Temperature Gauge?

[Jeff82]

Hello Everyone,

I've been thinking about upgrading my casting equipment and was wondering about getting a hardness tester and/or a temperature gauge. I'd like to know how many people regularly use these items, and if they are useful. Up until know I just fly by the seat of my pants, and get reasonably good results. But, as my shooting neeads have changed I find myself needing to mix alloys and create larger volumes of bullets. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

--Jeff

[popper]

I would recommend a PID (someone here sells a kit) if you have electric melter. You can control the pot, hot plate, measure mould temp, all with a device that costs the same as a good thermometer.

[H.Callahan]

Temperature control, whether by PID or manually with a thermometer is important. A PID is the Rolls Royce of temp control, but if you can't afford one, definitely get a thermometer. ...and definitely get a thermometer either way if you are doing gas fired smelting.

[1Shirt]

Have a Cabin Tree hardness tester, and find it very useful. On the other hand, been casting for over 50 years and never felt a need for temp check beyond what I have learned from experiance.
1Shirt!

[Mk42gunner]

Jeff,

I have a Lee hardness tester-- I used it to determine the hardness of my current batch of WW, then put it on the shelf. I will break it out again when I start using a new batch. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the Cabin Tree.

The thermometer get used every time I plug the casting pot in. I start checking temps when the alloy starts to melt, then usually leave it in the pot as I cast. I pull it out when done casting, no sense leaving it stuck in a pot of cold alloy.

The thermometer isn't really necessary, but it does make things easier.

Robert

[Jeff82]

Thanks for the help!

[Lance Boyle]

Jeff,

I have a Lee hardness tester-- I used it to determine the hardness of my current batch of WW, then put it on the shelf. I will break it out again when I start using a new batch. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the Cabin Tree.

The thermometer get used every time I plug the casting pot in. I start checking temps when the alloy starts to melt, then usually leave it in the pot as I cast. I pull it out when done casting, no sense leaving it stuck in a pot of cold alloy.

The thermometer isn't really necessary, but it does make things easier.

Robert

Well I'm a relative newb and started w/o the thermometer and was going by cast size and frostiness. When you're wondering if your new molds are undersized that leaves you guessing where your problem lies. Having the thermometer at least helps you to see what your doing for consistency and to communicate here for help or with the mold maker of what you've already tried.

I too use my thermometer on every session and pull it out when done. I'd hate to stupidly bust it because it was fixed in cold pot.

ETA- Knowledge is power.

[Jeff82]

Lance,

Thanks for the input. Yes, I think I'm willing to cough up the bucks for a thermometer.

I'm at a funny place with my casting. I've done well with my Lee 4-lb furnace and single-cavity 45-70 mold. For BP shooting life was easy casting pure lead, and I've punched out thousands of rounds that way.

Different story now. I'm running a six-cavity mold for my 357 levergun. I need alloys to handle the velocity, and a hot plate to keep my mold hot. In order to take advantage of cheap alloy sources (linotype, solder, etc), I really need a large volume pot to mix ingots.

Time to upgrade!

--Jeff

[Steel185]

http://noebulletmolds.com/orders/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=30

NOE has this one for $26 they are a great sponser here also. You could see if it helps how you want it to in casting more accuratly then upgrade later to a PID setup.

I have a Lee hardness tester. I've used it a few times, it works for me. I just don't think I use it often enough to pay for a cabin tree. My needs aren't that precise and i don't think I'm loosing much with the Lee.

[shadowcaster]

Temperature control, whether by PID or manually with a thermometer is important. A PID is the Rolls Royce of temp control, but if you can't afford one, definitely get a thermometer. ...and definitely get a thermometer either way if you are doing gas fired smelting.

+1

I use a thermometer every time I smelt. In fact.. in my big smelter I use 2 of them to see how much variance there is from one side of the pot to the other. It's really easy to miss a zinc WW while sorting and if your temp gets to high without notice.. well you get the picture.

