What a difference

[Ron]

Last week I filled my lead pot with ww alloy for the first time. I usually use an alloy of recovered proj from an indoor range plus a bit of 60/40 solder. I noticed that the CBE 125 grn TC 9mm boolits cast were much shinier but the old Lee pot dripped like it was going out of fashion. I have never known it to drip as bad.

After running out of ww alloy, I stripped the pot this morning and gave it a good clean. My Dremel tool came in handy and after using a small wire brush inside, soon had all the crud removed. Then it was into the pourer spout; a small dremel tool wrapped with fine steel wool soon saw that cleaned out.

Put the pot back together and filled her up with my usual alloy. Cleaned my RCBS 158 grn RN, degreased and washed in hot soapy water. Heated the pot to the 750 mark on the dial and started casting.

The pot still dripped but only intermitantly and the boolits just fell from the mould. I managed just on 300 for the hour. Just goes to show that a little bit of maintenance really makes a difference in quality and quantity.

[9.3X62AL]

Ron--

The Lee "stalagmites" are an annoyance, for sure. The drip-o-matic effect isn't limited to the Lee pots, though. The RCBS pot I use was doing a bit of that during its last use, so the whole pot got a good cleaning with emphasis on the valve, spout, and rod. That fixed the issue.

I did use a Lee "quick fix" on the RCBS unit during its last session--that being to clamp a small set of vise-grips to the valve handle assembly to place more weight on the valve rod. That worked also. I saw that method applied to one of Buckshot's Lee furnaces in his shop, and put the idea to use with good effect.

[RugerFan]

[QUOTE=9.3X62AL;231758]clamp a small set of vise-grips to the valve handle assembly to place more weight on the valve rod. QUOTE]

Mmmmm.....gonna have to try that on my Drip-o-matic.

[Buckshot]

..............Hi Ron! Yes I got your e-mail and had Deputy Al, er.......... 9.3x62AL to let you know I'd gotten it. Our computer croaked a day or so afterwards so I never was able to make a reply.

As per AL's mentioning the extra weight, that's a for sure help. Also, if you lift the valve handle with a finger, when you're done pouring pull your finger straight out and let it kind of slam shut vs lowering your finger. That's a pretty sure bet of having no drips.

..............Buckshot