How satisfied are you with your group buy mould purchases?

[Willbird]

I should have been clear that I was talking about INCHES not MM.

.001MM(1 micron) is a lot finer tolerance than .001"

Where I work now we make many automotive hubs and such, the dia where the wheel bearing press's on is held +- .008MM which is a darn tight tolerance for a roughly 2" dia......for us old guys thats .00031" if I did my math right. Where the wheel and brake roter fits on they give us a whopping +-.015mm which is .0006"...................runout of the bearing dia to the splined ID is held maximum TIR of .01MM which is .0004" again for us old guys.

The trained brain converts to English to get a grasp on the number, but then it forgets all over again, maybe the best way to get a tighter tolerance on our molds would be to spec them in Metric............ 30+ years around micrometers tells us that .001 is a zig zag rolling paper and that number is just hardwired to some extant.....reteaching your brain to not FREAK when it is .01MM undersized is darn hard...logic has to overrule emotion and do the math and realize it is only .0004" on a TURNED dia . basically holding what used to be OD grinder tolerances on a turning machine that will machine 600 parts easily in 7 hours. part of why it works is the automated gaging that adjusts the machine from the average dia of the last 3-4 parts machined.

Bill

[truckjohn]

I guess I kinda wish there were more categories for "satisfaction"

How can we tell Lee what to work on if everyone balks about something different.

A. Wait time / Delivery Unsatisfied -- A year is too long (I am still waiting after a full YEAR for some martini molds)

B. Price -- Very Satisfied. I am actually surprised they charge so little for a custom design.

C. Quality meeting the specs they said they would meet -- Mostly-satisfied. ( standard 0 - +0.003" dia, 0.002" out of round pass/fail, not Cpk)

D. Quality -- Making a mold that casts bullets meeting the customer's drawings given (C) -- Satisfied.

E. Quality -- Ease of casting, 1st try, no work on the mold -- Unsatisfied. They just don't cast right the 1st time.

F. Quality -- Basic mold structural design -- 50%. The sprue plate cutter on 6-cav is innovative. Choice of their specific aluminum alloys seems poor. Sprue plate holder downer bolt design shifts cavities and causes out of roundness. Fly cutter venting doesn't work right.

G. Working with the custom designer -- It sounds like the feedback loop between our honcho and their tool maker is broken. A question = back to the bottom of the pile with no consideration of calling the honcho. Of course, at a real custom shop, you pay extra for using their designers.

They could probably do some smart things and really get the quality up and costs low.... it would probably take a smart engineer and tool maker team to work it out, though. Not sure if their overall cost structure would support this.

We could probably entice a custom mold maker to do 6-cav group buys for us.
The problem is that it would cost us like $200/mold to get what we want vs $60.
Granted... we would get:
6-cavities that cast identical
Molds that are cut to print
Roundness
Proper venting
Delivery when they said they would
Molds that would drop boolits without any work
Precision cut to OUR specs
Tool maker feedback and actual customer service.

If Lee actually got the above worked out at current prices.... they would put NEI, LBT, Ballisticast, Magma, RCBS, Lyman, and Saeco out of business quick. Currently, that is just not going to happen....

Thanks

John

[Down South]

I've had some bad experience with Lee moulds from Lee. Mostly undersized boolits, some that were out of round from the mould. So, I never got on any of the Lee GB's.

[Down South]

You know, I don't know what happened here. I went reading some of the past replies and then saw the date. I was thinking that this was a recent thread when I responded but it's not. But it was up as a recent thread on the CB section. It must be something to do with the new server.

Guys, check the dates on this thread before you post. It has mold growing on it.

[RayinNH]

Down South. I got sucked into reading this thread too and then noticed it was three years old . Some of those Lee molds from back then are plumb worn out now...Ray

[lurch]

Yep - I noticed the title, voted, and then started reading. After just a few posts I thought, this can't be right, everything I've gotten has been pure perfection...then I noticed the date as well...

Never did get in on a Lee buy. Their production product soured me on them long ago.

[Larry Gibson]

I voted at 50% because several of the GB moulds cast too big. The 311041 and 311291 are good examples; they both cast out at .314/.315 on the driving bands and .302/.303 on the nose. They are great for .31 cals but I wanted them for my .30s and they are just too big for those. Would have been better to call them 314041 and 314291 and then I would have know what I was getting. My 429421 also cast very large at .434 with a hard alloy. For the rare revolver with large throats that might be ok but I size at .430 for my Ruger and Colt and those bullets just are too hard sizing in a 450.

It should be made quite clear in the thread whether it is for an oversize bullet or a standard size (as in what the same mould from Lyman, RCBS, SAECO, etc) drop them at. I know there is always a little variation but the GB moulds seem to be consistently oversize.

Larry Gibson

[SCIBUL]

I also have several LEE molds for years now. Some are single cavities, other are 2 opr 6 cav. The last i bought is a 6 cav. but the 6th one was bad milled. I took pics and sent them to LEE. They send me a new mold ten days later (in France)... I'm pleased

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

I'm happy with the GB's I've been part of, but only been in the past year . . . and I have bought most of them from MiHec (4, #5 just got paid for last night!) And one NOE.

[Blammer]

This is referring only to LEE moulds.

[GLynn41]

I have only been involved with one from Mia-- .41 cal cramer style and it is good to go-- well pleased what little problem we had he took care of

[BD]

I have six or seven of the Lee group buy 6 cavity molds, and a couple of the earlier two cavity group buys. In general I've been happy with them. The thing that finally stopped me from participating was the time frame. The last two took nearly a year. I can go on the Mountain Molds site and get exactly what I want most times, and have it in my hand in 3 weeks.
BD