RCBS or Lyman Casting Thermometer

[shotstring]

I haven't seen posts from anyone that uses RCBS or Lyman casting thermometers. Most seem to be using digital ones from Harbor Freight or elsewhere. I don't need anything sophisticated - just something that works reliably, particularly for smelting WW to avoid melting zinc along with my lead WW.

Are the Lyman and RCBS not very good? They certainly are the cheapest. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[crabo]

I use the Lyman and it seems to work well. I use a large spoon with holes in it to skim the clips and dross off. I reamed one of the holes in the spoon, so I could drop the thermometer in the spoon and then put it in the pot to keep an eye on the temperature. This gave me a long handle to hold the thermometer and didn't heat up my hand while I waited for it to read how hot the melt was.

Crabo

[grumpy one]

It depends what you are using the thermometer for. If you are using it as a personal aid to casting, the simple mechanical devices will be adequate provided you bear in mind that they might suffer from hysteresis: they will probably read slightly differently on the way up and the way down. On the other hand if you want to compare your data with other people's, or identify alloys from melting points using published data, you will probably find the mechanical thermometers inadequate unless you are lucky with your particular example and you use it very methodically.

[kodiak1]

shotstring I use an Older Lyman the one with Roman numerals on it but it is accurate.
Ken.

[454PB]

I bought an RCBS about 6 months ago. I've been casting for over 35 years, but decided to see how consistent my Lee thermostats were. I've owned a high quality infrared thermometer for about 5 years, but it doesn't do well on shiny surfaces, and only reads to 600 degrees.

I know from past experience that RCBS is terrific about standing behind their gear, and Lyman is so-so. I also read several posts where the Lyman thermometers had failed, but none where an RCBS had failed.

[mtgrs737]

I bought a RCBS over the Lyman because I had read some posts that said the RCBS was better than the Lyman unit. Then i noticed that the Bill Furguson (The antimony Man) was selling a high quality industrial unit for just about the same price, I would of bought one from him had I seen his first.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have used one for about two years without any problems. I use a Lee 4-20 and I keep my temps at about 700 to 775 for casting with Lee 6 bangers. I use it also for smelting and keep the alloy at less than 725 preventing the dreaded Zinc Oatmeal Mush from occurring. It works well and I even tried casting some at 1000 degrees just for kicks and it worked ok with Lee 6 bangers in 255 gr LFN boolits for my .45 LC. Jest a mite frosty but the targets don't seem to care much.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got one and rarely use it. To me lead temp is something you just feel after a while. The temp i want is the one that casts well. I would have to guess though that there both probably made in the same place. I doubt if rcbs or lyman actually produces them. They probably just get them from vendors and resell them.

[alamogunr]

I would have to guess though that there both probably made in the same place. I doubt if rcbs or lyman actually produces them. They probably just get them from vendors and resell them.

This is probably the case. I have one that I bought from Bill Ferguson several years ago and a second that I got when GAR was selling out. They are both made by the same outfit. They are out in the shop and I can't remember the name. Just looking at pictures, all are very similar.

[NVcurmudgeon]

My RCBS is about four years old and appears to read what I think it should. A friend has a Lyman and it seems to read suspiciously high. He casts at an indicated 900 degrees, but never gets frosted boolits. OTOH, one example of each brand is a laughably small sample. But if the thermometer reads consistently, I doubt if it matters whether it reads in parsecs or pennyweights, just so you can return to the magic temperature.

[BigSlick]

I have both.

The Lyman is new and unused, the RCBS I picked up used, here at CB.

I have a thermocouple (K) that fits a digital meter.

I haven't cast any since I acquired any of them, but will in the next week or so.

It will be interesting to see the results.

I know the thermocouple to be accurate, I plan to use it as a check for the others.

Neither the RCBS or Lyman can be calibrated as far as I can tell.

When I smelt, I run two pots, and ended up with the Lyman and RCBS in the attempt to help keep both pots below the melting point of zinc.

