Ludlow mold 12 point to 6 point
I been putting this off for a long time. I have Ludlow rule mats, and I was thinking if I changed from my 12 point mold to a 6 point mold I could cast a lot of rules and not have purchase rule lead strips.
Is it hard to change the mold, I did it back in the 70s, but I remember all you do is, unscrew the top mold bolts and unconnect the two holes.
And replace the mold with the 6 point and replace the screws and connect the two hoses. Am I correct or is there something I over looked?
its that easy, I always use the 6 point rarely do I ever cast anything with the 12 point mold.
If I remember rightly our engineer told us that the temperature on the pot has to be raised when going from 12 to 6.
I do run my pots about 550 to 560, and run the mouthpiece a tad higher.
Going to change it out and see what happens. I think my setting are 550 right now.
Aaron:
Make certain you clean off any metal chips or other dirt on the back of the mold block and the mounting surface. Sometimes when removing one mold, a flake of typemetal can fall off and would raise the mold slightly, causing mis-mating of the mold and mouthpiece.
The change is quite easy and, for most people, can be done without fault.
John Henry
Yesterday, I changed the mold, took less time than writing this post. Cast a test, it work great. Cast about 50 rule 6 point slugs it worked great. Cast two 36 point Caslon Italic lines worked great.
Casted a blank slug and it didn’t like that. Metal went every place.
Now, I casted the same test blank at first. Was it just too hot at that point?