Just cast my first boolits with a bottom pour lead pot!

[MBTcustom]

This may surprise some of you that I have, until now, never bought a bottom pour lead pot or even used one. I have since the beginning, 15 years ago, cast with a SS pot over a Coleman stove with a ladle. I can tell you ever nuance about using a Coleman stove to cast this way. I can tell within 25 degrees, what temperature the pot is running by the hiss of the gas. I know exactly how many hours I get out of a 3/4 tank fill. I have run probably several tons of lead over my Coleman stove, and countless gallons of gas have been burned in the pursuit of the silver stream.

Today, the brown Santa Clause arrived with my latest order from MidwayUSA. In the box was a Lee 20 pound production pot. I plugged it in, and proceeded to cast .738 round balls.

Oh my freaking word! What have I been doing all this time!

I filled the pot with Blackbike's range lead alloy, and commenced to cast up the most beautiful boolits. So much control! So quickly did it come up to temperature! My round balls had whiskers! They were so easy to make! The pot took up so little room!

I am absolutely enamored with this new piece of equipment. I think the Coleman is down for the count. I am sad to retire such a faithful piece of equipment, but it has been on its last leg for about a year now.

I just couldn't wait to post my good success. I figured that I would buy the 20 pound pot and try it. If it didn't work too well, then I was going to resell it at cost on S&S. Needless to say, that will not be necessary.

I should have done this years ago. I was just waiting for the Coleman to bite the big burrito, but I could have bought this lovely piece of equipment for the cost of 4 gallons of Coleman Gas. You guys talked me into it.

Thanks!!!!!!

[Bret4207]

Your happiness will last until that thing pours 20 lbs of alloy all over your bench top.

[Lizard333]

You results may vary. I love mine. I get the lee drip every now and again, but I'm very happy. Gear has a procedure to turn that pot into real gem. Might want to PM him if he doesn't chime in. Glad you love it! I have the ten and twenty, for to different alloys.

[dragonrider]

Welcome to the world of sensible casting, yes one day it will leak, one day it may pour you a 20 lb volcanic looking lump under the pot, but the ease of making better boolits faster is worth the trouble, besides it is simple to fix. Never, never, never use a petroleum distillate, or any kind of wax for fluxing, use sawdust only to flux and a wooden stick to stir it up and your pot will stay as clean as possible.

[MBTcustom]

Not to worry fellers! I know about lapping in the stopper and about making a heavier handle for it. I have heard about these for years, and even read up on the care and maintenance of them. Even with the limitations, this is going to whoop the heck out of the old Coleman.

[Lizard333]

Sounds like your in good shape then!! Congrats on the purchase from the "brown Santa Clause". I love that. I'm going to have to use that one.

[H.Callahan]

Your happiness will last until that thing pours 20 lbs of alloy all over your bench top.
Just keep a pie plate or a cookie sheet under it, and it be becomes an "aw shucks" moment instead of an "Oh, My God!" one.

[paul h]

I was fortunate as I got into casting when someone gave me a lee 10# production pot and a 44 cal 240 gr mold. Then my shooting buddy managed to persuade me to cast bullets for him, and he loaned me his Saeco 24. Hence I've always cast with a bottom pour and could never understand the appeal of ladle casting.

I think next year I might just plunk down and get a magma master caster.

[Mk42gunner]

The Lee 4-20 is also easy to use a ladle with. I have probably cast as much with mine by ladle as I have by bottom pouring.

While mine does drip a bit, it eventually builds up enough drip art to plug the spout. Once that is done no more mess, and it comes loose easily when you are done.

The thing I like about using an electric pot over using a coleman stove is there is less heat lost, making it more comfortable to cast with.

Robert

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

My wife just bought (ordered) an 80lb Waage pot for me for my birthday. Ask me about THAT in about two weeks.

Rich

[captaint]

goodsteel - Glad you're thrilled. If you don't have a Star yet, wait till you get one of them. You're going to be quite a while getting over yourself. Congrats... enjoy Mike

[MBTcustom]

I just cast up a couple hundred boolits. Amazing.
Do you realize that this is the first time in 18 years of casting that I have cast a boolit sitting down?
Wow. :violin::happy dance:

[Jailer]

If you like it now, add the temperature stability of a PID controller and see how much easier your casting can become.

[shadowcaster]

I just cast up a couple hundred boolits. Amazing.
Do you realize that this is the first time in 18 years of casting that I have cast a boolit sitting down?
Wow. :violin::happy dance:

I too... am totally satisfied with my lee pro 4 20 pound bottom pour pot! I run 2 of them side by side. I always have hot alloy ready to go that way.

Now try making your ingots, with a bottom pour smelting pot.. What a pleasure it is. :bigsmyl2:

Shad

[RobS]

Your happiness will last until that thing pours 20 lbs of alloy all over your bench top.

