Some lessons learned today...

[bootsnthejeep]

Today was a fairly productive day in the experimental reloading room. Made my first batch of Speed Green today, and further tested my PID controller. Some things to note:

#1) That PID controller is outstanding. My productivity is way up, reject count way down. And the temperature stability is a godsend. I'll grant you, my Lee furnace is not one of the ones that's good at maintaining temperature on its own, hence the controller. But for me, this has been WAY too long coming.

HOWEVER:
#2) If you use a submersion probe as opposed to on of the physically attached thermocouples, pay attention to where you put it in the pot. Up to now I've had fine luck just resting it in the pot. Now I have to come up with some way to suspend it. I had a rapidly-compounding near-disaster today. Very full pot at 750 degrees, mould up to temp and casting nicely. Re-fill the mould, release the pour handle, and it continues to pour lead. Not full stream, but a VERY rapid dribble. Grab the screwdriver and give the rod a twist. Nothing. Worse, actually. Tap it with the sprue thumper. Nothing.

Flow of lead starting to overwhelm the block of 2x4 I use for a mould rest. Now its running onto the surface of my bench, which is a piece of common kitchen countertop. OSB with that fomica-like covering on it. So that immedietly starts to sizzle, and I hear the telltale sounds of steaming moisture. Ohhh, ****.

First pop, I duck and cover. Lead's still flowing. I grab for an ingot mould. Not there. None of them. Oh yeah, out on the deck where I was making ingots.

SECOND pop. Countertop covering is flying. Who knew there could be that much moisture in a 10 year old chunk of counterop? I'm really in overdrive now.

FINALLY, I check the pot and find the damn probe had slid UNDER the stem while I was filling the mould, and now was propping it open. Pulled the probe out, the deluge ceased.

What a mess.

SO.

#3) Suspend that probe!

#4) And don't be a bonehead, and put a sheet of steel under the melting pot. That should have been a no brainer.

#5) Speed Green is very cool. And my pan lubing technique is improving. But I need to find some of those silicone baking tins.

#6) With these new technological advancements, this 10 pound pot is NOT going to cut it much longer. With a gang mould and dead-steady lead temperature, it doesn't last long. I think the old Saeco I have is 20 pounder, have to get that on its feet next.

So yeah. Productive day. Cranking out 45 ACPs, with a target of filling a Cabelas dry box with 1000+ rounds. I like having ammo loaded ahead. Oh yeah, which brings me to

#7. Very handy to have the Dillon all set up for 45 ACPs so I can just turn around in the reloading room and crank out a few dozen rounds while I'm waiting for the pot to come up to temp or something. That's my kind of multitasking.

Boots

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Glad to hear you didn't get hurt. That hot lead is NASTY bad! I found a very small steel frying pan that I can put under the spout area of my Lee pot. If anything happens, it will catch quite a bit of lead before it runs over.

[Bambeno]

Glad everything turned out ok. I do all of my casting outside, too afraid of burning down the house myself with my luck. :D

[Caster Blaster]

Dang, you'd be surprised how much moisture is in everyday stuff, I used to cadweld grounds to the third rail on the boston T system, we had to get the moisture out with a torch before welding, that was solid steel and we would get puddles forming on top of it. I use a baking sheet under my Lee furnace, that has the lips on it to catch run-off like Charlies frying pan, a little bit cheaper and a wider, flatter surface, BTW how did you hook up the PID controller?

[bootsnthejeep]

Caster, there's a thread of mine in the Casting Equipment section on my PID. See if that answers your questions, if not, shoot me a PM. Its certainly not a necessary modification, but man is it nice. :)

[Jack Stanley]

Ya know ...... in my minds eye I can just see you hustling around the room trying to staunch the flood of hot lead . And it would be kinda funny if I didn't know that popping noise was gonna hurt somebody if it kept up . I'm glad it didn't get uglier on ya .

Jack

[bootsnthejeep]

I'm sure if I could have been watching it from someone else's perspective it would have been hilarious! Hell, it was me and even I think it was funny in hindsight. But man, there were a few tense seconds there. Trying to time the countertop cook-offs for a frontal assault on the pot was exciting. Glad I was wearing gloves, cause that was the first thing I held up to shield my face when stuff started flying, and there's a few shiny spots on them now.

I can't even imagine getting a wet ingot or a dud round in the melt like some of the other stories I've read on here. Enough to make you twitchy.

[noylj]

When you are making a river of molten lead, be glad you have a 10# pot...

[geargnasher]

I put a 16"-square glazed ceramic floor tile under my pot, only problem I have with it is the pot can slide around on it. My next casting table will have a steel top.

Gear

[blikseme300]

Boots,

Glad you like the PID. Another reason to mount the probe is to prevent it from touching the side of the pot preventing erratic temperatures.

Always have a container ready to place under the spout if you get a runaway pour. One accident is too many. Scares are good as they prevent complacency in the future.

Enjoy the boolits!

Bliksem

[timkelley]

Boots, how much of the probe has to be in the melt?

[Papa Jack]

I set my furnace on a cookie sheet with a rolled edge, if anything molten starts dribbling out or spills the cookie sheet catches it and I can return it to the pot. Saves the top of my shop work bench.
Especially if I have to leave for a few minutes and come back to thawed out lee bottom pour pot with a stuck plunger rod..... :-( Papa Jack

[Daddyfixit]

Glad it turned out OK. I put an old baking pan under my Lee pot
I'm sure this experiance will change a few of your habits!
I know alot of us read about accidents then move on to the next post....

Well I for one am going to take another look around my bench and make sure I have things in place.....The School Of Hard Knoks has a tough curriculum!

[oldhickory]

I use an old welding table, never had a problem.

[bootsnthejeep]

Noylj: I hadn't considered it that way, but very true! Tho, once 10 pounds of 800 degree lead was on the workbench, what's another 10 among friends, really. We're already transcended disaster, and something's bound to be on fire by then. lol.

Blikseme: I considered that, but in my initial testing, suspending it alongside the regular casting thermometer and just leaving it in contact with the bottom of the pod showed no change. I kind of had it jerry rigged the way it was, so I thought just in the pot would be better. EEENNNHH. Wrong answer. I'll be suspending it regardless.

Tim: I haven't run the pot empty empty yet, I usually refill before it gets below 1/3 full, but it would appear that the depth doesn't matter that much. I got the 6" probe instead of the 10" prob, and the 10# pot is only about four inches deep. I'm probably going to suspend this about 1/2" off the bottom and call it good. As long as its IN the lead, the thing that is going to be the hottest in the pot is the lead, certainly not the air over the melt or probably the pot. And I believe the leads run the full length of the probe, but the probe tube just covers up the wires? Anyone confirm that?

But yes, I believe I'll be grabbing one of my perma-junk cookie sheets from one of my various cooking disasters for the casting bench. (Being single has its advantages. I have an assortment of destroyed cookware, and I don't catch hell for ruining it, OR for repurposing it! And since I bought it, none of it was very expensive to begin with. Probably why it got ruined so easy. Hmmm...)