mold lube

[dgb]

AS ANYONE USED FRANKFORD ARSENAL BULLET RELEASE AGENT ON ALUMIMUM ROUND BALL MOLDS?

DOES IT WORK THAN CANDLE SMOKE? DGB

 

[Many Klatch]

I've never seen any need to use anything in my molds either aluminum or steel. I smoke them once when new then forget about it after that. Some of the molds have done thousands of ball without ever being lubed. I like the K.I.S.S. approach to molding ball.

Many Klatch

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I bought some and gave it a try and it worked just fine. This is another alternative to smoking. Whatever works for.

 

[BrownBear]

Don't forget the need to lube the hinge, sprue plate pivot and alignment pins on Lee aluminum blocks, as in the Lee directions. I think they recommend using a silcon lube for that. I've done it to all of mine, but so long ago that I can't remember which lube.

But that's been a one shot deal too, if my long experience with Lee is any indicator. A buddy was having all sorts of probs with his Lee mould not aligning consistently or closing tightly, much less cutting a good sprue. Sure enough he hadn't lubed those points, and a quick lube job fixed his "problem" mould.

 

[jtmattison]

I smoke mine with wooden stick matches. Just a couple matches smokes them right up. They're cheap and way too easy for me to consider trying anything else.

I've never lubed my Lee moulds hinges or pins. It just didn't seem like a good idea to put lube in there where the mould gets so hot. Mine have never had a problem.

HD

 

[gmww]

I smoke mine with a candle. I haven't lube my hinges either. Seems to work so far over the years.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Most of us began casting before synthetic lubes were widely available. I had NO INTEREST in using a petroleum based oil to lube those hinges. They burned, and smouldered, and stunk up the shop.

However, the synthetic lubes now available are great, resist a huge range of temperatures, and seem to last forever. I would not hesitate to lube the hinges on a mold with a synthetic lube, particularly if that is what the manufacturer recommends.

Remember that the synthetic lubes came out beginning in WWII, when aircraft began flying at higher altitudes where the temperatures get down to -60 or colder! They have to have a lube that continues to allow parts to move freely, or the plane doesn't stay up in the air very long! Also, when it comes to parts of the engines, you have extemely hot temperatures internally, and extremely cold temperatures externally, so these lubes had to work across the range of temperatures.

I have spent a couple of hours of my life, taking screws out of molds to clean out the burned residue from petroleum based oils used to lube the threads of hinges on mold. Usually, we had to resort to Carbon Tetrachloride to get the stuff OFF! You don't want to breath in those fumes, either! But that is what it took to get the hinges working right again, back before we had better lubes. When I was doing most of my casting, all we had was matches and candles to smoke the molds.

If there is something available today that works as well, USE IT! Just remember that you can still get a mold to cast good balls, or bullets, without all that costly extra stuff.

 

[dgb]

thanks for the help. got a few used mold with no
instrutions at garage sale.dgb