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View Full Version : Lap my Lee 10#?



Mike W1
10-31-2015, 06:09 PM
One of my Lee 10# pots was dripping a lot more than necessary so I took some time today and cleaned it pretty thoroughly. Had always thought the taper on the plunger was the seal but it's evidently not and seals solely by the fit of the rounded end into the nozzle hole.

What's the best way to lap that rounded end of the plunger to that hole? Will try and stick a crude drawing on here. That wasn't all that good an effort but readible I guess.
152271

243winxb
10-31-2015, 06:25 PM
http://leeprecision.net/support/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/199/0/lead-pot-spout-leakage


Lead pot spout leakage
Posted by on 20 October 2011 01:36 PM



Leaking from the valve on a Production Pot is usually caused by dirt in the valve seat. Usually, twisting the valve rod side to side with a screwdriver in the slot provided at the top of the valve rod will solve the problem. One can also try fluxing the melter to remove these impurities.

The only home remedy that can be used is to lap the valve rod in place with valve grinding compound. This is available at automotive supply stores. Remember also to keep the melter clean by frequently fluxing. This will limit the amount of sediment that finds its way down to the valve seat. Due to the corrosiveness of lead alloys at elevated temperatures, it is quite difficult to keep the valve in perfect leak proof condition.

A slow drip can be considered normal after some use. If it is excessive, we can reseat the valve. Return your pot along with $8.00 to cover the cost of shipping and handling.

williamwaco
10-31-2015, 06:45 PM
I use a power screwdriver. During a casting session, when it starts dripping, I spin the rod for about a five count.

bstone5
10-31-2015, 06:50 PM
Lapping will stop the dripping for a while. Lapped mine many times.

Rotating with a screw drives usually greatly reduces the drip.

country gent
10-31-2015, 08:19 PM
Just like lapping a vavle coat with a medium fine lapping compound and work back and forth rotationally. Rotate 1/4 turn or so and work back and forth repeating this thru a couple complete rotations. You can ink the rod to check to see fit. It can be done assembled on the hanger if you dont do the rotations but its not as good a fit. It needs to be lapped with the rod at close to the same angle as when its working for best results. For this a simple plate 3/16" X 1" and long enough to have both the screw holes on location and a larger hole for the rod to hold it in location helps alot. A bushing would be better but would also need to be at the same angle as the rod. One plus is they do have a screwdriver slot for driving and watching the back ad forth rotations. Makes it easier. Start with a medium grit and then a fine grit to finish. Occassionally ink the rod and rub to see how well it is engaging the mating surface.

Mike W1
10-31-2015, 08:42 PM
Think I'll give it a try. Pots pretty old anyhow and I've got the stuff around to do it with. Hadn't thought about making a guide but that's quite do-able. Long ago fastened a bolt atop the plunger to attach a handle on as I didn't really like grabbing a screwdriver all the time.

bstone5
10-31-2015, 08:52 PM
I keep 600 grit Cloves lapping compound mixed to thin some with Marvel Mystry Oil in a small plastic squirt bottle.

Use this to lap threads and what ever, works well being thinner.

Started thinning to lap 22 RF barrels for an internal tapper when shooting BR-50 years ago.

gunarea
11-01-2015, 08:09 AM
Hey Mike W1
Now that you are there, here is a tweek. As you are now aware, the flow orifice and the valve rod are not aligned. With close attention to position of limit slot on the valve rod, a slight bend applied to only the small diameter portion of the valve rod will give a more correct valve and seat alignment. This modification will help your drip problem. The Lee #10 is my furnace of choice. I have a small tweek post on Gun Enthusiast specifically concerning Lee #10 furnaces. Best of skill to you.
Roy

Mike W1
11-01-2015, 09:52 AM
Hey Mike W1
Now that you are there, here is a tweek. As you are now aware, the flow orifice and the valve rod are not aligned. With close attention to position of limit slot on the valve rod, a slight bend applied to only the small diameter portion of the valve rod will give a more correct valve and seat alignment. This modification will help your drip problem. The Lee #10 is my furnace of choice. I have a small tweek post on Gun Enthusiast specifically concerning Lee #10 furnaces. Best of skill to you.
Roy

Don't happen to have the URL for that by chance? A google for "Gun Enthusiast" didn't yield anything useful for me.

leadman
11-01-2015, 11:59 AM
I have chucked the rod in a cordless drill and lapped it in.

country gent
11-01-2015, 12:51 PM
One thing I was going to try with mine was to add a support below the lever actuator that had some rotation and a 1/4"-3/8" long bushing to help maitain the angle of the rods alighnment. A bushing with .008-.010 clearence on the rod would allow for free movement but maintain the angle much better. A longer rod could be made also with the slot cut higher to allow for a longer bushing. A lapped surface is very precise and mates well making the seal. It dosnt take much anguar change to make this seal incomplete causing drips. The bushing set up would maintain the angle much more closely. A rod lapped in the bushing to the spout would probably be pretty leak free unless dirt or crud got in the surfaces.

gunarea
11-02-2015, 07:32 AM
Hey Mike W1
Sorry, my bad. The website is GunsRus and the thread is in the casting section. My feeble stab at humor has it as "Redneck racing version Lee #10". There is a similar post here somewhere but the gunsrus site post has more pictures. I like more pictures. Going to apply another great modification later on today, a wooden knob for valve rod rotation. Saw it here and it just makes sense. Best of skill to you.
Roy

Mike W1
11-02-2015, 09:52 AM
Hey Mike W1
Sorry, my bad. The website is GunsRus and the thread is in the casting section. My feeble stab at humor has it as "Redneck racing version Lee #10". There is a similar post here somewhere but the gunsrus site post has more pictures. I like more pictures. Going to apply another great modification later on today, a wooden knob for valve rod rotation. Saw it here and it just makes sense. Best of skill to you.
Roy

Seems my search skills are even worse than I thought they were. Haven't found it yet! This isn't something on Facebook I hope!

Put handles on my #10's long ago and beats the heck out of grabbing a screwdriver. Got a little jig almost cobbled together to lap the pot but it looks like mountains of tree leaves are going to priority for a couple days till some more come down.

gunarea
11-02-2015, 12:22 PM
Hey Mike W1
Here is the url copied and pasted. http://gunsrus.proboards.com/ Hope this works for you. It is a very new site I posted a little thing on. Lunch is over, back to the gun room.
Roy

Mike W1
11-02-2015, 03:13 PM
Hey Mike W1
Here is the url copied and pasted. http://gunsrus.proboards.com/ Hope this works for you. It is a very new site I posted a little thing on. Lunch is over, back to the gun room.
Roy

That got me there and I thank you. Wonder why google couldn't locate it for me, maybe the proboards bit threw it.

Mike W1
11-03-2015, 12:22 AM
Never lapped a valve in my life or even seen it done. But I believe they are rotated 360° in both directions. It doesn't seem to me that one would do it differently with a lead pot. But I've noticed a number of posts here and there that talk about only doing it maybe a 1/4 turn back and forth.

Now just which way should be it done????

Mal Paso
11-03-2015, 06:54 PM
It's not like an automotive valve that's fixed in it's travel and a single angle seal.

Lee has a small diameter radius on the plunger which fits a larger radius seat. Exact angle or back and forth lapping aren't necessary. I use a cordless drill with grinding paste on the rod and try to cover all angles within 5 degrees or so to polish a bit more than the contact area. When it's smooth and shiny you're done.

There were concentric machine marks on the tips of the valve rods of both my pots from manufacture. I have had yellowish deposits form on the tip of the rod from use. Someone here said Lead Oxide. Lapping fixes both.

Mike W1
11-03-2015, 07:45 PM
That makes sense to me. I'm ready to get at it but the weather's been so nice here I've been stuck doing yard work. Hate to wish for a crappy day just so I can play in the shop though.

Mike W1
11-20-2015, 03:48 PM
Finally got er' lapped which may or may not have helped as I've not been back to casting just yet. What I think really may have made a difference was tweaking the valve rod. With some good advice from a fellow on CBA it turned out to be simple on the Lee 10# at least. Drilled a hole in a piece of hardwood, stuck it in and bent it slightly away from the lifting slot. Doesn't take much and it bends easily by hand. Put it back together and then bent it slightly to the side and tried it out a number of times. Works great. The photo he sent me shows how little you're actually bending it. Took more time to put the screws back in than it did to do it. Thanks to Roy!

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u310/Mike4245/Bend%20Rod_zpspl5eqcup.jpg

Mike W1
12-12-2015, 05:33 PM
It appears I've done about as much as I could do for a drip remedy. Lapped the valve seat, tweaked the tip of the valve rod angle, and put a heavier knob atop the valve rod. Pictured is the first one of 1.25" aluminum which weighed 2.1 oz. New rod weighed 2.5 oz. itself so did one out of steel same size which was 7 oz. Tried it out today with only 3 drips in casting 5 lbs of ingots and just a slight touch stopped them. Maybe the next session won't go so good but I'm optimistic it's good as it's gonna get.

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u310/Mike4245/Knob%2011-24-15_zps9ijjdwdf.jpg

DaveInFloweryBranchGA
12-30-2015, 01:13 PM
Looks like you've done a real good job with it and taken it as far as the design will let you. I really like your setup. That extra aluminum there to mount a thermocouple and hold molds?

Mike W1
12-30-2015, 01:37 PM
Looks like you've done a real good job with it and taken it as far as the design will let you. I really like your setup. That extra aluminum there to mount a thermocouple and hold molds?

I'm not too confident lapping and bending the tip of the valve rod was all that much of a help to be honest. Seems like one day virtually no drips and next session have some drips. On the other hand it didn't hurt anything. Couple more things I'm going to try yet. In reality the drips are "small" and easily swept off the smooth shelf into the drip catch box.

Do have TC's on both pots. The shelves seem to get the moulds up to temperature quite well using iron moulds. Short of not weighing the initial bullets I can't see that the first bullets out are any different than if I'd used my hot plate to warm them up. But they're iron moulds. The one Lee I bought just to play with definitely requires the hot plate treatment to cast decent bullets.