[kevinm]

Hi-

I let a mould get to hot and had the lead smear on the bottom of the sprue plate and top of the mold. Is there a method for removing this? I don't want to do any damage to the mold.

God bless
Kevin

 

[caster]

Kevin
  Get a flat carpeter's pencil and sharpen a chisel point on it.Heat up your mould and scrape the lead off. Then rub the top side of your mould and the bottom side of your sprew plate with the pencil to prevent ths happening again. Dont panic this wil happen again.
DO NOT use any kind of a metalic blade on your mould. You can also heat your mould and brush it off with a copper or brass brush.
 tbc

 

[William Iorg]

Carpenters pencil is a good tip.
I have used brown paper sack on the sprue plates of HOT molds with sucess.
Tongue depressers work pretty well too.

 

[kevinm]

Thanks guys. I guess you know what its like trying to get a few more bullets out of the mold before calling it quits;-)

God bless
Kevin

 

[Jack R]

kevinm,
I run into that problem a lot, it's caused by cutting the sprue too soon and not necessarily from the mould being too hot.I run my melt at full temp to get as much frosting on the bullet as possiable, it seems to hold a bit more lube in the rough surfaces.
I get smears when i get in a hurry and don't let the sprue puddle get firm enough. All the suggestions given here work very well, I use 0000 steel wool on a warm mold.

 

[beagle]

Kevin..With everyone using moly nowadays, I will normally spray both sides of the sprue plate several times with moly and let dry. I also do the mould top (after it has been cleaned) with two coats. This seems to prevent mould smear during one casting session. Next time around, it only needs one coat. In leiu of mould release, you can also spray the cavities and between the moulds. Then take a sharp, soft pine stick and go over all of the cavities to remove the excess moly. This will leave a highly burnished cavity and dropout is very much enhanced. Take the same stick and polish the mould faces and then clean the vent lines using a scribe or similar instrument. This treatment makes moulds really cast well and mould release is no longer require./beagle

 

[BCstocker]

I wear a pair of heavy leather rough out gloves when casting. If I get a little fast and get a smear of lead a guick rub on a hot mold with the gloved thumb removes the lead right now. Doesn't burn the glove and usually don't feel any amount of heat on my thumb. Works for me. besto.