Can a mold get TOO hot, safety wise?

[stevekl]

Is there any safety related reason not to get lead as hot as possible? I have a lee production pot and I am afraid to crank it up to 10 becaus it seems like that would just encouarage harmful fumes to form or something.

Am I worrying about nothing? I know a mold can get too hot and cause frosted bullets but can it also get too hot so that it becomes unsafe?

[1Shirt]

For what ever itl is worth, I cast as hot as I can to ensure that the blt solidifies, and that the sprew is solid. This if most improtant to me when casting hollow points. I like my blts at least to be somewhat frost, as I feel that they hold lube better. Also, I am a firm believer and user of bullplate, and suggest that any one who casts should at least try it. Have found that the hotter I can cast the more consistant in weights my blts seem to be particular in 30 cal and down to 22's. Just my opinion of course.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[HeavyMetal]

First as soon as a mold gets hot enough to burn you it's "Unsafe".

Second as long as your using commercially available lead pots you will, most likely, never exceed 875 degrees. I don't believe lead starts doing "fumes" until after the alloy hits 900 or more degrees.

You stand a much greater chance of absorbing lead while sifting through the media in you brass tumbler! Always wear a real dust mask for that!

Now if you decide to "create" a new smelting process or get the urge to melt sliver ( some gun writer tries that every 15 yrs or so) and start using an acetlene tourch to preheat your mold and alloy you may have some damage issues!

My suggestion would be to "spring" for a good lead themometer and check the pot temps as you increase the reading on the dial.

I have never had to go past 8.5 on my old Lee 10Lber but I have no idea the conditions your trying to cast in.

If you have to get your alloy past 800 you got a problem!

[hornady]

I have a Lee 20 pound production pot. I crank it up to 10 to melt the pigs .After all is melted and I have fluxed the batch, I turn it down to 6 1/2 too cast. My old pot I had to maintain a little higher setting. To get good Bullets, I think the lee pots all work on different settings. Mine just works best for me on 6 1/2. Just play with the dial and find what works best for you.

[TAWILDCATT]

hose numbers are not temperture they are just points of reference.the hotter you get it the shorter the life of pot.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[Wayne Smith]

I have heard stories of molds warping from excessive heat. Never seen it, never heard from anyone who had actually experienced it without using a torch to preheat. I suspect these stories are passed on without actual evidence most of the time. I doubt you can get a mold hot enough just casting boolits to warp it.

Lead has to be over 1200 degrees I belive before any significant portion gasses off. As far as breathing goes I worry more about lead sulphanate in primers than I do about a molten pot of lead.

[yondering]

Second as long as your using commercially available lead pots you will, most likely, never exceed 875 degrees. I don't believe lead starts doing "fumes" until after the alloy hits 900 or more degrees.



Unless it's a Lee pot. My 20lb Lee pot easily exceeds the 1,000 degrees my thermometer reads. I set it on "4" for 750-800 degrees while I cast. I don't know how hot my little Lee 4lb pot gets, but I noticed the melt glowing red one night when I turned out the lights in my garage. :shock: I was trying to run it hot on purpose, to fill a pipe with lead, but didn't realize it was that hot. I think that strong red glow is about 1100 to 1200 degrees, could be wrong though.

I do agree with the rest of what you said though.

[stevekl]

Thanks for the replies! If I didn't have to work every night thus week I would have experimented already. I won't be afraid to crank it to ten now. But I understand that it doesn't HAVE to be at ten to cast good bullets.

[Bret4207]

Pot temp is relatively unimportant beyond having the alloy hot enough to have good pouring qualities. The frosting and fillout issues come from MOULD temp. You can vary mould temp by your casting speed. The more often the mould has hot liquid alloy in it the higher the temp will be. The longer alloy its in the mould in a solid state or the mould remains empty, the cooler it will run. A light, even frost is fine by me, some folks detest it. I find I get better fill out in most moulds with a light frost or just below that temp.

[HeavyMetal]

Yondering:
That's good info to know!

I had no idea the Lee 20 Lber's could get that hot! Never had one or used one. I have had a 10 lber for 20 plus years and could never get it hit 800!

Got an old Lyman 61, made by saeco for them I think, and never tried to push it but it might get to 900 if I tried hard.

For this reason, if no other, it's a good idea to have a good thermometer in the pot at least once during a casting session!

[AZ-Stew]

The thermostat on the Lee pots is basically an on-off switch, operated by temperature. When you start a pot from room temperature, the heating element will remain "on" until the pot temp reaches whatever temperature the thermostat is set for. It doesn't matter where you set it. What that means is that you're wasting effort setting the pot on "high" to get it melted, then turning it back for casting. Just leave it at your casting temperature and it will come to temp just as fast as it would if you turn it up, then back.

Regards,

Stew

[Echo]

The thermostat on the Lee pots is basically an on-off switch, operated by temperature. When you start a pot from room temperature, the heating element will remain "on" until the pot temp reaches whatever temperature the thermostat is set for.

Well, not really. Granted, it is an on/off switch, but it is not a thermostat. A thermostat responds to the temperature of the controlled substance, be it alloy, air inside the house, or coolant in an engine. On the other hand, a control controls the duty cycle of power sent to the controlled substance, be it a heating element on a furnace or in an electric blanket. That duty-cycle control is effected by the tension on a bi-metal strip - the knob on the control is on a screw thread, so turning it up increases the tension on the bi-metal strip that carries the power to the heating element, making it more difficult for the strip to spring away from it's contact (due to the heat generated by the power going through the strip), increasing the time the power is sent to the heating element.

Most of our furnaces use controls, although I believe the RCBS actually uses a thermostatic system. Some (Lyman, SAECO) have the dial calibrated in degrees, but that is a calibration function. It is obvious in the the Lee furnaces that they are controlled by a control, and not by a thermostat, since the control is remote from the controlled substance and therefore can't respond to the temperature of the alloy.

Hornady is right on - turn the rascal up to max until the alloy melts completely and gets up to the temperature you desire, then cut the control back to a maintenance level.

And other than the danger inherent in the heat from our obsession, I am not aware of any other dangerous situations, such as gas, vapor, whatever.

[leadman]

My Lee 20 pound pot does power the coil longer if it is turned all the way up. It does shorten the melt time when all the way up. I use this to supplement my shotmaker so it has been melting alot of lead lately, probably over a ton in the last 6 weeks.
Unlike my 10# pot, my 20#er control number actually correspond closely to the temp. (8=800')
. Probably more luck than by design though.

[shotman]

Leadman is right . Stew you wrong. It does run about 6 to 600 7 to 700 and 10 to 1000. the red glow will start about 900 turn it on 10 and turn out the lights

[yondering]

Sorry Stew, i agree with the others too, you got it backwards. The Lee pots do cycle on and off as they come up to temp, and definitely heat up faster when turned up to max.

A more expensive pot would act the way you describe, but not a Lee.

Heavy Metal, you can open up the control area on your Lee pot, and bend the bi-metal tab in the temperature control, so that it will let the pot get hotter. You can also get a replacement part from Lee, but that's not really necessary.

My thoughts on all this is: buy a thermometer, they are cheap. $15 to $30 from Surplus Center, depending what you get, is totally worthwhile, and takes away all the guesswork.