So I bought an RCBS ProMelt 2

[Gunslinger1911]

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.

[StuBach]

I would reach out to the product development team at RCBS and alert them to your issues. I contacted them several weeks ago mentioning that I thought they should reintroduce the ProMelt 1 due to what appears to me a demand for it on the used market and they were pretty eager to talk to me about it so I think they genuinely want to keep the casters reviews in mind. Contact who was very helpful and reached out to me below:

Dora Paul
RCBS – Weaver -Champion Target
Technical Service
605 Oro Dam Blvd East
Oroville, CA 95965
530 538 2623
800 533 5000
rcbs.tech@vistaoutdoor.com


Will Hemeyer
Sr. Product Manager
Shooting Accessories – RCBS & Mounting Solutions
9200 Cody
Overland Park, KS 66214
whemeyer@bushnell.com

[JimB..]

Is there usually a calibration process for your PID? Check the owners manual, but ice water and boiling water would be easy things to test.

Having said that, might be tricky with the integrated PID.

[Gunslinger1911]

I'll be contacting them for sure !
Instructions don't say anything about calib.
My old ProMelt was ready to go in about 30 min from switching on, this one took over an hour.
After 15 min the temp readout says the setting, but alloy isn't even close to liquid.
I haven't read anyone with this problem, so maybe I just got a bad one. It happens.

[dannyd]

That's the way it works because of the PID unit. The one I have works the same way. Called RCBS and it's because of the position of the thermal couple for the PID. Just have to let it sit a little longer to warm up. After it gets to temp works great for me. Remember it's not a Pro Melt like the old one.

[Gunslinger1911]

Dannyd - I hear you, def not a Pro Melt !
Good to know about RCBS's reply. I sent a comment on the web site, we'll see if they say the same to me.

Still kinda yanked about the 100 deg offset - I can deal with it but , jeeze !

Nother minor rant : Ya gotta let it cool to 160 before turning off (I guess you have to keep the fan going to keep the heat away from the electronics) - ever paid attention how long 25 lbs lead takes to cool from 750 to 160 ? Looooong damn time !

And no off switch ??? gotta unplug it ??? Sheesh

I would have been better off with a Drips-a-lot and a PID from a member here - I know how to fix a Lee dripper.

[JimB..]

That’s curious, you’d think that with the integrated PID it’d be easy to program a shutdown mode. Maybe they didn’t want to imply that it’d be safe to walk away while cooling.

Save time by dumping most of the lead back to ingots at the end of the run.

[StuBach]

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).

[FLINTNFIRE]

The other thread has a link to a timer posted by burnt fingers , I bought one also after seeing his link , I run pot down to about 1/4 or less then set pid to 0 and push button for 2 hours , it is well under 160 by then . I notice my promelt2 likes to freeze the spout and it was a dripper have the new valves now , also bought a used promelt on here and had to replace the valve on it , picked up a pid by Hatch and will hook it up next month hopefully . Thinking of getting the lee pots out lapping the seats and doing some mods to them .

[Gunslinger1911]

Another session this morning. Cranked it up to 840 right off the bat (seeing as it's 100 deg off). Took an hour to get to 725 (v/s 30 min old ProMelt). As long as Lyman therm reads 700+ no spout freeze. Great casting, no drips - yay !
But ......, I cast for a couple hours at a time, so I feed the pot when it gets a inch or 2 low - pound at a time, (theory that 20+ lbs lead is a pretty good heat mass to hold temp). Add lead at 725-750, keep pot above 700. No problem with old pot.
Running a 4 cav 230g and a 2 cav 230g. PM2 can't keep up !!! Adding sprues or ingots, let it try to heat up, slowly my level goes down.
Old PM could keep up with 3 four cav moulds !
We'll see what RCBS reply's to my email, may give a call to Dora (thanks StuBach !).
May look into the timer for cool down (thanks FLINTNFIRE !)
I can live with it, just have to alter my casting process. And keep an eye out for an old PM !!!!!

[StuBach]

Glad the contacts helped.

I’m a firm believer in companies that care what their customers say and it seems like their listening so the more we tell them as a community the more likely they are to bring back the old PM (at least that’s my hope, grandpa’s always told me if it ain’t broke don’t fix it)

[DiverJay]

I bought a NIB Pro-Melt 2 from Midway a few months ago. So far it has been a great unit and only varies a few degrees from my Lyman thermometer. Maybe it's because I started with a Lee pot but I don't rely much on the numbers on the digital display. Rather, I judge the temperature based on the quality of my pour. Whatever temperature I have it set at, I get shiny uncrinkled bullets out of it without drips or stoppages. About an hour before my casting session, I turn it on and put the mold on top and everything is at the right temperature and good to go before I start. That to me is more important than the accuracy of the digital display. However, I think if my machine was behaving like the OP's machine, I'd want it checked out.

[RogerDat]

I think PID would be sweet but anything that provides a repeatable setting works. Even if the thermometer is "wrong" numerically if it allows one to repeat the same temperature that it shows when it casts well....

[dannyd]

This is how mine reads

[Burnt Fingers]

Those Lyman thermometers aren't very accurate.

My PM II melts a full pot in about 20-25 minutes. Depends on air temperature and if I have a fan on to keep me cool.

[KenT7021]

I normally run my melting pot at 700 degrees.It's a Lyman Mag25.It takes around 20 minutes to get up to temperature.The readout on the pot,two Lyman digital thermometers and a Brownells thermometer all agree within a degree or two.