Broken Lyman Mould-Master XX Furnace

[Idahoan]

There was a small electrical flash as it was warming up and then no heat. Lyman will not accept them for repair as there are no parts available. The local appliance repair places don't want anything to do with them, I don't see why not as they seem to be pretty simple beasts.

Suggestions? I have an even older-looking 11 pound SAECO furnace I can use but the 20 pound Lyman makes mixing/alloying easier. There is only a few pounds of lead in it so would not be too pricey to ship it to someplace that would fix it.

[Dale53]

Idahoan;
Do you have an electrician buddy? These pots, at least the ones that I have had apart, use "common" parts that may still be available from an electrical supply. They only consist of a heating element (not apt to be the problem) and thermostat (I have used common electric iron thermostats - you'll have to increase the temperature setting but they ARE adjustable) and the associated wiring. Quite often it is the wiring that is at fault. The old Lyman 11 lb pot had a couple of male prongs that you connected a flat plug to for power. They often developed a high resistance connection (mostly from people disconnecting the power at the plug causing burning of the contacts). The connection would overheat and fail. Also, they commonly had the wiring fail inside the case (any problem here is normally visible).

If you have an electrician buddy or a "maintenance man" acquaintance, you may be able to talk him into repairing the unit. Industrial concerns have this sort of thing to deal with all of the time.

Good luck!
Dale53

[454PB]

If you are willing to pay for shipping both ways, I'll see if I can fix it. Since parts are unavailable, it might not be fixable, but I'll try. Sounds like either the element or thermostat failed. I used to repair a lot of freestanding and wall mounted electric heaters.

You can contact me offline at:

eddard49@hotmail.com

[Idahoan]

Thanks for the offer 454PB, I will bear it in mind. I have a lead on a local place that has old parts stockpiled and will probably work on it, let me see what they say.

[Idahoan]

I finally got around to taking the cover off of the broken melter and taking a look, one of the two leads going to the heating element was broken (duh, that would do it:roll: ) and I just barely touched the other and it broke off. It is strange wire, very brittle and fragile, wrapped in strips of cotton-like cloth for insulation. Anyone know if it is the original wiring, seems pretty odd, and if it is "right", can it be soldered?

[6pt-sika]

My suggestion would be to take a torch and get the lead out the pot and clean it up . Then try an appliance fix it place again . My bet would be they didn't want anything to do with it because of the lead still in the bottom .
I've seen people give me real funny looks , when they find out that I melt lead :roll:

[Dale53]

I would replace the wiring. Take the pot to your electrical supply shop and ask them. Soft solder is not a good idea where there is lots of heat (it'll just melt). Depending on how the wires were originally connected to the element, you may have to silver solder the connections.

Any electrician can help you with this.

Dale53

[454PB]

If none of the conductor has melted away, I'd just clean the ends thoroughly and use an uninsulated squeeze on connector to reattach the lead. As long as no metal part can contact the conductor, no additional insulation is needed.

The insulation you describe is a mica based heat resistant type that would have to be salvaged from another piece of wire and slipped over the existing damaged area.

[Swagerman]

Sure is nice to get this great help from those that's been there and done that.

Sounds fixable to me, let us know when you've got it wired up again...like to see a happy ending to this story. :)

I recently changed out a bad thermostat in my old Lee ten pound pot dripper, its as good as it ever was...drip, drip.

Jim :coffee: