Big Magma Pots

[Mouseboy]

Anybody have the big 40 and 90 LB Magma Pots? I'm thinking of getting one, are you happy with it? :castmine:

[Dutch4122]

I've got the 40 pound pot and am very happy with it. One piece of advice though, tell them you want the SINGLE pour bottom spout when you order your pot. I have the double pour spout and have had problems with different flow rates from the two spouts; which cause variations in weight even from very high quality two cavity molds.

Hope this helps,

[Lee W]

More advice: Specify the voltage. I had to rewire to 220 when I got my 40lb'er. Bummer

[44woody]

Mouse boy I have 2 of the 40 lb magma pots they are well worth the money you will pay for one one of the best things about them is you can add a 5 lb ingot to it and not have it freese up at the spout on you like some of the pot's I have had in the past and keep right on casting with it and not loose any time with it as far as the double or single spout goes I have both of them so I can cast with 1 or 2 cavity moulds on my master caster now if you are going to use let say lee 6 cavity moulds just get the 40 lb pot and have a stand made for it so you can use those kinds on moulds if you need any help in building a stand pm me I will be glad to help you :castmine: 44Woody

[RANGER RICK]

I have and use the 90 pound pot a lot . Just finished a round of casting .
No problems what so ever .
Go for it .

RR

[Mouseboy]

Mouse boy I have 2 of the 40 lb magma pots they are well worth the money you will pay for one one of the best things about them is you can add a 5 lb ingot to it and not have it freese up at the spout on you like some of the pot's I have had in the past and keep right on casting with it and not loose any time with it as far as the double or single spout goes I have both of them so I can cast with 1 or 2 cavity moulds on my master caster now if you are going to use let say lee 6 cavity moulds just get the 40 lb pot and have a stand made for it so you can use those kinds on moulds if you need any help in building a stand pm me I will be glad to help you :castmine: 44Woody

Thanks!

Which one should I get the 40 or the 90?

The only downside to the 90 I see is it must use a TON of electricity

[RANGER RICK]

I am not sure how much electro it uses but being 220 it sure helps plus I only run it two hours at a time before fatigue sets in ......

RR

[3sixbits]

You know I was tempted to buy one as I own the Master Caster and thought this would be a great set-up for pre-heating to keep the flow up for the Master caster. But then I remembered that the cheap, neat way was to use my Coleman stove and the Coleman oven to keep the ingots in. It does not take long when the ingots are at 400 to 500 deg to get the pot back up to casting temp.

[kodiak1]

Bought me the 90 pounder with 220 and just fell in love with it. This is one big mother of a pot and it sure hold a whack of the silver stuff but you cast and cast and cast and cast and cast and cast, Well you get the picture.
Ken.

[44woody]

mouse I would get the 40 lb pot that runs on 110v they are alot easer to fix if they break down than the 90 pound pots are :castmine: 44Woody

[Springfield]

I just got the Magma 40 pound pot and I can cast for 3 hours using 2 Lee six cavity moulds and it keeps up fine. Don't see the need for the 90 pounder. Mine came in 110 volts even thugh I ordered the 220. Am going to re wire it, feel it will work better . Some tell me yes, and some say it won't make any difference, but I will just feel better about it if it is a 220. I love the 2 spigot pour, speeds up my casting. Instead of 1,1,1,1,1,1 I can pour 2,2,2. Just that alone uppped my volume from 800 to 900 an hour. With 2 moulds going I can do 1200. Never could do that with 2 smaller pots 'cause every time I ladled from one to the other the moulds cooled down too much. Now I just pre heat the ingots on top of the pot and just shove them in every few minutes.

[RANGER RICK]

The only advantage I see with the 90 pounder is you have more lead at temp for a consistance temp on the molds and when you add ingots it does not drop temp at all .
I also pre heat the ingots (15 pounders ) under the pot .
I run 5 molds at at time from 300 Grain through 1585 Grain , 3 to 6 cavity molds .
If your not going to run volume the 40 pounder will do just fine .
To fix a 40 or 90 pound pot there is basicly only to things to change , heating element and thermostat .

RR

[LAH]

Ranger Rick says: To fix a 40 or 90 pound pot there is basicly only to things to change , heating element and thermostat.

Creeker says AMEN

I have a 40 pounder and love it. The big 90 is tempting but if you're only casting for yourself, the 40 will be large enough.

[Mouseboy]

I'm shooting for 1,000 boolits per hour, using multiple 6 cavity molds and ingots. I know I probably wont hit that kinda production; but I don't want the pot to slow me down. Would this require the 90, or could I get away with the 40.

