RCBS Furnace Running Too Cool

[BruceB]

How does one adjust the temperature range on the thermostat in the RCBS furnace?

The pot's just about new and belongs to a caster in Canada. His location makes a return to RCBS rather difficult, and I think I saw this problem raised in our gang here some time back. He says that no matter how far he opens the flow adjustment, (max temp setting) the flow chokes off quickly. Putting heat to the nozzle with a propane torch does thaw it in jig time, which seems a positive indication that the furnace is not delivering high-enuff temperature.

Help!

[waksupi]

Bruce, mine isn't an RCBS, so I don't know exactly how the control works on it. On my Lyman, you remove the temperature adjustment knob, and turn the screw that is inside of the shaft. Worked great on the Lyman, and it is going to where it should be, temperature wise.

Of course, it could just be that darn metric/celsius thing, too, it being in Canuckistan.

[Willbird]

I do not have a lead thermometer, but my new rcbs promelt sure seems to run cool even when run wide open.


Bill

[beagle]

He needs to put a thermometer in that thing and see if whether the temperature's really off or whether he has a batch of bad metal.

Could be that as well.

I'd go the thermometer route and then call RCBS and see what they tell me as it's still under warranty as I sent one back last year that had a leak in it./beagle

[Willbird]

My pot the metal runs a little funny at 100% WW,

the mold fills fine, maybe that is just how pure WW act ?? if I add just a touch of tin, like 1-2 strips of Lino to 20lbs things run a LOT nicer overall.


Bill

[carpetman]

Willbird----"My pot runs funny at 100%ww the molds fill fine,maybe that is how pure ww acts." You are correct---that is no good,getting good fill out makes for just routine casting---certainly nothing to post about. How could a board like this continue if there were no problems? We'd all be bored. If that ww is working fine you have to add something to mess it up,so you have something to post. If really bored,throw in some water to cause an explosion---do something. The old if it aint broke don't fix it was fine before these forums,but now break something---have something to post about. Add some zinc,that will open up a world of posts as to how to get rid of it.

[Willbird]

Errr......O K

I have not run a great deal of pure WW before, I'm sorry to ask in a roundabout way if what I described is how WW metal and other very low tin alloys act.

Have a nice day...........unless you have already planned otherwise.


Bill

[NVcurmudgeon]

Bruce, does Canada have different electricity, such as 50 cycle?

[454PB]

I don't own an RCBS lead pot, but if the thermostat is a simple bimetal strip, it can be adjusted. In good quality thermostats, there are small adjusting screws. In the less expensive ones, the bimetal strip can be "bent" to adjust. Also, even if it is run on 50 cycle A.C., it won't affect the thermostat temperature settings.

[wills]

Bruce, does Canada have different electricity, such as 50 cycle?

I was thinking along the same lines, perhaps Canadian electricity has a left hand thread.

[carpetman]

You really need an oscilloscope to see the problem. With AC, most places you have a sine wave going negative,positive,negative,positive----------But with Canadian electricity it has an extra step. It goes negative,eh,positive,eh,negative,eh,positive,eh------during the eh cycle the pot is cooling off. Get the picture eh?

[fourarmed]

I assume everyone knows how to spell the name of our neighbor to the north: You take a "C", eh? Then you take an "N", eh? Then you take a "D", eh?

[azrednek]

The electricity problem in Canada is confined to French Quebec where the current runs backwards.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

He wouldn't be running it outside in a cool breeze? A piece of sheet metal bent into about 2/3 of a cylinder might protect it.

[Willbird]

Actually it could be my imagination, but my RCBS seems to run warmer with the window open which allows a breeze to blow on it from the back, My thinking was that maybe that fooled the thermostat a bit, I did buy the tcouple multi-meter from harbor freight so I can test out that theory now.

Bill

[BruceB]

I'll tell you smart-a--es what...if you actually MET my Kanuckistan brother, you'd be astounded to find that he says "eh" MORE OFTEN than your jokes do! (Ask Curmudgeon...he's met the feller.) Plus, I'd bet that YOU'ns would be doing it too, after a few hours in his company!

He was indeed casting outdoors (in Northern Alberta, in April) and I strongly suspect that was his problem. I told him to move it indoors, or insulate it and put up a windscreen as B-I-S suggests, and try casting again.

If there's an adjustment on the thermostat, it will require drilling-out a bunch of pop rivets to get to it, which would essentially destroy the outer shell of the unit. The furnace is really sealed-up against "unauthorized access".

The power is indeed the same stuff we use here in the Enlightened States of America, except in Quebec where as noted it is left-threaded, 50 cycle, and intermittent...and doesn't parle le Anglais, mais non, sacre bleu!.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

50 cycles IS anglais, though I imagine they get it at 220 volts, rather than 230 to 240 as we do. I believe the number of cycles can alter the speed of some (not all) kinds of electric motor, but in electronic equipment it is normally rectified to DC anyway. To a heating element the number of cycles shouldn't make the slightest bit of difference, though if there is a period of no voltage it probably would. I have a picture taken from a low-flying plane at night, travelling at around a yard per cycle on the approach to Kuwait airport. It took me a while to work out that fluorescent lights, which can switch off instantaneously, form dotted lines, while tungsten filament ones are continuous.

Professionally and interpersonally challenged Canadians are the bane of my life here in Saudi Arabia. A departing Dean, so nonchalant about his responsibilities that even the others noticed, recruited a group of them sight unseen, and they just turned up unexpectedly. It took me a while to realise that there may be lots of Canadians with the instinct to bring the light of education to far-flung tribal peoples, but the government will snap up those within the range of normality, to do it with far-flung tribal peoples of their own.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Yes, I'll gladly corroborate Bruce's observation of his North of the border brother's "eh" habit. Why, Eric says "eh" nearly as often as the average American says "huh". Of course, neither of these is in the same league with any California girl of eleven to thirty years of age and her use of "um, like, you know."

[David R]

In canada they say "Whats goin on aye?"

In NYC they say "HAY whats goin on?"

My RCBS pot seems to work like its supposed to. Must be a thermostat thing. I have found the lead froze on the way out with my Lee 10 lb bottom pour pot.

Its for sale :)

[old gunner]

My Lee 20 Lb. oot seemed to run on the cold side, so I did a quick bending job on the electrical contacts so they stayed closed longer. Works.
Prior to that I put some ventilation holes in the thermostat housing, this helped, but not enough.
Bill