There are simple ways to keep that from happening..............and I'm sure you can say to not buy one as one of those simple ways. For me the lee 20 # pot works fine just keep it clean. After 3 or 4 casting sessions I empty the pot all the way out and clean it real well. I also clean up the valve spout and valve rod and put a small bit of bullplate sprue lube on things as I put things back together. This has worked well for me and mine doesn't drip other than the occasional drip when I let down the valve rod. The 10 # pot though is a different story and I often would have that sucker drip to the point of annoyance although cleaning it out and running a bit of sprue lube on the valve spout and valve rod when reassembling helps.

Placing an old kitchen pot underneith the spout if you are going to step away for a short bit will keep things safe should there be a dripping leaking mess and I would advise this with any furnace regardless of manufacture.

[MBTcustom]

So the pot just starts dripping/pouring all of its own accord? Strange. I wonder how many have had this problem who A: use wood chips to flux the pot, and B: install a heavier handle/spout weight.
I have had no problems so far. I'm sure they'll be comin' 'round the mountain when they come though.

[RobS]

I made my own valve rod, eyeballed the curvature on the end and then used lapping compound to seat the rod and valve spout to a water tight seal. And yes the pot can start dripping on its own when there is junk in the valve assmebly. The bolt top allows a person to add washers until the right weight is needed.

http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt206/RobS01/newvalverod.jpg

[RobS]

I've used both wax and wood chips/wood dust and with the new rod not any problems. Also my rod simply pulls out since it doesn't have the slit for the adjustment screw rather the base of the coupler is where the adjustment screw meets the new valve rod.

[tbhutton]

RobS - can you tell us the details (size and length of the pieces, and the bushing specs between the rod coupling nut and the bottom rod?

I just got a Lee pot, and would like to head off any spout issues.

Thanks!

[RobS]

I don't have the specifics right off hand; I'm at work right now. IIRC though the diameter of the rod is slightly smaller than the original and I cut threads on the top side of it that was the diameter of the smaller all thread coupler you see above in the picture. The smaller coupler I had to drill out half way and tap 1/4" threads so I could put in short piece of 1/4" all thread bolt (a cut down 1/4" bolt would do). I then used the second thread coupler with 1/4" threads and I believe I then drilled it out half way and cut threads for a 3/8th bolt. Screwed it all together. There may be couples that choke down from one bolt size/thead size to the other but I was simply used what I had in a junk bolt bucket.

[geargnasher]

You results may vary. I love mine. I get the lee drip every now and again, but I'm very happy. Gear has a procedure to turn that pot into real gem. Might want to PM him if he doesn't chime in. Glad you love it! I have the ten and twenty, for to different alloys.

He's a machinist, and a clever one, too. If anybody can keep it going right, he can. He'll probably have it re-engineered and rebuilt with tool steel inside of a week :-P

Gear

[Sonnypie]

So the pot just starts dripping/pouring all of its own accord? Strange. I wonder how many have had this problem who A: use wood chips to flux the pot, and B: install a heavier handle/spout weight.
I have had no problems so far. I'm sure they'll be comin' 'round the mountain when they come though.

Mine has on rare occasions dripped or dribbled.
All I have ever done was jiggle the handle up and down rapidly to clear the valve and it stops. Simple as that.
I have a SS condiment cup under mine mostly for if I over fill a mold in the heat of casting.
I use clean Lizard Litter to flux with. It's clean and consistent, and it has a nice hardwood smoke aroma that even the wife likes.
I have mine mounted to a big old aluminum tray thing I got at a Lions Garage sale for a buck or two. And that is mounted on the end of a lathe bed about chest high.
Less stooping over, and I can move around easier if I'm on my feet. (Oh, believe me, with my back I sit often when I can.)
But I like bottom pours for a lot of logical reasons.

Congrats on the big upgrade! :drinks:

[David2011]

Tim,

Thanks for the chuckle! I really enjoyed your post. While I admire the skill and relationship you developed with the Coleman stove, I'm so very fortunate that I was taught to cast on the RCBS that I'm using now and didn't have to go through your learning curve of pain. The RCBS furnace is at least 30 years old and still works perfectly.

Repeating myself, but one of the great additions to my casting bench was to cover it with a galvanized garage floor drip pan. Lead doesn't stick to it and it has a little lip to contain rolling boolits and runaway spout leakage.

