Lee production pot plugs up...take apart?

[rcav8r]

I've been casting most of the weekend, and today my Lee production pot started getting plugged up. It would pour, slow down and stop. I'd stick a wire up the nozzle, and it would work for any time from a few seconds to a good while. I think there may be something between the outer shell and the inner pot? I'm guessing here.
Should I try to take the pot apart to look for debris? Anything to watch out for?

[WilliamDahl]

Before I would do that, I would just try heating up the bottom with a propane torch. I've had it happen a couple of times and that seems to have fixed the problem for me each time. I'm not sure what was causing it though...

[40Super]

Any little breeze will freeze up the spout. Usually when mine does that it is because my pot temp is close to the melt point of the alloy, so any little bit of cooling by the spout will solidify the lead. Turning up the temp another 25-50F ends it, unless it is because of a cool breeze, then blocking all wind is all that will work.

[gunboat57]

Unless the design of the Production Pot has changed, the nozzle that sticks out the bottom is directly attached to the inner pot. If there's a bit of debris in between the valve rod and the nozzle then by using a wire you're just pushing it out of the way temporarily. I'd be wondering what could be in the pot that's heavier than lead?

[fryboy]

"If there's a bit of debris in between the valve rod and the nozzle then by using a wire you're just pushing it out of the way temporarily"
+1 !!

as for debris ...this is one reason why it's suggested to never smelt ( or add dirty alloy ) to the casting pot ( that's what smelting pots are for ) even clean lead however can trap stuff under the melt as well as "grow" it's own junk , i've found sulfur deposits/build up from time to time using pure Pb , so it's a good idea to clean the pot from time to time , i've read of some guys boiling them by filling them full of water and letting heat up , i sometimes take mine apart and use a round wire brush on a drill to scuff crud off the sides , the best suggestion is to thoroughly flux the melt you have in it now with lots and lots of scrapings with a wood stick ( like a paint stirrer ) empty the pot and clean it before beginning again

[Andrew Mason]

I have the same issue with my lee pot.

The lead cools in the spout,
Now,
I am in a phase now where I'm doing LOTs of large ingots, ands I am doing fishing weights as well.

So, I drilled out the spout a bit and enlarged it.

It happens MUCH less often.
But when it dose, a small butane lighter is all I need to get it flowing

[imashooter2]

Put a pan or ingot mold under the spout, open the valve, run your wire in and wiggle, remove the wire and without letting the valve close, run a nice pound or so out into the pan / mold. That usually does it for me...

[rcav8r]

I got my RCBS lead thermometer this week too, and realized I was running very hot before this weekend, with the dial on 7 or so. I have found out that setting it on 3 or a little past that give me optimal temperature, but if I crank it up to just 4 or close to 4, it'll go up past 900.
The rheostat seems to be very fussy. Maybe I'll have to look into adding one of those PID controllers.

[Griz44mag]

The temp control on the Lee pots does leave a lot to be desired. One of my pots set on 8 gets a nice 725 degree result, the other pot a cool 610. Use the thermometer and make sure you are hot enough. And clean your pot every once in a while. Every 3 or 4 casting sessions, I completely empty mine and use a ball brush to knock all the crud out of it, and an old 22 cal bore to clean the nozzle seat out.

[Three44s]

I'd be looking at emptying that bottom pour completely and taking the stem out that interupts the flow of molten alloy .........

I will also make a guess here: You are fluxing with Marvel ..........

When you are stirring this product around it invariably leaves some of it under the melt and then it sticks like concrete to the lower regions of your melting pot. If that's the case:

........ you'll have fun getting that gunk chissled out of your melter. You'll need to clean the orfice that the stem seats into as well. When I get one of these conditions, I find myself doing the same to the interior of the pot as well.

When you go back to casting get a metal spoon for draging around in the bottom of your pot. Use a wooden (but very dry stick to stir the upper regions of the melt) and use some sawdust on top of the melt for your carbon source. Be careful to not get the wood too low in the pot ..... that goes for the wooden stir stick and the sawdust. The idea of the metal spoon is to use something that does not shed particles down low in the pot. The weight of the molten lead that far down will trap particles as it did with your old flux. The spoon is to lift alloy up to the upper reaches where you can have the wood ......... the stick around the upper reaches of the sides of your pot will shed some carbon but at that higher point it is harder to trap and even then your spoon action should eliminate it and bring impurities with it.

I'd also refrain from running unknown sources of lead in your casting pot. Do a re-clean in a non-bottom pour so your lead source to cast with is as clean as you can get it before it ever touches your bottom pour pot.

Three 44s

[jlchucker]

Put a pan or ingot mold under the spout, open the valve, run your wire in and wiggle, remove the wire and without letting the valve close, run a nice pound or so out into the pan / mold. That usually does it for me...

