Bottom pours.....

[Jim-Bibs]

I like the idea about getting a bottom pour, which are the ones that work great? Do they drip? Are the pots removable to use different leads inn each mix?
thanks
Jim-Bibs

[LenH]

I have had a Lee 20# bottom pour & now have a ProMelt. Both get the job done, found the ProMelt at a good price.

No the pots are not removable, an ingot is needed for draining a pot and changing alloy.

[WebMonkey]

I use the lee 4-20. I like it just fine.
I twist the 'stopper' with a screw driver back and forth just after I get the lead flowing. as per 'tips and tricks', that keeps it from dripping for the short casting sessions I run.
it also has another screw to fast/slow the lead pour itself. I usually only mess with that if there is a big change in the tin percentage of the alloy I'm using for that session.

had it about 8 years now. low to moderate use but it's all I use now.

'monkey

[country gent]

On the new pots Lees are very popular and inexpensive, The RCBS has a big following and a good unit, The new lyman is supposed to be very good and has a 25lb capacity. Also look at wage and magma as they make a bottom pour pot also. Some of this decission may be decide by the bullets and quanity of bullets to be cast. CAsting 500+ grn slugs for competition and practice empties these pots pretty quick. Casting lighter bullets (100 grns) makes the pot last a lot longer before a refill is needed.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Unless you like creating `modern drip sculptures` under your pots, get a RCBS and avoid the other nasty pot habits.Robert

[websterz]

I keep a small ham can under my 4-20 in case of serious leaks. While casting I keep an old tablespoon propped up so that the bowl of the spoon catches any drips. Every ten casts or so I just dump the spoon back into the pot and keep on going. Drips are no big deal.

[hermans]

Unless you like creating `modern drip sculptures` under your pots, get a RCBS and avoid the other nasty pot habits.Robert
+1, you get what you pay for!

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree totally. You have to decide if your in this hobby for the long run and if so consider the cost of an rcbs or lyman pot over a lee as a pretty minor expenditure for the difference in quality.
+1, you get what you pay for!

[OS OK]

Unless you like creating `modern drip sculptures` under your pots, get a RCBS and avoid the other nasty pot habits.Robert

Some of those sculptures look pretty interesting...I was thinking the other day about making a chess board of drip sculptures. The pawns would be easy but the others pieces might take some ingenuity. Powder coat them and waaalah! A chess board....haven't played chess in so many years I doubt if I know the correct placement of the pieces!

I guess that you can guess which pot I use...OS OK

[mold maker]

Over the 60+ years I have had and used Saeco, Lyman ,Wange, RCBS, and 3 LEEs.
If ya put dirty lead in any of them, they will stop up or drip. No exceptions. While LEE may be more prone to dripping, none are totally immune.
The game I killed and the targets I perforated couldn't tell which pot was used.
The only reason I have that many pots is other casters had problems (usually DIRT) and became so dissatisfied, they sold them cheap. All I ever did was a thorough cleaning and feed them only clean lead. That is to say that any one of them will produce a stream of melt and the rest is up to you. The lead stream from the most expensive pot is exactly like that from the cheap one. The difference is convenience and technique which are both totally up to you.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I dipper poured my boolets for many years until LEE introduced their bottom pour 10 lb. pots. I used them and cursed at them and rebuilt them until I sold some land and bought my RCBS pot about 1980 I believe. Today the LEE`s are either dust gathers or have been tossed. I`m still waiting for my frequently used RCBS pot to start dripping or develope other problems. Any smelting that I perform over the years has been done in a homemade 12" steel pipe pot with a bottom on angle iron legs 3" high with heat coils on the outside and in shielding on the pot, it holds about 75 - 85 lbs if full. Buy what you can afford, remember you only get what you pay for.Robert

[bilco]

Both my 10# and 20# lee pots drip. At least with the 20# i can wiggle the turn screw

[psychbiker]

What's your budget?

The Lee 4-20 does drip. There are way to fix that or at least slow it down. Polishing the rod and the inside spout help. Increasing the weight of the knob handle. I added a spring on the top screw that requires little more effort to push up to pour lead BUT the screw forces the rod back down and stop it from floating and staying open.

The RCBS pro melt is $300+ and the lee is what $60 shipped on amazon? I'm using my Lee until I find a deal on Magma Engineering Master Pot, expensive at $600 BUT it's a 40lb pot and you can build it into a semi production caster down the line.

171123

[1bluehorse]

Well, the Lee pots are for sure cheap enough. I have owned two of them in the past. They do melt lead. They do drip lead so you must keep something under them to catch said drips. They will make bullets. An issue that bothered me most was if I adjusted the flow for some of the larger bullets I cast it became more than a drip. Adjusting the flow down to a minor annoyance drip, the flow into the mold wasn't satisfactory. After working around with the "screwing the screw thing", cleaning the pot just about every time I used it, cleaning and lapping the rod and seat, trying to get a good flow without pouring the rest of the pot in the ingot mold I kept under the spout when I moved the mold. After a couple years of this I got rid of them both and bought a Pro melt. I didn't know until then that casting was supposed to be an enjoyable past time. If I had to go back to a Lee pot I would quit casting. I would like to add that I read a lot of the "all pots drip" scenario, but it must be from folks that have never owned anything but Lee pots and are just trying to convince themselves it's so. My RCBS pot does not drip, leak, or otherwise deliver lead when not wanted and the flow is quite sufficient.

