So I bought an RCBS ProMelt 2
Old ProMelt was on it's last legs - something like 2+ tons lead through it.
Fired it up, stacked ingots in the middle, sacrificed some 9mm cast to fill in the gaps to help keep hot spots to a minimum.
So, set PID to 750 deg (sure seems to take a while to get to temp) maybe 15 min longer than old RCBS (before it died).
Melt seems "thick", spout wants to freeze up when pressure pouring (yep, mould was hot).
Pulled the Lyman dial therm off old pot, stuck in the new pot, reading 650. Yep, PID still says 750.
Set PID to 800, Lyman reads 700, casting like a champ.
Any one else run into this ?
Not a huge issue, just have to run PID at a higher setting to get a certain temp.
But for it's healthy price, I'd expect better.
Rant over, think I'll cast some more.
So I bought an RCBS ProMelt 2
When I brought up the concerns I had read on the web with the PM2 to RCBS this is what they said to me:
“Good afternoon
I am the Sr. Product manager for RCBS. My technical service team sent me your email to them on the Pro-Melt 2. I have also copied Joe Dunning my Design Engineering Manager on this reply as he has more first hand development experience on the Pro-Melt 2 than I do as it was a product that was launched before I moved over to RCBS.
From reading some of the different reviews on the web and different forum posts it appears that the biggest concern users have is the cool down period. There is a reason for the cool down period and that is to increase the life of the electrical components, as well as, aid in the cooling of the unit down after use as some external temps can reach 250F. We call this out to ensure safety of our users to 1) reduce the risk of burns and 2) to ensure there is no degradation of the electronics due to excessive eat. That being said the electrical compartment is insulated and will typically measure approx. 80-90F when the unit reaches max temp of 850F.
The Pro-Melt 2 is essentially the same concept as the Pro-Melt but it has a digital control and a little different industrial design look. How have you heard of people of the Pro-Melt holding up better?
We had extensive testing of the Pro-Melt 2 vs. the older Pro-Melt with regards to melting time and temp consistency. Melt times were similar; however the temp. variation is much lower on the Pro-Melt 2. We say a 10-20 degree F variation on the new digital control unit, vs. closer to 50F on the original Pro-Melt.
We did see some inconsistency early on from our supplier with the units reaching max temp of 850F and ensuring consistent temp variation between units which is where most of the 1 and 2 star reviews come from. We have been working with our supplier on fixing these and you can see that representation in the 4-5 star reviews.
Again, thank you for reaching out to us. If you have any other questions that Joe and I can answer please reach out.
Thank you,”
I appreciated their quick response and info but the above supported my decision to buy a used PM1 even more though. (I’ve had a PID on my Lee for a while so it got moved to the PM1 when it arrived).