Lee Pot IV 10lb. What am I missing here?

[383]

I just received mine and had a major WTH moment after actually laying eyes on it. Ten pounds of lead? Where? How? I can't imagine the pot itself holds ten pounds, and with the probe or whatever it is in the way, it could only be ten pounds of shot.

My muffin pan ingots certainly won't go in it, and I doubt my ingots from my Wally World 2.5oz condiment cups will either. My intention was to use the Lee to melt my ingots made from smelting when I cast my bullets. Am I missing something here, or did I just waste my money?

[Cowboy T]

Remember that when lead melts, its liquid form will form right around all that apparatus in the middle of the pot. Fill it up to the top, and it'll be right around 10lb. Lead is pretty heavy stuff, so a small volume will weigh a lot.

This proved to be the case with my Pro 4-20 pot, anyway.

[6bg6ga]

I just received mine and had a major WTH moment after actually laying eyes on it. Ten pounds of lead? Where? How? I can't imagine the pot itself holds ten pounds, and with the probe or whatever it is in the way, it could only be ten pounds of shot.

My muffin pan ingots certainly won't go in it, and I doubt my ingots from my Wally World 2.5oz condiment cups will either. My intention was to use the Lee to melt my ingots made from smelting when I cast my bullets. Am I missing something here, or did I just waste my money?

Actually I have had one for in excess of 20 years. I've cussed it since day one because its slow and it drips AKA the dripomatic. One lb ingots will fit and if you lucky you can squeeze two into the pot and you will have to wait until they melt before going further. Yes, they will hold 10 lbs of lead. My advice is to retuurn it and go with the 20 lb dripomatic or better yet get your money back and save up for a better machine to work with. Sorry for being blunt ....

[DeanWinchester]

Not to go off subject, but why on earth would Lee call anything a "420 Pot" ?????
Yeah, ya'll know what I'm talkin about! I think the marketing team at Lee Precision been having think tank meetings in the supply closet, seated in a circle.

[mooman76]

You think that's bad, try the 4# pot. It's small but I get use out of it. Most people here will recommend the 20# pot over the 10. The 20# pot doesn't quite hold 20, more like 19 or a little under that.

[383]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll likely see the Lee 10lb'er. Will the 20# pot accept muffin pan sized ingots? From the online pics I see it doesn't look like it. I'm thinking I may just dip/pour when I cast until I can save for a better pot.

Thanks again.

[freebullet]

I use the 10 i only fill muffin tins bout 3/4 way full they go right in when inserted sideways. It will hold 10 pounds but thats full liquid lead. Mine heats up in 15-20min. Doesnt drip when clean. Not a bad deal for the money but you have to make small ingots.

[odinohi]

It must be F'd up


Not to go off subject, but why on earth would Lee call anything a "420 Pot" ?????
Yeah, ya'll know what I'm talkin about! I think the marketing team at Lee Precision been having think tank meetings in the supply closet, seated in a circle.

[383]

I use the 10 i only fill muffin tins bout 3/4 way full they go right in when inserted sideways. It will hold 10 pounds but thats full liquid lead. Mine heats up in 15-20min. Doesnt drip when clean. Not a bad deal for the money but you have to make small ingots.

I'll try that before using it.

Thanks.

[imashooter2]

Not to go off subject, but why on earth would Lee call anything a "420 Pot" ?????
Yeah, ya'll know what I'm talkin about! I think the marketing team at Lee Precision been having think tank meetings in the supply closet, seated in a circle.

They don't. They call the pot the Lee Pro 4 20 and it is a 20 pound pot with 4 inches of mold clearance.

As for ingots... When you use makeshift molds for your ingots, you deal with the limitations of the shape in exchange for the low cost of the mold. Buy a Lee / Lyman / RCBS / SAECO purpose designed mold and the ingots will slip right in.

[TES]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll likely see the Lee 10lb'er. Will the 20# pot accept muffin pan sized ingots? From the online pics I see it doesn't look like it. I'm thinking I may just dip/pour when I cast until I can save for a better pot.

Thanks again.


Yes it will my ingots are 3.25 lb and I can get three in easily. Then # 4 after a few pours in to my 6 cavity.

[mooman76]

I like smaller ingots. That way I can add as I go and it doesn't effect the temp as much and I can keep going.