I also always use a thermometer when casting. I have molds and different alloys that just perform better at certain temperatures, thus the thermometer for me is an important tool. :cbpour:

Shad

[Jack Stanley]

I have used the hardness tester almost everytime I set up to cast , some of my guns don't care about hardness as long as velocity is OK but others do .

A thermomter is a great thing to have around and I do have one , it just doesn't get used as much as the hardness tester .

Jack

[km101]

+1 on using the thermometer every pour! I dont want to get too hot and accidently melt some zinc, or burn out my tin, so I use it every time.

There is an laternative to a hardness tester that is cheap and reliable. It uses drafting pencils to check hardness and it costs less than $20. If you are interested, go to :ead and Lead Alloys on the main page. The look for "Testing hardness with pencils" I've been using it for several months and it works!

[largom]

I to use a thermometer every time I cast or smelt. I do believe that holding the alloy temp. at a consistent point gives more consistent boolits. I also use a Lee hardness tester which I use to check unknown lead alloys as well as my boolits. After a few improvements to the Lee tester I have found it to be very consistent in accuracy.

Larry

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

IMHO, which is just, and only that; the thermometer is a necessity for rifles, if you want repeatable accuracy. For pistols, I don't see any need.

Rich
Sua Sponte

[41mag]

I got started up early last year and at first was simply using the setting on my Lee 4-20 as a guide to temps. I would set it to around 3.5 which would get my alloy up to a just liquid state. Then I would bump it up to about 4.5 for 15 minutes when my mold was warmed up on the hot plate. The issues you have with these type pots is the lower you go the hotter your alloy gets, and if your not watching it, your boolit size and weights will start to spread out.

I picked up the above linked thermometer, as well as the mold thermometer from Swede, and it was like night and day. The two of them allowed me to control the temp in my pot as well as see what my mold was doing and dial right in on the sweet spot for several of the Lee 6 bangers. I sat out there one Saturday and poured boolits, starting on the cool side, and worked up to frosty, through them all and jotted down the temps where they poured the best.

The following weekend I simply set the pot to that temp, while the mold was heating up to temp on the hot plate and other than goofs on my part, started to pour keeper boolits right from the get go. You still have to watch your pot level and back off as your level gets lower, but you can pretty easily keep a range of temps.

Then I added the icing to the cake and purchased the parts and put my PID together. What a difference that makes to the Lee drip-a-matic. You set your preferred temp, set your mold on the hot plate, and when they are steady where you want them go to town. The PID holds the temps easily within around 20-30 degrees usually closer, to where you set it, all the way to the bottom of the pot.

Are they worth the money? I have to easily say that the pot thermometer and PID are, the one for the mold is nice, but I now only use it when I pick up a new mold and once I find the temp it likes to be pre heated to, I am set. Ths pot thermometer can be used for this as well so the digital one don't get as much use.

As for harness testers, I went with the Cabine Tree. I was picking up a box of different type ingots here and there from members here and used it to sort out what I had on hand. Once I sort of knew what I had I blended up small weighed batches to get in the same range as my WW alloy I started out with, them smelted up a couple hundred pounds. Now I use it to check and record the hardness of my ingots on a regular basis. When I smelt down a batch, I use a Lee 452-255RF double cavity to pour up a dozen or so boolits to be kept with that alloy until it is used up. I record the alloy, the temp poured, and the date so they can be quickly compared. Then as the weeks go by or when I get to that box of ingots, I test the boolits to see where it has gotten to. Since most of what I pour is similar to this particular boolit, the samples let me know what I will have some time later on. While this may or may not be useful, it HAS shown some surprise results on a couple of alloys I have blended.

The bottom line is that these are great tools if you feel or have a need for the information they provide. Depending on just how anal you get about your loads, one might be more so than another. I get pretty wrapped up in my load development as I want them to be the best I can put together, or I feel I might as well simply buy factory loads. I don't do much plinking, I load for hunting and practice with that type load year round, so I want the box I grab when I head to the woods on any given weekend to be the same as what I shot the last time out.

Of them off however the thermometer I feel personally is a must have, followed the hardness tester, and then the PID. Wait the PID then the hardness tester, no the other way................ well you get it