Lee and a Seaco at the same time ?

[Digger]

Have a Lee 20 bottom pour and a Seaco 10 bottom pour ....
Been using both on and off for the past years and was wondering ..
I do enjoy using the old Seaco a bit more as far as function , a bit easier slipping the molds in and out .

Been thinking about double stacking ... putting the Lee up top for initial melt with the Seaco on the bottom for the constant flow .
A member or two have done this before , just curious as to the possibility's with this kind of setup.
What would some of your opinions be ?
Is such a set up is worth the effort or not .
thanks
digger

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I know a few others have stacked 'em, as you said...But maybe a 1 lb Ladle would do the same thing?

[Digger]

I know a few others have stacked 'em, as you said...But maybe a 1 lb Ladle would do the same thing?

Good thought ..simple.

[Bazoo]

I'm lost as to the 1 lb ladle thing. In what way would a ladle of any poundage help a double stacking pot scenario?

Thanks

Bazoo

[44magLeo]

With the 1lb ladle you just dip from one pot, dump into the other. No stacking.
I like the idea of the stacking if I didn't get tired with just a pot full. The adding of ingots then wait to get back to temp gives me a chance to rest a bit. This lets me have longer casting sessions.
I use a hot plate to heat the molds so the restart doesn't lose many bullets.
Leo

[Bazoo]

Okay I'm following now. I've done that with the lee 4 lb pot and a lee 10 pound bottom pour pot.

You could take the lee pot and drill a large hole in the bottom directly below the spout, then position it on a frame over the other pot.

[kevin c]

...You could take the lee pot and drill a large hole in the bottom directly below the spout, then position it on a frame over the other pot.

This pretty much what I did. A hole saw did for the aluminum base plate of the Lee 4-20 I mounted on top of a refurbished ProMelt.

The ProMelt has a wide, flat top that made it easy to to secure the Lee (shortened with magnum melter hardware to cut down the free fall from the Lee down to the ProMelt) with removeable threaded rods through a couple mending plates. Other makes in different configurations might take more jiggering. And I tend to think that, depending on how it's done, the set up would be more stable with the higher capacity pot on the bottom receiving end, though I know that isn't what the OP's aiming for.

I think JonB's suggestion, though, is the simplest effective way of combining the capacity of two pots already owned.

[Phlier]

I know a few others have stacked 'em, as you said...But maybe a 1 lb Ladle would do the same thing?

Thanks for that idea, JonB. One of those head-slapping "why the heck didn't I think of that???" moments.

I think I'll build a second PID controller, and use it to control an electric single-burner hot plate. Keep 20 lbs of alloy melted (and at the correct casting temp)on the single burner, and use it to fill up the Lee 4-20 as needed. Transfer lead with my new 2 pound bottom pour ladle I just got from RotoMetals from the hot plate to the Lee.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My thoughts were to just leave a ladle in the secondary pot of molten alloy, and add a lb or two as I cast a pound or two of boolits.
I've found, with some molds, they cast so much better if I can maintain a fairly continuous level of alloy (at about 60% full), in the primary pot...as opposed to tweaking the flow adjustment as the pot empties.

[Mike W1]

I too like to keep a fairly constant level in my pour pot. Of course my Lee 10# pot don't have a flow control but have had mine stacked for years using a shelf above where the feed pot sits SOLIDLY anchored of course. On the Lee you can reverse the bottom easily whereas it might take a bit of imagination with other and larger pots. Mine lets me slide the pour pot back to fill and has about a 1/4" gap above the pouring pot when filling. Forward a few inches and I'm pouring again. The hot plate prewarms my ingots and molds. I lose a degree or two filling but time wise it doesn't take much to just add 2 or 3 inches to keep my flow as I like it on the pour pot. Both pots and hot plate are PID controlled eliminating any temperature guessing. And the supply is always ready to keep me and the pour pot in the sweet spot.

[Digger]

I too like to keep a fairly constant level in my pour pot. Of course my Lee 10# pot don't have a flow control but have had mine stacked for years using a shelf above where the feed pot sits SOLIDLY anchored of course. On the Lee you can reverse the bottom easily whereas it might take a bit of imagination with other and larger pots. Mine lets me slide the pour pot back to fill and has about a 1/4" gap above the pouring pot when filling. Forward a few inches and I'm pouring again. The hot plate prewarms my ingots and molds. I lose a degree or two filling but time wise it doesn't take much to just add 2 or 3 inches to keep my flow as I like it on the pour pot. Both pots and hot plate are PID controlled eliminating any temperature guessing. And the supply is always ready to keep me and the pour pot in the sweet spot.

Nicely done !

[fcvan]

The last time I did some serious smelting I used propane and a metal coffee can. I bought a stainless kitchen ladle and went to town. I had a bunch of pure and mixed that 50/50 with wheel weights. The end results were a bunch of dross after fluxing, and a bunch of clean ingots.

When I cast, I use a Lee 10 lb pot (Dad's old SAECO is being preserved) and a rhythm/routine. I start up my pot, still full from my last casting, and place a tin can lid over the pot. Yes, I cut out the metal around the moving parts. My molds sit on top of the tin lid so they are heated up with the melt.

During casting, I place ingots on the top edge of the pot and they are pretty well warm when it is time to add more to the pot. Clean alloy ingots reduce having to clean the pot. Trust me, I learned decades ago why they call them Lee Drip-O-Matics. I also learned that clean ingots don't cause pots to drip. The down side of this was I would often cast for longer hours and develop tendinitis when listening to 3 baseball games per day during casting season. I mean Baseball season.

I intend to build a smelting pot/casting reservoir that is fired by natural gas. If I can't cast from natural gas, I will certainly smelt by natural gas. Years ago, my first wife (totally an anti gun nut when I met her) forwarded to me an article of a guy who hand dipped boolits and produced 1 MOA loads from a 30-06 rifle. Great article, I wish I could find the newspaper clipping. These days, you just google it, but in the late 1980s, not so much. Bottom line, this guy cast from a 30 lb pot, gas fired, and hand dipped/ladle poured. His argument was that gas provides even heat while electricity cycles on and off. This makes sense considering how PID controllers regulate better.

If someone has recollection of, or a copy of an article about a guy from Idaho, who in the late 1980s, took the barreled action of a Rem 700 30-06, cut 2 holes in a trash can, placed the barrel in the can and filled it with concrete just to prove how accurate his cast boolits performed, please pass it forward. 1 ragged hole groups from cast boolits.

I think a gas fired bottom pour pot would be an awesome thing. a 20 lb pot would likely be more temperature stable than a 10 lb electric pot.