new member - Lee Loader supplies question

[Ramar]

RogerDat " You pegged it was not past 1000, but way below 200. I tested thermometer clipped to pot of boiling water.Got just over 200 degrees but short of 210."

I believe all boiling points are stated at sea level. Your MI elevation may need to be figured into your degree readout.
Ramar

[RogerDat]

RogerDat " You pegged it was not past 1000, but way below 200. I tested thermometer clipped to pot of boiling water.Got just over 200 degrees but short of 210."

I believe all boiling points are stated at sea level. Your MI elevation may need to be figured into your degree readout.
Ramar

I know of a nearby elevation marker used by an early weather station to calibrate equipment, according to that elevation and current barometric pressure water should boil at 210.883 I'm reading a little short of that but unless deviation is cumulative it should not matter, will check it with some cooling lead to see what it reads when it should hit the 621 degree plateau. Really that part of the temp reading is the range where I have to know how much it is off.

[Dave Bulla]

Roger, also realize that while thermometers should be accurate across their entire range (in a perfect world) quite often they are calibrated to be most correct in the middle of their range especially if purpose built. For a lead thermometer, that would be in the 600 to 800 degree range I expect. Bottom line, it's a guide. You can likely tell a lot just by the appearance of the lead in the pot and how it pours, i.e. wrinkled boolits or frosty ones. But like the Lee dippers, it's great to have a scale to verify what you are actually getting. Eventually, after monitoring the temps through many casting sessions, you will be able to guess the temp pretty well just by the results you get from the mold. Wouldn't hurt to keep notes for any given alloy you are using recording mold number and best pour temperature. You can also note where the dial was at on your furnace to get that perfect pouring temperature.

[RogerDat]

Dave I think you are correct, it does not need to be a precise scientific instrument, as long as it is accurate within a few degrees in the critical temp ranges. At this price I would expect the least accuracy would be at the extremes (200 - 1000)
If accurate enough to make it repeatable so that I can repeat prior results, oh and help keep me from cooking all the good stuff out of a melt it will work for me.

I read about testing a cooling pot of lead and recording temp every minute or so, lead should show a leveling off at 621 degrees. So if thermometer reads a couple +/- at that point I will know what to subtract/add to get "real" temp if it ever becomes important. Had a car with a speedometer like that once, worked fine if you knew how to read it.

I will add that this Lyman one is made in China the Tel-Tru one that is cheaper is made in USA, just does not have metal melt ranges marked around the edges. If I had it to do over....

[RogerDat]

Finally got around to taking apart that wood swivel chair from salvation army and making it into a work table. After removing the swivel and seat I decided to reuse the seat wood to make a shelf to sit on the bottom rungs. I'm thinking that I can store my bag of tools on it when not in use. I may try out putting a press on a wood plate and mounting that on this also. If the table bounces or if I try a press on it I may use the shelf for weight to make it bottom heavy and more stable.

Seat was sculpted for butt so I turned the wood over, used the edges I trimmed off in making shelf square to make blocks that are under the shelf and against inside edges of spindles to keep the shelf from sliding off the spindles.

[Texantothecore]

The tools required are few:

Lee Classic Loader
Calipers (to measure overall length)
Hammer plastic faced is easiest but you can put a piece of leather or wood on the top of loader to keep the hammer from damaging it.

Flaring tool about 9 bucks it is used to flare the case mouth to keep from shaving lead off the sides of a lead bullet.

I discovered a few months ago that when I load roundball in my 45-70 I can set the round correctly by simply pushing down on the LCL rather than hammering it. Weird but it works.

Lee dippers will measure your powder. About 10 bucks.

Case lube is not required.

That's it.