On "LOW," how hot should my pot be?

[Jeff R]

Hi, I fired up my new pot last night. Upon the recommendations of folks on this board, I also bought a RCBS lead thermometer. After I melted some lead, with the dial set all the way to the lowest position, the temperature leveled out in the 770-780 range. Is this too hot? The directions with the thermometer said to cast pure lead at around 700 degrees.

60428

After you cast, is it normal to have lead all caked on the ladle like this?

60429


Is it normal to have lead sort of like soldered to the mold, like in the photo below?

60430

Anyway, I was able to produce my first Boolits!

60431

60432

Watching the silver stream is sort of mesmerizing. What is the best way to clean up that mold for safe storage?

Thanks!
JR

[Bigslug]

That is pretty darned hot for a bottom temperature. I tend to suspect that either your thermometer is not working correctly, or the lead was still retaining heat from when you had it cranked up high. Might want to check with another thermometer or see if the pot will melt lead ONLY turning it on to the base setting.

If the boolits are frosty colored, that's a sign of a high casting temp, but a lot of that will have to do with mold temp as well, for which you need to factor in things like casting speed and ambient temperature or airflow over the mold . Hard to tell from your photo, but they look OK to me.

I coat iron molds with a heavy slathering of motor oil and seal them in a baggie until the next use to prevent rust. Immediately before casting, I hose the oil off with automotive brake cleaner.

The lead spatter on the mold is a little weird. The village elders can probably help you there.

[1Shirt]

Never owned a lead thermometer, been casting for over 50 years sucessfully. I like to cast hot, like a little frosting on blts, particularly on long rifle blts. Interesting that your first castings (which look pretty good) are collar buttons.
1Shirt!

[44man]

A pot on low should barely melt lead and sometimes NOT.
Sadly, there is no way to check your thermometer.
Lead on the ladle is normal, wipe with a rag, lead all over the mold is sloppy. A stick should remove it.
Hard lead is cast at lower then pure, pure needs 800*, NOT 700*.
That is a strange boolit but you did get good ones.

[rsrocket1]

I have my Lee 4-20 set on about 8 or 9 to get 780 degrees. If I had it where your picture shows, I don't think my lead would be melted.

[dualsport]

Excellent first effort!

[454PB]

The thermostat on Lee pots is a rather crude bimetal strip. Yours is set too high. Most people would send it back for repair, or if you're mechanically inclined you can do some rebending alteration to the thermostat and adjust it downwards.

I own 3 Lee pots, and each has it's own temperature setting relative to the numbers printed on the dial. I've marked the 700 degree area (determined with an RCBS casting thermometer) with a sharpie. While I'm a dedicated Lee pot user, don't think their thermostats are anywhere near accurate. In addition, never leave a Lee pot powered up. Even with the thermostat set at zero, the element is always heating....as you've found.

[gray wolf]

You can at least check the low end temp for accuracy on the thermometer.
Put the thermometer in an old not for food pot and fill the pot with water. Depending on your elevation the water should roll boil at 212* and the thermometer should read as such. If your casting in a cold a environment the temp gage on the pot could false read. The gizmo that sets the temp is not in the pot, it's in the Aluminum cabinet in back of the lead pot. If I cast on a cold windy day my pot runs very hot on low.
My thermometer sits right in the melt. As for the lead splash on the mold ? well look at the top of the pot rim. You have lead splash on that also. Slow down and clean up your act, as in try to be a little neater. Then again that will come with practice.

[375RUGER]

I think you need more lead in the pot. Low lead level may have contributed to the high temp.
I think you should flux the dickens out of it too. Wire toothbrush should knock that lead off of the mould.
Nice results for first time.

[montana_charlie]

When you cast that batch of bullets your mould, or the alloy, (probably the mould) was right on the verge of being too cold.
Look critically and you can probably see them yourself, but I can point out the defects that are visible, if you want me to.

CM

[dakotashooter2]

on the ladle... Thats just an indicator that the ladle is cold............................