I also believe my two are too small of a sample to gauge either for representative accuracy or quality, but if one turns out to be a lemon, I sure won't buy another of that brand.
________
YAMAHA RM1X (http://www.yamaha-tech.com/wiki/Yamaha_RM1x)

[klw]

I've used them both. Perfer RCBS. The problem with the Lyman thermometer that I had was that the needle dragged on the surface behind it making the readings erratic. I've never seen that on an RCBS.

[rmb721]

I bought one from RCBS because of their warranty. Much better than Lyman.

[shotstring]

Thanks for all the info. It looks like RCBS will do the trick unless you folks highly recommend going another route for a bit more money. I looked at an industrial similar unit for $70, but it still only has a year warrantee and who knows whether it would work any better for twice the price.

As for the beam thermometers, it seems that there is trouble getting a true reading with dross building up on top. I don't know how they would get "middle" temperatures anyway.

[AZ-Stew]

Shot,

If you want cheap, you can't beat the Harbor Freight digital. Frequently on sale for $25-26, it's about $10 less than the Lyman or RCBS from Midsouth Shooter's Supply or Midway. In addition, it's more accurate and doesn't go out of calibration, though the thermocouples can take a dump. If you get flaky readings, a new thermocouple is less than $2. Good luck finding someone to re-calibrate your dial thermometer for that price.

See my previous posts at: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=18893 Scroll down to #7.

Regards,

Stew

[shotstring]

AZ, I remember reading that post. Excuse my ignorance here, but how exactly does this thing work? The way I understand it, you have a thermocouple which is actually a wire lead which attaches to the side of your pot and goes down into the molten lead. When you press the appropriate buttons to get your temperature reading, it casts an infra-red beam that reads the temperature from the thermocouple and registers that number in degrees on your digital readout. Is that correct?

[floodgate]

shotstring:

We're talking two separate (actually three if you count the Lyman/RCBS/Ferguson thermometers - I have one of the latter and it works fine) types of temperature measurement. The IR system is a handheld optical device you point at whatever you want to measure the temperature of (dangling preposition?); it has a laser dot to show where you are pointing, and an IR-sensitive cell reads the "brightness" of the spot (assuming its is optically black; a shiny surface will read low - some of the more sophisticated ones have a compensating adjustment for the degree of reflectivity) and interprets that as temperature.

The second (third) is an attachment which can be used with a special instrument, or with many of the current digital volt-amp-ohm meters. A probe that plugs into a port in the meter carries two long wires which are joined at the end to a pair of tip wires of dis-similar metals (which may be in a closed sleeve or tube to keep from getting "soldered") - different metals react differently to heat, and the meter compares them to "read" the temperature on a scale in the meter.

floodgate

[Sundogg1911]

I've had a couple of the Lymans. They seem to last about 5 years for me. I run a PID controller on my Lee pot and my Magma is dead on, so I really only use a thermometer to make sure i'm up to temp. Like Lloyd said, after a while you can sort of "feel" what temp you are at. I use one of the harbor freight digital ones. I used the shaft from my old lyman thermometer with the thermocouple down inside and a wooded dowl epoxied to the top for a handle. and I also a 3M IR Thermometer. But only untill I am up to temp.

[AZ-Stew]

Shotstring,

Sorry for the delay in reply. I'm on vacation and am "vacating" from everything. Just saw your question...

Floodgate was close. The two dissimilar metals create a voltage that has a relationship to the temperature where they're joined. This temp is measured and the "volt meter"is calibrated to read in temperature, rather than voltage, so you get a direct temperature reading from it.

Look up "thermocouple" on Wikipedia. You'll get an education. (Great idea, that Wiki).

Regards,

Stew

[Adam10mm]

I use the Lyman thermo and it does the job.

[Marshal Kane]

I use the Lyman too. Bought the Lyman only because it was less than the RCBS but both are so similar that I believe they are made by the same manufacturer. Seems to work O.K. but have yet to figure out how to use the clip that came with it.

[jawjaboy]

I ~happened~ across this jewel a few weeks ago. With the RTD, good to go up to about 1700F. It's new, cost me nada. I'm proud of it, but not gloating mind you! [smilie=1:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g194/jawjaboy/IM000362.jpg