[Sur-shot]

I started casting about 1967 and since that time have burned out a Lil Dipper, a 10 pound Lee and two 20 pound Lee pots. Then a long time ago I got an RCBS Pro melt, the paint peeled off (I was casting w 4-6 moulds at a time) and I painted it with black Bar-B-Q paint. I keep thinking it will die one day, its about 40 years old, but it just keeps on chugging away. Last Tulsa show a guy walked by our 6 tables and he was carrying a brand new looking, pretty green one, hey wha'cha got there, just bought it, how much, $60, any more, nope, how about a little profit, nope. I would buy a used pro melt in a heart beat, they are as tough as woodpecker lips.

You just heat them up once a year or so and pour them out, then clean them with a wire tooth brush, put the alloy back in and commence to proceed.
Ed

[blikseme300]

The cheapest commercial electric bottom pour is the Lee unit. These units do work but can be a PITA if dirt gets into the valve area. That said I started out with a Lee in the early 80's when I was a lowly airman with a tight budget. Many 1000's of 9mmP using a 2-cavity Lyman mold worked for me as the tinker-time to keep this going was freely available. The cheap Lee units do work and at their price-point they have a place. Compared to wrenches the Lee is the bottom end compared to Snap-On, both work, but the man using the tool determines the outcome based upon his skill and willingness to tinker.

A few years ago I started a casting frenzy and I became frustrated with the production I could get from my Lee units as well as the large alloy ingots I was gifted with. As my budget did not allow the purchase of a large commercial unit I looked into building my own larger unit. The result can be seen here: http://www.bliksemdonder.com/hobbies/cast-boolits/mother-of-all-melters/

A few days ago I bought some isotope lead cores on this board and these are way too large for the Lee units to melt down but my home built accepted them just fine.

171174

171175

All bottom pours can drip especially if you let dirt into the alloy. I clean out the melter maybe every year but only if it is needed. If you are just starting out I would recommend a Lee unit as they do work and I have seen too many people start out casting and quit within a short time as their interests and circumstances change. YMMV

[Drew P]

I made my lee quit dripping, and when it does drip it's very easy to stop wi a quick twist of the rod. The problem with them is the stupid bracket type handle lever that controls the flow. There's no reason for it to be like it is. I made mine a direct rod that can be spun by hand not screwdriver. It's a great mod to a good tool. If lee put a little more development into this pot it would be a real seller.

[Chris C]

I guess I must have the most valuable Lee Pro Pot 4-20 on the market. It doesn't drip......it's never dripped........ever. I think I'd better offer it for sale for a million bucks, ya think?????

[DerekP Houston]

I guess I must have the most valuable Lee Pro Pot 4-20 on the market. It doesn't drip......it's never dripped........ever. I think I'd better offer it for sale for a million bucks, ya think?????

I said the same thing...how long and how many lbs have you used it for ;).

[Chris C]

I don't have the slightest idea how many pounds I've run through it. I've only been casting for about a year or more. You mean it's going to fall apart soon?????:kidding:

[farmersamm]

I gotta Lee 4-20. And it drips.

But me bein' 60yrs old 'n all, I drip a bit too;)

I've learned to live with both circumstances :mrgreen:

Get a Lee, and spend your money on lead, and molds.

[DerekP Houston]

I don't have the slightest idea how many pounds I've run through it. I've only been casting for about a year or more. You mean it's going to fall apart soon?????:kidding:

Not at all! I hope you won the lottery. Mine worked fine for the first year too :D. I think I'm falling apart as fast as my house some days.

[1bluehorse]

I guess I must have the most valuable Lee Pro Pot 4-20 on the market. It doesn't drip......it's never dripped........ever. I think I'd better offer it for sale for a million bucks, ya think?????


I believe you do..... I'd keep it.

[georgerkahn]

I moved from ladle to bottom pour furnace in the early 1970s and haven't looked back. My #1 pot now is a RCBS Pro-Melt, but I still use the Lyman Mould Master. A note/possible suggestion is I broke the thermostat and knob on (off?) my Lyman, and rather than attempt "repairs" I simply used a bit of bare copper wire to by-pass the temperature control in its entirety, and then plug it into a PID temperature controller. Not only was I able to make the Lyman work better than when brand new, but at a much lower price than any new replacement! So -- be it Fleabay or a local garage sale -- obtaining a questionable pot and adding the PID may be a good choice vis both function and money spent. Re dripping, I've had/used four different bottom pour pots, and they ALL will on occasion drip a bit -- albeit scant. *I* think the problem is dross and whatever crud sticks to the walls and bottom of the pot, and this substance works against a good seal. I took an old steel serving spoon, and spent a bit of time shaping it's tip to the contour of my pot, using this "tool" to scrape when fluxing. It does help! The other poster, above, who suggested you never use your pot for smelting is right on, too! I use a propane-fired Freon tank from a fellow on this site to -- outdoors -- initially smelt all my alloy -- using lots of from-under-table-saw pine, supplemented with red Gouda cheese wax coating to flux -- at least three times -- before I ladle into ingots for later use in the casting pot to make bullets. (Note, when in the bottom pour casting pot, they do get fluxed more!)
BEST!
geo

[Gliden07]

I have a Lee and have not had any problems yet? I would love a better pot. I don't know why the dripping is such a problem if your casting? I put my whole pot in an old cookie sheet with sides just in case of a mass dump. I just can't afford a $600 pot like some of you gentlemen are suggesting. If you can afford a better pot that's GREAT but sometime its not something you can do right up front with all the other expenses associated with this hobby. I stared this hobby with a $15 used Lyman dipper pot that someone on here had actually beat me to the punch and were gracious enough to let me have because they already had a setup. One of these days maybe I will buy a better bottom pour pot but for now my $60 Lee works fine. If it wasn't for the Lee Reloading company I would still be saving to buy stuff to reload with!!