Loose Sprue Plate: quick "fix" vs. doing it correctly

[walterlaich]

I look at Lee molds as a "kit"

they need a bit of work to maximize their usefulness

one thing with the 6-gang molds is the sprue plate screw comes loose quite often.

My "correct fix" is to drill a hold into the sprue plate hold from the side, tap it and put a set screw in it. Might put a small piece of lead in first to keep from buggering the spur plate screw threads

▲ easy to do but sometimes I get lazy and put the off then need to cast with the OEM mold

my solution here is to draw a line on the top of the sprue plate screw. I use a marker to make it stand out and draw it parallel to the side of the mold. Then it is easy to see when it moves and I just give it a quick tightening and back to casting, promising myself I'll put the set-screw fix in tomorrow.

sometime tomorrow never comes and I just darken the line in at the beginning of the next casting session

[Fyodor]

Use a brass washer between sprue plate and screw head to reduce friction. This might already help.

If it doesn't, you could also put a light center punch tap somewhere into the threads of the screw, and make it self locking. Start with a light tap, and increase strength until enough tension is there to keep it from moving. Do that close to the top, it needs only half a turn into the thread to work, but that way it's easier to remove.

If the handle/primary cutting lever screw loosens, that is held by a nut, I believe. There are all metal, high temperature self locking nuts available. They are ideal for places where a nut can't be torqued down because it still needs to be able to move.