The Only Problem With My Lee 10LB Pot is....

[dbarnhart]

It doesn't hold enough lead. I waste too much time waiting around for it to get back up to temp each time I add ingots. I'm thinking of buying a second pot, this time a ladle pot. And use it to melt ingots and top off the bottom pour pot.

[AndyC]

Same issue, same pot - so I get around it some by adding ingots when it's 1/3 to 1/2 empty - doesn't take long :)

[Catshooter]

d,

I have seen pics of a set up where the man had mounted a ten pound Lee over another 10 pounder. The he'd just lift the lever on the top one to top off the one below that he was casting from. Fed ingots into the top pot, kept the temp even and up in the bottom one.

Welcome to the forum.


Cat

[imashooter2]

For a bit more than the price of a dipper pot to band aid your current setup, you can get the Lee 20 pound bottom pour. Might be a better choice...

[dbarnhart]

Me and my Lee 10 pound bottom pour pot have come to an understanding and we get along great. It doesn't drip much and when it does I know what to do about it. It doesn't plug up. It and my Accurate brass mold are getting along nicely and making bootiful boolits.

Right now I can get the Lyman pot for $34 and a nice Rowell #2 ladle for $26.

Yes, for the same money I could get the Lee 20lb pot but I think all that would mean is that I'm waiting on the pot to come back up to temp half as often.

[mooman76]

Make smaller ingots, like 1/2# to feed the pot and add them as you can to keep it topped off. It keeps up to temp better than way. Throw your sprue pieces in too while they are still hot. It doesn't hurt none to have a second pot either. I have 20 and a 4. I use the 4 for smaller jobs. I also turn the pot up just before I throw in a ingot and turn it back to where it was when it's back to temp.

[Casting Timmy]

I throw my sprues back in while they're still hot and use small ingots to refill. I use mini muffin pans to make my ingots, that way I get smaller ingots. You can also use a hot plate to make your ingots warm before adding them to your pot.

[dbarnhart]

Right now I'm buying ingotized WW and range lead from other casters and a lot of them use muffin tins as ingot molds. A muffin ingot barely fits in the Lee 10lb bottom pour pot. Each time I drop one in ther is about a 30 minute wait while it melts and everything gets back up tp temp. One muffin ingot = 75 230gr bullets, so every 75 bullets I'm stopping for 30 minutes.

[Hamish]

This is one of those learning curve things, is'nt it?

You can keep the pot topped off by throwing an ingot or two in everytime it will take them, then wait the short time to get back to casting temp. Or,
You can run the pot down, making 3/4's of a pot of boolits as fast as the mold will allow, then fill and wait.

Unless, like you say, you keep another pot going to shuttle from.

Being OCD about wasted motions I have timed myself both ways, and it is a waste of time keeping the pot topped off. (YMMV)

The duplex pot thing Cat mentioned sounds like a great idea, if you are draining the pot *that* fast. I find there are puh-lenty of things to occupy myself while the pot gets back up to temp.

The other side of the coin is that I run all SC and DC moulds, not 4 or 6 bangers, and I'm sure that makes *alot* of difference. I have previously considered keeping the smelting pot warm to shuttle from.

BTW, even though I have done just fine for years warming the mould on top of the pot sittng in the pb, because all you's guy's talk about hot plates, I have been trying to find one.

Well, I believe I can go one better, I found a crepe maker with temp. control for a buck. Ooo lah la and all that mess.

BTW2, 1920 copy of Popular Science had a tidbit about making a lead ladle out of an old door bell, a strip of brass, and a handle. (Thank you Mr. Salazar)

http://books.google.com/books?id=XSoDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=RA1-PA55&dq=rifle%20barrels%20%22popular%20science%22&lr=&as_brr=1&pg=RA1-PA55#v=onepage&q&f=false

[imashooter2]

Right now I'm buying ingotized WW and range lead from other casters and a lot of them use muffin tins as ingot molds. A muffin ingot barely fits in the Lee 10lb bottom pour pot. Each time I drop one in ther is about a 30 minute wait while it melts and everything gets back up tp temp. One muffin ingot = 75 230gr bullets, so every 75 bullets I'm stopping for 30 minutes.

Did I mention that Lee makes a 20 pound pot? [smilie=1:

[dragonrider]

I cured the waiting problem by mounting my ten pound pot above the twenty pound pot like this. I also never let the twenty get below half before refilling from the ten. Then refill the ten and by the time you need to refill it will be ready.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/Lee%20fix/IMG_0109.jpg

[rsrocket1]

30 minutes to heat up a 2 pound ingot? I start with about 10 pounds in my 4-20 melter and refill when it gets down to about 2 pounds. Another 8 pound of ingots takes about 20 minutes to get up to temp.

75 bullets would mean about 12 fillups for my Lee 6 banger. If I had to stop for 30 minutes every 12 drops, I'd go crazy.

