Lee Pro IV question

[Old Scribe]

I started casting some 269-163FN (Noe mold) today. Firsst time with this particluar brand of mold. Noe says aluminium molds should be cast under 600 degrees. My bullets were comming out just fine until I let the lead get down to 610 and then the spiggot clogged up. Ran the temp back up to 630, unplugged the spout and the lead ran ok again. My boolits are comming out good except for they are frosted at 630 degrees.
Any suggestions?:groner:

[OuchHot!]

I had problems with the pizzle on my pro-melt freezing and wrapped it with a "scarf" of glass insulation. I don't think will be too easy with the lee because of the valve assembly. That said, I've never had trouble with the lee pizzle freezing. Probably because I run it higher temps. That is the first I've heard that Noe wants the lead that cool. Are you sure that he meant 600F lead? I can see that 600F mold temp would be a problem but 600F lead temp sounds too low to me. I would say I have been abusing my Noe molds! Frosting isn't, to my mind, a bad thing but it is related to mold temp which you can adjust by tempo.

[Mike W1]

I started casting some 269-163FN (Noe mold) today. Firsst time with this particluar brand of mold. Noe says aluminium molds should be cast under 600 degrees. My bullets were comming out just fine until I let the lead get down to 610 and then the spiggot clogged up. Ran the temp back up to 630, unplugged the spout and the lead ran ok again. My boolits are comming out good except for they are frosted at 630 degrees.
Any suggestions?:groner:

Calibrate your thermometer, it's gotta be off. Lowest I've ever cast since adding a PID was 635° and they were shiny. Also if you don't have a PID you'd be amazed at the temperature variation that occurs without one.

[Old Scribe]

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm going to cast some more tomorrow-if it doesn't get too hot out- and calibrate my thermometer first.

[el34]

A PID does a world of good for the 4-20, imo. All my aluminum molds really are happy in the 700-720 range (pot temp). When you're happy with your thermometer it might be interesting to leave it in the pot and keep an eye on it. That knob is NOT a thermostat.

[VHoward]

That knob is connected to the thermostat. The thermostat on a lee pot is a simple thermomechanical switch. It is not very accurate and is hard to get small adjustments from it. Adding a pid to it gives the user better control over tempurature.

[tazman]

I started casting some 269-163FN (Noe mold) today. Firsst time with this particluar brand of mold. Noe says aluminium molds should be cast under 600 degrees. My bullets were comming out just fine until I let the lead get down to 610 and then the spiggot clogged up. Ran the temp back up to 630, unplugged the spout and the lead ran ok again. My boolits are comming out good except for they are frosted at 630 degrees.
Any suggestions?:groner:

The sticky I read on the NOE website written by Swede suggested lead temperatures between 700-725 degrees with a mold temp of 350-380 degrees. Under 600 sounds a lot low for lead temp and too high for mold temp.
Here is the link to the thread.
http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index.php?topic=2.0