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UweJ
02-19-2007, 01:27 PM
Yesterday afternoon I figured it was time to cast some boolits.I went out to the shop and loaded my Lee 20pounder with ingots.
Since it usually takes 20 to 30 min.to melt I was gonna get me a cup of coffee.When I thought the time was over I headed back out to the shop and I could already smell that something has gone very wrong.
Somehow the valve opened up and I had the whole load all over the loading bench and the floor.Good thing I didnīt have anything flamable around.
Sure tought me a lesson .

Ricochet
02-19-2007, 02:01 PM
I could see this one coming. My Lee pot for years has drizzled steadily, coating my loading bench, the surrounding floor and a lot of my clothes and shoes with pretty little sparkles of shiny lead. Lately I thought I'd gotten it mostly under control. Last night when I was casting those #429244HPs, several times it just cut loose a gusher of lead. Had to jam an ingot mould under it fast and grab a screwdriver. Several pounds rushed out in a few seconds, once overrunning the Lee ingot mould and running over on the base of the pot and table top. Twiddled the plunger rod around a little with the screwdriver and it completely stopped. Had the gusher occur three times, I think, with no dripping whatsoever in between. It's all or nothing now. Speaking of nothing, three times the spout froze on me, too.

454PB
02-19-2007, 02:41 PM
Have you cleaned the metering rod and spout lately, Ricochet? What you describe is a symptom of a dirty, clogged spout.

I get the occasional minor drip characteristic of the Lee pots, but no runaways like that.

UweJ
02-19-2007, 02:42 PM
I had a mold laying next to the pot,half engulfed in lead. Took ha hammer and a chisel zo get it back out. The handles were a bit charred but otherwise still in good condition.The wife sure had something to nag about.LOL

44man
02-19-2007, 03:07 PM
Sounds like a big plus for a ladle and is the reason I removed the junk and plugged the hole.
Now I can laugh at you bottom pour guys, HEE, HEE.

Ricochet
02-19-2007, 03:14 PM
Laugh away, 44man.

Yeah, I need to empty out the pot (shouldn't be too hard) and clean out the spout and valve.

UweJ
02-19-2007, 03:24 PM
"He who laughs last."But Iīd have a hard time juggeling 3or4 molds at the same time plus a laddle.

7br
02-19-2007, 06:10 PM
I have taken to putting my pots in a stainless steel pan like what they use in buffet lines. The next time I have an overrun, I may have a few splatters, but it will be mostly contained.

kodiak1
02-19-2007, 09:39 PM
Set mine in an old cookie sheet if I ever had one like that it should hold it all easily.
How did your pot fair? Was wondering if it got to hot?
Ken.

Buckshot
02-19-2007, 09:40 PM
............Well congratulations UweJ ! The brotherhood just gets tighter and tighter all the time. This is one of those things that WILL happen once eventually, like having a major episode with the Tinsel Fairy (little ones don't count as that's only like getting a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign).

Happened to me many years ago. The pot sat on a Formica countertop and the floor was linoleum. Turned it on and went to do something. I'd refilled the pot when I'd finished casting the last time so it was plumb full. I remember seeing some wisps of smoke coming through the top of the kitchen door from the utility room were I did my casting.

I got there some time after the pot had completely drained itself onto the countertop, down over the cubboard door below it, and then had made a nice puddle about a foot across on the floor. The countertop under the lead was black and all wrinkled up, the veneer on the one cabinet door was blistered up and the linoleum was melted, blistered, buckled, and smoking.

................Buckshot

44man
02-20-2007, 01:07 AM
No, I won't laugh again. Buckshot, that was tragic!

John Taylor
02-20-2007, 09:51 AM
It always happens to someone ells until it hits you. A couple of friends were casting and one of them put his cup of coffee on the shelf over the pot. When the cup slid off the shelf and landed upside down on the pot the 2 just had time to turn their face away.

Junior1942
02-20-2007, 10:16 AM
I have a rusty old cake pan about 20"x20"x2" and I put my pot in it. I do that mainly to catch all the tiny pieces of leftover lead that always accumulates.

44man
02-20-2007, 01:39 PM
Junior, you must be as old as me. Been a long time since I seen a cake pan made out of anything that rusted.

Nueces
02-21-2007, 12:41 AM
I once had a 'near-tinsel' experience. I lived in a second-story garage apartment and there was a carport roof outside the 'dining area' window. One afternoon, I wanted to flux my Saeco pot, so I carried it through the window, out onto the carport roof, and plugged it in to heat. Beautiful Texas spring day, I'm wearing cutoff jeans, no shoes or shirt. Sitting inside, I noticed the occasional rain drop splat on the carport roof. OH, CRAP!!

Scrambled out there and bent over the now molten lead to keep rain out of it. Lifted the pot and started duck-walking back to the window, before noticing the sweat running down my tummy, looking for a good place to drop off. OH, CRAP!!

I am now an authority on the ideal tummy angle required to 1) cast a shadow on your feet, while 2) keeping running sweat drops unreleased until they reach the belt line.

Now, when I think someone has been stupid, I think of my having gotten away with this. No, I don't, but I should. :roll:

Mark

44man
02-21-2007, 08:53 AM
A drop of sweat or water falling into the pot would just vaporize on the surface. You would get sprayed with steam if you are close. What is dangerous is water under the surface, like a wet WW. That steam blows lead out with it.

MT Gianni
02-21-2007, 10:39 AM
A good tinfoil hat can cover a pot and help prevent oxidization. Gianni

Scrounger
02-21-2007, 12:01 PM
A good tinfoil hat can cover a pot and help prevent oxidization. Gianni

Think CarpetMan would lend us his...or show us how to make them?

leftiye
02-21-2007, 06:31 PM
Shucks, I really musta missed something! Being brain dead, no one monitors my brain waves. Before I became brain dead though- if I remembers right, no one paid any attention anyway. D-mmm!