[williamwaco]

Pots are rated for PURE lead and it will hold almost ten pounds if you fill it up to running over the brim

I find that if you leave room to stir without splashing it out, most pots will actually hold about 80% of their rated capacity.

[Mike W1]

I recently made a little aluminum "dip stick" so I'd know how much was left in my pot. There's that little cap on top of the pot and if you measure to there from the bottom and compute the volume it came to 9.96 pounds of lead.

They're really pretty decent pots for the money. I didn't add sprues to my melt before I got a PID and you would be surprised how much the temp drops if you even add a warmed up 1 lb. ingot. Only takes a few cold sprues to drop it real quick. So I piggybacked my 2 10 pound pots, add only hot lead to the bottom one, usually about 4 ingots worth, and by the time I need more lead in the bottom the one up top has it ready. No delays to put up with. I've never actually laid eyes on a 420 but the mechanism that lets you pour looked hokey in the pictures to me. The one on the 10 lb one gives me a good feel for the stream and I prefer it for that. 2 most important things I've found in pouring are hit the center of the sprue hole and a STEADY STREAM. If I goof on either item the bullet isn't gonna be good.

[CGT80]

The lee 4 20 isn't bad. I added a PID. There is no way I would go back to the lee 10 pound pot. I like the valve on the 20 much better. It doesn't seem to have room for 20 pounds. I use ingots that are 1"x2"x5.5" from my own molds and the 1 pound ingots. Lately, I have been using my MAP gas plumbing torch to heat the ingots as they are in the pot. Once the lead turns to a slush/liquid, it touches the metal of the pot and comes up to temp much faster. It takes a lot longer with an empty pot than if you have some melted lead. The map gas is very hot but doesn't seem to bother the pot much as I focus it on the ingots. A bottle has lasted a long time. I can get the pot ready to go in about 5 minutes rather than 20+ minutes. I have been adding sprues back in as I cast them. The pot does drop in temp fast.

[Garyb]

I use the Lee Pro 4 20 and I find it adequate for all of my casting; however I wouldn't want one any smaller. I have used the muffin pan ingots before but I prefer the corn shaped muffin ingots better. I also use the pie shaped corn bread ingots. I bought several cast iron pans at the local junk store for about $4.00 each.

[yellowfin]

This is very timely information, thank you for sparing me the grief of having to deal with ingots not fitting. 20 lb for me it is!

[Rushthezeppelin]

My Lee 420 fits one stack of muffin ingots perfectly IME.

[midnight]

I have one of those little 4 lb Lee pots and they are good for more than just melting lead. Mine has never seen lead and stays filled with Dip-Seal to coat end mills, drill bits & reamers so they don't rust, stay sharp and don't bang against each other in the toolbox.

Bob

[CGT80]

I have one of those little 4 lb Lee pots and they are good for more than just melting lead. Mine has never seen lead and stays filled with Dip-Seal to coat end mills, drill bits & reamers so they don't rust, stay sharp and don't bang against each other in the toolbox.

Bob

That is actually what the Lee 4 pound pot that I have, was used for. We sharpen clipper blades as a business and we used to dip the tips to protect them. Now that I think about it, keeping the temp just right so that the dip would melt but setup quickly enough on the blades was just about impossible. I should have had a PID :lol: Now we just package the customer's blades in plastic bags and seal them with a food sealer. It is faster and cleaner for blades. I could see using it for mills though.

The 4 pound pot wasn't all that great for melting lead. I was also trying to melt a little bit of range scrap that I had, but it just didn't get hot enough. Now I use a lee 20 to cast and a fish fryer and dutch oven to smelt. I have moved up in the casting world and gained some knowledge from here.

[HeavyMetal]

You now know why a lot of us build ingot molds out of angle iron, I have four I welded up.

Each "mold" make for 3 lb ingots that easily fit into any of the Lee pots, these are 1 1/2 by 8 or so.

the 4 molds yield 16 ingots a pouring, and store much easier than muffins or corn bread ingots.

If you don't weld a couple guy on the site do make these in several different sizes search for them you'll be glad you did.

[Ed1]

I use the mini muffin pan. They work great on the 10#er

[762 shooter]

Corn muffin ingots will fit into any pot.

762