I picked up a project that has been out of use for 10-15 years. There is a fair amount of crud / oxidation on the walls of the pot (nothing structural). What is the best way to prep it for my first melt?
I picked up a project that has been out of use for 10-15 years. There is a fair amount of crud / oxidation on the walls of the pot (nothing structural). What is the best way to prep it for my first melt?
I would start by scrapping off as much of the oxidized metal as possible with a flat head screwdriver. Then take an old brass cleaning brush (the bigger the better) and put it on a short piece of cleaning rod chucked up in a drill and run it along the inside of the pot. As for the spout, you will have to heat that up and run a small piece of wire or appropriately sized drill bit in and out by hand.
Or you can just put some lead in it, flux the devil out of it and go from there. While fluxing scrape down the sides with the screwdriver to release any stubborn scale.
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Stirring aggressively with molten Lead in it is all you need to do.
As soon as the crud gets loose off the side & bottom, it'll float up.
For the nozzle-- I keep a sturdy paper clip with one end straightened out handy.
Wear a welding glove. One of those heavy BBQ gloves at Home Depot does fine too.
Hold the clip with pliers and poke it in & out of the nozzle while the rod is lifted.
When the Lead flows freely, its clear.
They're good pots.
I got mine in the mid-90s and its still on the job.
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Congratulations! You bought a great casting pot!
You can be as aggressive or as passive as you want to be in cleaning your pot. I've only really cleaned mine one time. I took the linkage apart and moved everything out of the way. I used a round wire brush on a drill on the inside of the pot and polished the point on the rod with fine emory cloth and ran a drill bit through the hole. I did this outside, standing in the shop door with a fan blowing from behind me. I replaced the linkage bolts with stainless ones from the bolt store.
Or like the others have said, just melt some lead, scrape the bottom and sides of the pot and flux it a few times.
I have 3 of them. I agree with melting lead in it and scraping and fluxing well. Worked on the two used ones I got. I prefer the old over the new.
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Use it, flux, scrape the sides while hot, flux it again. Cleaning is futile. The crud will be back.
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Thanks guys.
I will probably be doing my first melt in it this weekend.
Yeah, I was gonna say, I gave my Pro Melt a good cleaning with bronze wool and all. Didn't really make any difference. That was years ago and haven't thought about it since. Like the guys said - just stir it regular and get the dirt off the top. My .02.
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You can use white vinegar to clean the crud out of the pot. Just get it empty first. The vinegar will dissolve the oxides and help clean the pot. Then rinse the inside of the pot with water. Let it dry and fire it up.
Bill
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I used this method on my old Seaco it worked very well.
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I've had the "crud build-up" problem with several of my Lee furnaces and address it with a boiling water and wire wheel in my electric drill. (You'll have to do this a couple of times though.) One of the benefits of the clean furnace is much faster heating: Try it, you'll like it.
Well I scraped it down and washed it out. It was mostly mild oxidation and a ton of dust/ dirt.
In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.
OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
EVERYONE!
Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.
First time pouring lead, house dint burn down and I am unscathed, so I will call that a success.
In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.
OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
EVERYONE!
Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.
I would save the pro melt for casting bullets and only put clean fluxed alloy ingots into it. get a cast iron pot or something else to melt and flux your alloys to make clean ingots
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |