Bullet mold oops

[bernie]

I recently got an RCBS .41 210 gr. SWC mold. I made a small batch and went back to make a second. I set the molds in the pot for a second and got called away from the pot by my granddaughter. She is two and really cute. When I went back, the molds were crazy hot. Like, the bullets would not harden in the mold, they stayed molted for a long time. After they cooled off, now the sprue plate barely moves. You really have to pound the snot out of it to get it to move. What have I done? Have a bent the sprue plate possibly due to the heat?

 

[edwardware]

More than likely you cooked the lube off the sprue pivot, and possibly galled it for lack of lube.

Unscrew the pivot (heat it to help if you need to), clean it off, smooth any galling, and reassemble with just a sniff of 2 cycle oil on the pivot and stud.

 

[LOLBELL]

What he said ^^^

 

[kcofohio]

More than likely you cooked the lube off the sprue pivot, and possibly galled it for lack of lube.

Unscrew the pivot (heat it to help if you need to), clean it off, smooth any galling, and reassemble with just a sniff of 2 cycle oil on the pivot and stud.

^^This^^
Sprue plates can handle more heat than molten lead.

 

[Cannibul]

Or you got lead under the plate.

 

[garandsrus]

There should be a set screw on the side of the mold that you need to unscrew before the top sprue plate screw will move.

I doubt you messed anything up permanently.

 

[243winxb]

warped. Lyman or any iron moulds.

 

[Thomas Mayberry]

I've never placed my mold IN the pot, rested it on the lip only. Now I use a cheap hot plate to pre-heat or maintain the temperature of my molds.

 

[bernie]

An update to my original post. I took it apart and put a drop of two cycle oil on it, it was not galled at all. Now it works great, but I cannot keep the bolt that holds the sprue plate on. How can I keep it from backing itself out?

 

[BigBlue 94]

Stake the threaded hole like an AR gas key, then carefully file the surface smooth. Stake it just enough to put a little tension on the bolt.

 

[243winxb]

I cannot keep the bolt that holds the sprue plate on. How can I keep it from backing itself out?

No set screw on the side to lock it? http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?289550-RCBS-Sprue-Plate-Screws-Loosening

 

[bernie]

I feel like a total idiot. Yes. There is a set screw! That seems to have fixed it. Thank you, Sir!

 

[kcofohio]

I feel like a total idiot. Yes. There is a set screw! That seems to have fixed it. Thank you, Sir!

Don't feel bad. I have missed set screws on machinery tooling while disassembling. Darn, no wonder it came apart hard.
I have a few Lee molds. And the 1st time I went to clean them up after use, I forgot the sprue plate screw was left handed, even though the mold engraved with LH, for left-hand thread.