David

[MBTcustom]

Thanks for the tip David. I wouldn't say that my learning curve was necessarily painful. Its just the way that I was taught, and it worked good for many many years, and many many thousands of rounds.
I have always cast with the same stove, I have always loaded with the same rock chucker, used the same vintage molds, and the same guns. Since I have found cast boolits there have been a few changes that have come to my setup.
I now have two blue progressive presses set up on my bench.
I am making my own FWFL and 45/45/10 instead of using the green RCBS lube exclusively.
I have built custom alloys instead of going strictly with WW alloy.
I have bought several new molds, one custom, and I have made about 10 of them for myself in my own shop.
I have taken casting for rifles to extremes that would make me faint in previous years (built and chambered in my own shop, my design, and my own wildcat) instead of thinking of boolts as being useful only for handguns.
More importantly than all of this, is that I have come to the realization that I do not know everything. I don't even scratch the surface with my knowledge.

Would you believe that when I signed up for cast boolits, I honestly thought I probably knew more about this subject than anyone else? I actually thought that I would help some of these fellas understand some of the nuances of this hobby.
Ha!!! again I say Ha!!! I didn't know (anything).
Here I thought I was a guru, and then I ran across folks like DocHighwall, 303Guy, Waksupi, Pdawgshooter, Longbow etc etc etc.
Didn't take me long to morph from a 1cup watering can to a truck sized sponge!

I'm just glad that there are still little details like the bottom pour pot that I am still grabbing onto and discovering one at a time, it makes it fun.

[Bret4207]

Violation of the TOS agreement- masked obscenity. This is a family site, keep it clean.

[MBTcustom]

Sorry Bret,
Its a very common and fairly tame expression and it was directed at myself, so I thought it was OK.
Post edited.

[sw282]

l cured 90% of the dripping on my 20-4 Lee pot w/red rubbing compound and a yellow DeWalt. With the pot empty l chucked the rod up inplace and added the rubbing compound to the pot. l then pressed the trigger on the Dewalt and started spinning away. l ran the drill until the rod was all nice and shiny on the end ...Cured the drips

[Bret4207]

Tim, I don't know about you, but the biggest issue I have with BP's is seeing the spout. I use a SAECO sometimes, which IMO is worlds ahead of the Lee I have. I've found I have to put a riser under the base and get the spout itself up to more or less eye level to do good work. To me that's the BP biggest real down fall. Hunting around blindly under the pot hoping to find the spout is a pain and so is having to squat and crane my head over and under to see it is worse. I like the simplicity of an electric pot, and I like the idea of not having to handle the ladle, but I'm still quite a bit faster with a ladle than a BP. Perhaps in time that will change.

[MBTcustom]

Tim, I don't know about you, but the biggest issue I have with BP's is seeing the spout.
Well, when I built my bench, I built it for standing (36" surface) so now when I sit in front of it, I am eye-level with the center of the pot. I can almost see the spout just sitting there. I messed with the mold shelf and I have gotten a good feel for sliding the mold right were it needs to go every time.
Try making a riser block for your pot. It might get your eyeball in a better position.
I definitely wear safety glasses when doing this though, as my eyes are in a position where splashes could mess up my whole day. Of course, I always wear safety glasses when I am in the shop as a matter of course, and I recommend anyone reading this to adopt this simple, cheap habit too, as you have only one set of eyes and almost everything we do can mess you up if a stray particle gets in your eye.

[Bret4207]

My SAECO already sits on a 6x6 hardwood block on a 42" high bench. It still needs to be higher! I'm hoping to piggy back both my SAECOs and when I do I will certainly brace the rig.

I should always be wearing safety glasses, but I don't. The way my vision is going I'll be in bifocals soon anyway. That'll fix that issue.

[David2011]

Tim,

I agree that we are very fortunate to have such knowledgeable people here to learn from. A lot of us know quite a bit but then there are the true experts as you mentioned. Like you, I have some serious machinery in my shop. I HOPE to be more like you some day in that I can do most anything on that equipment that it will do. I've taught others to thread barrels, drill and tap receivers, chamber and headspace, lap bolt lugs and so on but I'm a long way from being a machinist. My hair and beard are full gray and I look forward to the near future when I can transition from my current day job to fixin' other people's guns for a retirement job.

I feel kind of like a student teacher every time I make an instructional post. There's always someone watching that knows more.

David

[PuppetZ]

Got one of them 4-20 pot myself this monday. I must admit that we did not have the best of start. The thing kept leaking badly from around the spout. Turn out the nut holding the spout in place wasn't thightened. Not knowing better, I figured it must be how it's made. I filled the pot with ingot and plugged it in. I had cast about 4 boolits when things started to go south. Bad leak kept pouring lead all over the bench. Lucky me I had a few aluminum plates I use for the dross and sprue laying around. Had to break the thing appart to fix it. Now I just have to figure how to get that 20 lbs pancake back into the pot.....

Now that it's been fixed, I must admit that this thing is probably the best thing since they invented beer.

Frank

[Walter Laich]

I built a shelf for my bottom pour so I can better see when I'm casting. My PID sits under the shelf so I'm saving some room by using it.

w