Quick question....

[45pro]

Does the lee 20# pot get hot enough to boil or heat the WW lead up to the point it creates toxic lead fumes? I've seen some ppl here just turn it all the way up and start casting.

[462]

Quick answer: Nope.

[GaryN]

None of the pots do.

[cbrick]

I've seen some ppl here just turn it all the way up and start casting.

And some people jump off the roofs of tall buildings . . . Don't make it right just cause they do.

Perhaps you should get a thermometer, alloy temp of 700 degrees is plenty. It's mold temp that's critical anyway, not pot temp.

Rick

[runfiverun]

some of the lee pots will get it pretty dang hot.
when i got my first one it would barely get the lead over 630*.
once i figured out that the contacts were somewhat adjustable i started messing with them.
i was able to get the lead up to nearly 1,000* [which is below the point where it would start to give off "fumes"].
i adjusted back the other way and it's max temp is now 800*.

[looseprojectile]

You can bet your life that any electric pot will not boil lead.
That doesn't make it necessary to run it full out.
I run my pot a couple of hundred degrees over the melting point and keep the mould hot.

Life is good

[williamwaco]

If you don't have a thermometer, use a small piece of scrap candle wax. As the pot heats up, after the metal melts, toss in a pea sized piece of wax and stir the metal. The wax will smoke like crazy. you can ignite the smoke and it will burn if you like. At somewhere between 650 and 700 degrees, the fumes will self ignite. At that point it is as hot as it needs to get and is ready for casting.

A little experimenting will teach you the dial setting for this temperature. ( It will be different for each pot )

Or, you can buy a thermometer from NOE here on this board. It is a good thermometer and less expensive than the Lyman.

And yes, I agree that sawdust is a better flux, but I can't measure temperature with sawdust.




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