Pot left on

[JAbee]

Anyone have experience with a pot that was left on way to long? Let's say overnight...

[lightman]

Yeah, a little. You may have cooked a little tin out of your alloy. Flux it and continue casting with it. You may have wasted a dollars worth of electricity. You may have shortened the life of your pot by a number too small to measure. All in all, not a big deal.

[jeepyj]

Did you try to give her a good fluxing then skim of the dross? I've never seen one turn to a sand looking material of that amount before. The material looks like what comes off the sides and bottom when i occasionally drain and clean mine but usually it's fraction of the amount I seem to see in the photo. I'd consider wearing a mask a that stuff looks pretty dusty.

[JAbee]

Its really thick on top. I can't scoop it out because its hard like dried clay.

[big bore 99]

I know it's hindsight, but I plug mine into a power strip that has the bench lights on it too. Can't leave without turning the lights off, thus the pot too. Don't look like there's much in there. I'd dump it out and clean the pot good and start over.

[jsn]

I would try a flat screw driver gently around the edge and see if you can get the blob to break loose.

On the bright side, it looks like you had enough lead in the pot to not fry the heating element.

[Freightman]

Left mine 20# Lee on for a week no harm still using it five years later.

[JAbee]

Any suggestions on best way to clean it out?

[jonas302]

Mine is always plugged into a timer which is also hooked to the lights

[jsizemore]

What do you use for fluxing?

[runfiverun]

be very careful with that dust it is lead oxide and is the stuff you do not want to breathe or leave on your hands.

take the pot out side.
put it in a garbage bag.
dump the dust out in the bag while holding the top closed.
give it a minute for everything to settle down.
then take the pot out and tie the bag closed and throw away.

to get the rest out of the pot you need to wet everything down and wash the dust away.
then clean yourself up.

you should then be okay to turn the pot on and add a little more lead.
then flux everything and do an oxide reduction to the melt which should help get everything else out of the alloy.

[JAbee]

What do you use for fluxing?

I've been using wax in my pot. Flux with saw dust and wax when smelting the wheel weights (Edit) using a cast iron pot

[osteodoc08]

Beeswax is my reductant of choice in my casting pot. I don't flux in my casting pot. Shouldn't need to with clean alloy. My MELTING pot, I use sawdust/shavings and beeswax.

[JAbee]

Thanks for the help guys. Suited up, took a flat screwdriver and small hammer, and I was able to bust the oxidation off the top. remelted and clean the pot today and we're looking like I'm back to normal.

[Soundguy]

I do my casting out in the barn and setup and tear down from a small table in the breeze way. A good WA to not forget and leave on .

[Petrol & Powder]

be very careful with that dust it is lead oxide and is the stuff you do not want to breathe or leave on your hands.

take the pot out side.
put it in a garbage bag.
dump the dust out in the bag while holding the top closed.
give it a minute for everything to settle down.
then take the pot out and tie the bag closed and throw away.

to get the rest out of the pot you need to wet everything down and wash the dust away.
then clean yourself up.

you should then be okay to turn the pot on and add a little more lead.
then flux everything and do an oxide reduction to the melt which should help get everything else out of the alloy.

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Good Advice