Yep. Either that or a small-guage finishing nail or brad, held with a pair of pliers. Whether you use a thin nail or some wire, it's got to be stiff enough to poke up into the main body of the melt. Be careful because that lead will pour out pretty quick once you take out what you've been using to poke with.

[imashooter2]

Yep. Either that or a small-guage finishing nail or brad, held with a pair of pliers. Whether you use a thin nail or some wire, it's got to be stiff enough to poke up into the main body of the melt. Be careful because that lead will pour out pretty quick once you take out what you've been using to poke with.

I use a straightened paper clip lashed to a couple inches of dowel. Been using this simple tool for years. Not that a wire or brad held in pliers won't work, but for something that is going to be used on a semi regular basis for many years, a purpose built tool is worth having.

ETA crappy cell pic:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/poker.jpg

[jlchucker]

I use a straightened paper clip lashed to a couple inches of dowel. Been using this simple tool for years. Not that a wire or brad held in pliers won't work, but for something that is going to be used on a semi regular basis for many years, a purpose built tool is worth having.

ETA crappy cell pic:

http://home.comcast.net/~imashooter2/pictures/poker.jpg

Thanks, Imashooter. I've got to make me one of these. I should have thought of it years ago. It looks like your invention will beat the heck out of the pliers and a brad nail that I've been using. Easier to find in my casting-tool bucket, too.

[Von Dingo]

To clean the nozzle on my Lee drip-o-matic took the long straight bottom section of a coat hanger. Bent about two inches of each end so it was like a Z, but with 90 degree bends on the ends. Bend it so it lies flat with one end pointing up, to be easily grabbed when needed. After it is bent, crank up the bench grinder, and grind about a quarter of the diameter flat on one side, to give it room to move and to help work out the kinks.

been using mine for a couple of years.

[40Super]

I have 1/32" SS Tig welding filler rod that I have laying around, just bend it a few times to put a little handle on it and a probe end.

[prs]

I posted this a couple of days ago on another thread. Here goes again:

My pots didn't leak more than an occasional tiny splash for all that time. Then, with some foreign matter added (wood ash) they began to leak. Recent previous attempts to clean the rods and lap in the seats did not help much if any. I've heard of folks dismantling the pots and using a drill bit to clear the spout's orifice. But lead flows, how could the orifice be blocked?

I decided to empty the pots, clean them thoroughly, and make sure the valve seats were clean and rod ends fitting in properly. The pots were about 3/4 full of cold alloy so I had to wait for the temps to rise to 750F, at which point I fluxed with bee's wax and scraped the sides and bottoms thoroughly. I ran the lead contents into those little Lee ingots. The last few drips that would not flow to the valves, I used my putty knife blade to push to the rear of the pots and then let the pots cool. I removed the valve rod from each pot. The valves were blocked with lead, but a propane torch got almost all of it to drip out, but still no daylight. I put a #3 finish nail in a pair of vise grips and with the propane flame held to a valve I tried to work the nail through. No amount of heat and no reasonable amount of force would allow the nail to enter. I made a tool out of light gauge safety wire, just an 8" straight run of wire with a loop at the end to be my handle. I repeated the attempt to push through the valve while propane flame was held to the bottom. Success! Now, what I pushed through was NOT lead, but oxide. The Oxide looked like sulfur powder with specks of black pepper in it. I kept working the wire tool in the spout until the hole was about full sized. I could see it was still coated in places. Back to the little finish nail and vise grip handles to complete the job. Repeated same on the other pot. Put them back together and added the lead, fluxing at casting temp. The result was like that old Krylon paint commercial; no runs, no drips, no errors.

So, maybe the moral of the story for us bottom pouring types is to not use sawdust or wooden scrapers; at least not on the bottom of the melt. As always, render scrap lead and adjuncts in a separate pot and not in your casting pot. Will the job I did last? I dunno, time shall tell.

prs

I'm gonna make a tool like the one above with the paper clip. Good thinking.

[Griz44mag]

PRS,
Why all the contusions trying to get the lead out of the pot?
When I clean mine, I just heat the pot up, run the bulk of the lead out into an ingot mold, then (using gloves of course) pick the pot up and tilt it forward and pour the last of the lead out. Give it a little shake. The valve rod falls forward, unblocking the port, the nozzle clears itself of lead, so the only thing left in there are sulfers, oxides and trash. If it doesn't clear, you can use your nozzle pick to clear it out, sure is easy to do while it's still hot. After cooling, I use a small wire side brush on a cordless drill to clean the sides, and an end bristle brush on the drill for the bottom. A quick pass with an old bore brush (22 cal works great) will clear everything out of the nozzle taper. Use the wire brush on the valve rod to clean it up. Takes less than 10 minutes to clean up a pot. I give everything a light spray with drop out spray and fill it up for casting. I clean mine up every 8 or 10 batches to keep it all working smooth.
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