Care To Explain Cleaning A Lead Pot With Water?

[Foto Joe]

I've read on here that some folks clean they're pot with water, or maybe my mind just made that up for me I'm not sure.

If so could someone explain how you go about doing it? Dawn dishwashing soap maybe and your been home too long teenagers toothbrush? Or maybe I'm just imagining I read it.

[Bzcraig]

Here is a link to a thread with some talk about pot cleaning but no mention of water. Hope this helps.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?201647-Thoughts-about-drip-o-matics&p=2243964#post2243964

[GP100man]

Pour all the lead out ,let it cool then fill 1/2 way with water & bring it up to hot water add dawn if ya want but I don`t
scrub out with a brush I use a bronze brush on a wooden handle .

Pour out the crude & rinse a second time . Nows a good time to lap the valve a bit & ensure the spout is clear.

[rexherring]

Clean your lead pot??????????? Never happened to me in over 40 years of casting yet.

[blikseme300]

Clean your lead pot??????????? Never happened to me in over 40 years of casting yet.

Exactly my experience. I top the pot up at the end of every casting session so the pot is never empty. To me it sounds like cleaning the pot is a solution looking for a problem to solve.

[Skip62]

I had a stuff in my pot that shouldn't have been there and runfiverun said
to clean the pot just boil some water in it.
then take a wire brush on your drill and buff out the sides of the pot.
wear a mask of some sort and don't breathe the dust.
I would do a quick lap of the pour spout and rod while you got it there.

Worked like a champ for me.

[ku4hx]

I tried it once maybe thirty years ago and found it to be an undesirable method. Afterwards I had a hot watery slurry to dump somewhere. After that I just started using a long handled blade screwdriver, very coarse wire wheel on a variable speed drill and finally my shop vac. Takes less than ten minutes and I just suck up the debris.

[338RemUltraMag]

I have a yellow brown crud in my pot, but it isnt hurting me so I aint hurting it.

[Foto Joe]

The reason for the question was this:

Being EXTREMELY new to this I smelted a little over 100 lbs of WW's into ingots. The pot really doesn't look too bad and I have scraped all the gunk off the sides but there is still that brown residue that I wouldn't mind getting rid of before my molds show up someday. Yes I know, DON'T SMELT WW'S in the pot you're going to cast from!!! But....that's all I had available and did I mention "I'm new?" The bottom line is I'm bored because my molds won't be here for another week (I finally found some that weren't backordered at Natchez) and I'm looking for something to do. My wife claims I suffer from "Leisure Sickness".[smilie=1:

[10x]

The reason for the question was this:

Being EXTREMELY new to this I smelted a little over 100 lbs of WW's into ingots. The pot really doesn't look too bad and I have scraped all the gunk off the sides but there is still that brown residue that I wouldn't mind getting rid of before my molds show up someday. Yes I know, DON'T SMELT WW'S in the pot you're going to cast from!!! But....that's all I had available and did I mention "I'm new?" The bottom line is I'm bored because my molds won't be here for another week (I finally found some that weren't backordered at Natchez) and I'm looking for something to do. My wife claims I suffer from "Leisure Sickness".[smilie=1:





Rule # 1 do not use your casting pot to smelt wheel wieghts
Rule # 2 - see rule 1

[mdi]

For me and my Lee pot, wire brushing the interior has worked fine. It's just a steel pot and it's just lead and slag, and residue from fluxing. Nothing weird or hard to handle, just brush the interior with a steel or stainless steel wire brush, with a hand drill, dremel, or by hand...

The warning about not smelting is because the raw/dirty lead can/will leave grit/gunk/dirt/sand/etc. in the pot and may get into the needle valve and cause it to stick open. It doesn't take but a very small flake of dirt, slag, etc. to turn your pot into the dreaded "Drip-o-matic"..

[Hounddog]

I stopped having problems with my lee pot when I stopped emptying it out when I was done with it. I always leave it at least half full and haven't had a problem since.

Hounddog

[doctorggg]

I have an RCBS Pro Melt that has developed an occasional drip (every couple of minutes) after 1 year of use. I have cleaned it once in that time. I generally never let it get empty. Clean or ignore it?

[captaint]

Doc - I generally clean my Pro Melt once a season. After emptying, I use water and a "green pad" and some sort of soap. Only takes a couple of minutes. Take apart the valve rod & handle, pull the valve rod and clean up the end a little. Might want to spin it in the opening some, fairly slowly, no speed required here. Re assemble and enjoy. Mine never drips, just saying. Mike

[Texantothecore]

The last thing I do before shutting down is bring the pot back up to about 20 lbs of molten lead or so. I have never had a problem with dripping. It is a bottom pour pot.

[PS Paul]

The reason for the question was this:

Being EXTREMELY new to this I smelted a little over 100 lbs of WW's into ingots. The pot really doesn't look too bad and I have scraped all the gunk off the sides but there is still that brown residue that I wouldn't mind getting rid of before my molds show up someday. Yes I know, DON'T SMELT WW'S in the pot you're going to cast from!!! But....that's all I had available and did I mention "I'm new?" The bottom line is I'm bored because my molds won't be here for another week (I finally found some that weren't backordered at Natchez) and I'm looking for something to do. My wife claims I suffer from "Leisure Sickness".[smilie=1:

Aha! NOW this makes better sense. Obviously aware of your misstep, cleaning would be a terrific idea, IMHO.

I like the idea of water and wire wheel/brush. Especially with a bottom-pour......

[PS Paul]

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum, FotoJoe!! Nice post. Looks like you live in a pretty cool and "shooter-friendly" part of our country, obviously you'll find LOTS of great guys and good suggestions in the forum.

PSP

[Foto Joe]

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum, FotoJoe!! Nice post. Looks like you live in a pretty cool and "shooter-friendly" part of our country, obviously you'll find LOTS of great guys and good suggestions in the forum.

PSP

Cool yes, especially in February. That's why I go down to Texas and stick my nose back in the oil patch in the winter. The problem with Texas is that there isn't anyplace to shoot, unless you want to drive 50 miles and then pay to shoot at an indoor range and of course as soon as your brass hits the floor it belongs to them. That means at least six months of not shooting so when I get back to Wyoming I go a little nuts with pushing lead out of the barrel and also why I'm now setting up to start casting, hopefully I'll have a couple of molds this week.

As far as learning is concerned you are spot on. Forums like this have allowed ignorant people like me to expand our knowledge by stealing (borrowing so to speak) the ideas and procedures of those like yourself. A year or so ago if someone would have asked me if I'd ever cast boolits I'd have laughed at them but given the availability of components anymore you really don't have a choice do you? I went searching for Hornady XTP's yesterday to load for test firing self defense rounds in a new S&W Compact 1911 and was blown away that after hitting five gun shops in Cody that I couldn't even find a .452 of ANY kind let alone a SD bullet. Therefore the Compact 1911 will be carried with ball ammo until I can happen upon some decent SD projectiles that I can at least see if they'll feed.

[Elkins45]

My wife claims I suffer from "Leisure Sickness".

Well, then, you've come to the right place! Welcome to Cast Boolets. We're a support group for this particular malady.

[doctorggg]

Doc - I generally clean my Pro Melt once a season. After emptying, I use water and a "green pad" and some sort of soap. Only takes a couple of minutes. Take apart the valve rod & handle, pull the valve rod and clean up the end a little. Might want to spin it in the opening some, fairly slowly, no speed required here. Re assemble and enjoy. Mine never drips, just saying. Mike

Thank you for the advice. I didn't think a Pro Melt should leak. Greg