Need a cure

[lancem]

I'm using an old Lyman bottom pour pot that I've had just short of forever. Now that I've added a PID to it I'm getting a bit more picky on my casting temps. The problem I'm having, and I'm sure I can't be the first, is as my pot temp goes down where I'm getting good casting my pour spout stops up and I have to hit it with a propane torch to get it going again. Now this wouldn't be a big deal but every 3-5 casts it gets to be a PITA. I would like to drop down a bit more in temp on the pot but I don't think it would let me get one cast in with out hitting the spout with the torch. Any cures out there?

[Frozone]

I've played with the idea of adding a heater to the spout of a Lee 20#.

a 30 watt soldering iron heater in a piece of brass clamped to the spout should add just enough heat to keep it flowing.

Problem is the lee spout is used to locate the handle on the 20# pot.
The heater would have to fit between the pot bottom and the bottom cover.
But there is a nut there to hold the spout in the pot.

So the brass piece would have to replace the nut and be ~ 1/4" (no more than 3/8") thick.

I bought a lyman 20 instead of worrying about the solution ;-)

Same basic thing should work on a lyman, and you don't have the problems the lee has.

[lancem]

Thank you! You have given me the bump I need, never thought of a soldering iron. I can see the fix already, today's project!

[Frozone]

Good Luck.

Post the results, I'm sure others need info.