I was hoping to start this on a positive note, but alas somethings don't come to plan when you want them too. Too start, I have been casting over a dutch oven and propane burner since I learned from some of my now deceased friends who first taught me the art of casting over 30 years ago. I recently decided to go modern so to speak and wanted to get an electric pot with PID contoller. Contacted HATCH for the PID, done. Ordered the NOE mold guide and bracket for the Lee, done. Found a Lee 4-20 pot on eBay for $60.55 with free shipping. (Sweet deal!) Went to the PO to pick up the pot. Looked a bit odd as I noticed the package came from Brownells. Opened the box and found out the pot was a 220V model. To sum up I am working with the seller to correct the issue as they even admitted they sent the wrong item.
Now, on to the mod part, I decided since I already opened the box, I would take some measurements for a modification I have been thinking about after reading some of the complaints of the Lee pot. The biggest being the amount of leaking that occurs, second was the instability and weak point of the valve pour assembly. Mainly stepping in with the issue that constant use of the lifting up and down of the valve would eventually loosen or cause the #6 shoulder screws to come loose from either the top or bottom. I originally posted a mockup of what I thought would work in the "Fixing the Lee Drip-O-Matic" post.
I had some time to run to the hardware store, since the wife said she need a few things to make dinner. Went browsing around the nuts and bolt section. I took a 6" 6-32 threaded rod, and then went to the cubby that had the threaded aluminum 6-32 threaded spacers. Found a 1/2" and 1" X1/4" diameter, looked at the springs around there too. Found I think a #126 compression spring. Went back to the fasteners and found the brass 6-32 thumbscrews and a couple of #6 fender washers. Went and got the wife's wants and headed home.
Got the Lee pot and mocked it up from the outside, looked like I can make this work. If only I got the right Lee pot.....I could take it apart and get going! While looking at the pot I got, I noticed that the factory shoulder bolt on top was crooked, played with it a bit and noticed it would bind during operation. Okay, so I figured the little assortment of nuts and threaded rod would keep the alignment better than those screws. Below is the hardware that I will be using once I get the pot I was supposed to get. The only modification to the valve bar handle would be to drill out the guide holes to 1/4" and use some sprue lube on it to make it smoother. Bear in mind that I may even go bigger and use 8-32 in the future maybe if I actually get to disassemble the pot and need to give it a little more strength if the need arises.
Just to note, when I do get the right pot, I do intend to lap the valve and pour spout and mount the thermocouple in the bottom of the pot. Thanks to HATCH for making his PID controller, Drew P, for the TC mounting idea, Lathesmith for a custom piece I'm hoping he can turn for me, and the rest of the CB members for their input and knowledge.
Tmaloy