[kodiak1]

The thing that convinced me was the difference in price. It was peanuts and I wanted a big pot soooooooooo I went with that 90 pounder.
Hell I am sure there are times that I will only cast for an hour but if I like the bullets and the pot is half full I will still have the same alloy to work with. Mix up a 90 pound batch of alloy and start casting and is a mix you use all the time got to town.
Lots of times my son helps me he will run two moulds and I will run two moulds you want to see bullets pile up! Even with the ten pound pot but then you were always filling and waiting. This is one very happy caster.
Ken

[Springfield]

Mouseboy: I can do 1200 an hour with 2 Lee 6 cavity moulds and I can't outrun the 40 pounder. Just have to remember to keep shoving in the lead evey couple minutes or the level will drop before you know it. The main reasons I didn't get the 90 pound pot is I figured I would just be wasting electricity heating up that much lead if I didn't cast it all, and the warmup time would be longer.

[44woody]

mouseboy I would get a 40 lb pot you can add ingots to it and keep up with 4 of lee 6 cavity moulds easly I don't know how many bullets you can make in a hr running 4 moulds but it will be a bunch when running 4 moulds you will need a heat sink which is nothing more than a big piece of aluminum about 8x12x2 would be big enough to hold 4 moulds at one time :castmine: 44Woody

[Mouseboy]

:drinks:

Awesome responses, thanks all!

[LAH]

I'm shooting for 1,000 boolits per hour, using multiple 6 cavity molds and ingots. I know I probably wont hit that kinda production; but I don't want the pot to slow me down. Would this require the 90, or could I get away with the 40.

I'll not try & talk you out of a 90 pound pot. If you go that way remember you'll have to fashion your own mould guide.

Here's my findings for what it's worth. I use the 40 lb pot with 3 each 4 cavity iron moulds. I filled the pot and let the moulds pre heat on top the pot. I cast with one mould till it was up to temp and added the second mould to the rotation. Once the second was up to temp I added the third.

I kept an 8 pound hunk of alloy on top the pot at all times. When the melt level was low enough to hold the 8 pounder I added it and placed another on the pot to pre heat.

Using the 3 moulds in rotation I could do 20 bullets per minute which would be 1200 per hour. I couldn't keep this pace because of bathroom breaks, answering the phone to take orders and such but I did average 1000 per hour and mostly cast for 5 or 6 hours. The little pot had no trouble keeping up.

I used this pot over 4 years while running Dry Creek and put a few tons of alloy through it. It still operates as new. I feel the 90 pound pots are more for people who cast large sinkers and such. But like I said, if you want the big one get it. Heck I've got a 100 pound Ballisti Cast pot I'm thinking of removing from a casting machine for my own use.

[Arnie]

Those of you with the 90 pound Magma pot sholuld look at a few things on yours that i have had trouble with .Take the cover off the side of the pot where the thermostat is and make sure the spade connections are tight to the thermostat and also make sure the wires are crimped on real tight .These two items have driven me nuts till i found these to be loose . There is also a big crimped connector under the fiberglass loom comming out of the thermostat houseing .Mine must have come loose last week as it started arcing under the loom and made the fiber glass to catch on fire .When i got it all under control and unplugged i cut the loom open and this big copper crimped connector was melted to the point there was no way to reattach the wire except soldering . It also melted one of the other two wires in two and it gets so hot under there that the rubber insulation on the individual three wires coming from the 220 source is brittle now . All i can say is a very weak person must have assembled mine and didnt get any of the crimps tight . Arnie

[LAH]

Welcome to the board Arnie..........Creeker

[Arnie]

Thanks Creeeker ,I shoot allot of cast bullets but mostly in Black powder cartridge rifles at silhouettes and long range matches .I am pretty satisfied with the 90 pound Magma pot .It really works good when you are casting big heavy bullets since you dont run out of lead and dont have to dig down in the pot for lead if your using a ladle like i do . I also like the big surface area so you can just skim the dross out of the way and keep casting instead of constantly fluxing . I was a little suprised that the company guy i talked to on the phone wasnt abit concerned with the troubles i was having ,especially the time it caught on fire . I would have gladly have sent it back for a a major over haul if he would have offered or even suggested .Instead he just said not to leave it unattended . Im looking for another large one ,maybe in a 40 pound depending on the opening as i like the large surface area to work with .A company called Wagge makes a good pot from what i hear but its only about 25 pounds .Arnie

[MLR]

I am presently having Waage Electric make me one of their 25 lb pots. But if you go to their site you will find this.

"WAAGE Series MP Electric Melting Pots are commonly used for alloys with melting temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit . They can be equally effective for production or individual requirements. Sizes of 1 of to 500 lbs are available."

Michael

[LAH]

Thanks for the tip Michael, I'll check them out.............Creeker