[imashooter2]

I set ingots on the rim of my 20 to preheat while I cast and as soon as the pot gets low enough I slide one in and replace it on the rim. I can cast continuously this way until my arms give out. Did 59 pounds of Lee 452-228-1R just today using this method. My thermometer says the pot stayed between 650 and 700 for the whole event.

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/59lbs-s.jpg

[rsrocket1]

Hmm...
That looks like about 1795 bullets right there. [smilie=p:

[skimmerhead]

I cured the waiting problem by mounting my ten pound pot above the twenty pound pot like this. I also never let the twenty get below half before refilling from the ten. Then refill the ten and by the time you need to refill it will be ready.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/Lee%20fix/IMG_0109.jpg

now that's the way to do it !!!:arrow::castmine:

skimmerhead:lovebooli

[Catshooter]

Hmm...
That looks like about 1795 bullets right there. [smilie=p:

rsrocket1,

You couldn't be wrongerer. It is most obviously 1794 boolits! Sheessssshhhh.

A blind duck with a glass eye stuffed up his butt could see that.


:)


Cat

[Fishman]

Dbarnhart, you will like that approach. I did the same thing and am way more productive. Six cavity moulds need bigger than a ten lb pot. I melt in my ten lb Lyman and ladle it into the lee and don't stop for anything.

[Echo]

Plus 1, Imashooter. I fill the (10-lb SAECO) pot with as many ingots as I can get in, and stick a couple more on the top to warm. I return sprues & rejects as they occur, and drop in (and replace) a warmed-up ingot as soon as possible. Temp doesn't vary enough to be a problem.

[stubshaft]

When I cast boolits from 450 grains on up, I use the ten pounder as an alloy preheater for the twenty. If you want to see alloy drop fast cast a 500gr and a 580gr double cavity mold in tandem!

[Sasquatch-1]

I know it may not be the safest method (have only had near catastrophies, no major mishaps) but I will set an ingot on top of the pot and melt it with a torch if need be. Most of the time dropping one in as soon as the pot has room takes a minute or two to come back up to temp. Sometimes less.

[geargnasher]

I cured the waiting problem by mounting my ten pound pot above the twenty pound pot like this. I also never let the twenty get below half before refilling from the ten. Then refill the ten and by the time you need to refill it will be ready.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/Lee%20fix/IMG_0109.jpg

I was wracking my brain trying to figger out who it was that did that, glad you showed up!

Midway has the 10 pounder Old Drippys on sale this month, might pick one up.

I have this wacky idea for building a steel rack to hold the pots, a steel base plate about a foot square for the base and a rod or pipe welded to the back to support a second base for the preheater pot that would swing into position when needed to top-off the casting pot, then swing back out of the way to allow fluxing or skimming. I think I'd drill a 1" hole through the base of the preheater pot for the stream to fall through and use the base as a splatter guard rather than remove it. Got the old wheels grinding in my head now!

Gear

[handyman25]

Small cast iron skillet (apx 5 inch) $1. Two hot plates $1 each, need a back up. All at yard sales. You can get the aloy hot or melt it your choice. Please wear gloves.

[A pause for the COZ]

If your using a hot plate to keep your molds hot. Also set a couple ingots on the plate to keep them preheated. Just below melting temp. drop them in as needed.

[dbarnhart]

First casting session today with two pots:

Pot 1 is the Lee 10lb bottom pour
Pot 2 is the new Lyman 10lb Big Dipper

When Pot 1 got half empty I would refill it from Pot 2, and then refill Pot 2 with sprues and ingots. I was able to cast about 800 boolits in four hours from my 2-cav mold, which is twice the amount I was able to make last weekend before the Lyman pot arrived.

[Chamfered]

I run a 10 and a 20 pound pot at the same time, throwing sprues and culls back into the pot I just used, down to about a quarter, and topping off with pre heated ignots left on top of the ready pot. Usually don't have to wait too long between swaps. 230gr's are about the biggest I cast though.

[dbarnhart]

I'm starting to think about a 4-cav or 6-cav mold in order to increase my production rate. Not sure that I'll be able to melt lead fast enough to avoid running both pots dry though.

[imashooter2]

I'm starting to think about a 4-cav or 6-cav mold in order to increase my production rate. Not sure that I'll be able to melt lead fast enough to avoid running both pots dry though.

I can cast a 6 cavity 230 grain RN continuously by preheating 2 ingots on the lip of my Lee 20 pound pot. As soon as the level sinks low enough to accommodate it, an ingot is added and replaced on the lip. The process continues, each time adding the ingot that has been preheating the longest. Adding preheated ingots while the pot level is still high keeps the temperature very stable and you can cast until either your arms or your ingot supply gives out...

[NPBullets]

Problem solved!! 40# pot from magma.

http://www.magmaengineering.com/images/stories/products/MasterpotLg.jpg

[dbarnhart]

I considered that but noted that it it pulls 13 amps. given everything else running on the 15 amp circuit I would be using, I think it's a no-go.