that the next best thing is synthetic 2 stroke engine oil. The absolute best products for mold lube. The ester oil will leave no burned brown residue at all, tge 2 stroke oil will eventually leave some residue. Judt keep it out of the cavities. Apply it when the mold is hot. Also with bullets in the cavities, I coat the top of the mold blocks and both sides of the sprue plate. Keeps lead from sticking to the surfaces.
It's sample bottles of Bullplate sprue lube. It's thicker than plain oil. I'm pretty sure I read on cast boolits once that its actually mixed with stp oil treatment. Never tried to make my own though. I bought a 1l bottle of syn. Oil for making boolit lube and tried it by itself. Works just as goid as the Bullplate. I use the ac oil now though since I had a full bottle of it in my tool box already and it does work better. It creeps like mad though so use it very sparingly.
I've used 2 stroke oil of several varieties. They all worked. Synthetic is better.
Aluminum molds are easier to damage than iron molds and will last longer with a bit more attention paid to lubing. I lube the plate and top of the mold sparingly with a q tip and wipe off the excess with a clean rag about every 50 pours. Do this after you cut the sprue and before you drop the bullets, that way you don't get any oil in the cavity. Contaminating the cavity will mess up your bullets for several pours otherwise.
Aluminum molds are easier to damage than iron molds and will last longer with a bit more attention paid to lubing. I lube the plate and top of the mold sparingly with a q tip and wipe off the excess with a clean rag about every 50 pours. Do this after you cut the sprue and before you drop the bullets, that way you don't get any oil in the cavity. Contaminating the cavity will mess up your bullets for several pours otherwise.
Thanks for the tip. Hasn't been a problem thus far but I can see it starting to kinda bake on.
