Lee Pro/Pot IV Spout Plugged

[mrbillbus]

I have a Lee Production Pot IV that I am trying to clean for a friend. He got a bit ahead of himself and threw WW into the pot. No doubt there were some zinc as well as all the attendant ****. So I have heated and scraped and scrubbed and brushed the main pot. I loaded it up with about 7 lbs of clean range scrap ingots but it still won't pour. The angle of the drain won't allow me to get a drill bit in from the top and I can push a paper clip in from the bottom until it stops at the elbow/bend.

Any suggestions on how to clear the spout would be appreciated.

BTW I can buy a brand new pot liner for $8 plus $9 shipping. :(

[CastingFool]

Can you heat the spout up with a propane torch, maybe hold the torch at an angle to direct the heat away from the pot?

[Trey45]

Yup that's my suggestion too, Use a propane torch to spot heat the spout itself until whatever crud is in there melts out.

[jsizemore]

I know of 2 ways to desolder things. After you get it hot enough you can either blow/vacuum the liquid solder or wick the liquid solder away with de-soldering braid/steel wool/stranded wire. The blow method obviously sprays liquid metal indiscriminately. The vacuum method may melt the end of your vacuum nozzle. De-soldering braid ain't cheap, steel wool fibers get stuck in the solder you are trying to remove, and standed wire is VERY slow. Also another method is to let gravity and inertia be your friend. Get that solder liquid, turn it upside down and bang it on the bench. This is usally the last resort and helps greatly with the frustration. It will most likely insure that you won't smelt in your casting pot again. Good Luck

[w5pv]

I don't have a Lee but a Lyman,it is high enough to get a small presision type screw driver up the nozzel from the bottom end.Work it around and this usually gets the flow returned.Do this when the pot is hot.I find mine will plug from the bottom side and a cleaning from this side will usually return the flow to normal.Wear gloves and eye protection when doing this as things will be on the hot side.Good luck.

[mrbillbus]

FWIW I used the word CR*P not that other one. :-)


Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

[Walter Laich]

to echo what has been mentioned above I regularly hit my spout with a torch at the beginning to get it flowing. Once the lead alloy is melted I am ready to cast and don't want to wait any more than I need to.
A longer metal rod from the bottom might work. could be the paper clip isn't long enough to get to the top of the c _ _ _
(I used the same word you did) :)

[mikeym1a]

I have a ProPotIV that was in poor storage for a number of years. To get that spout open, I had to disassemble the poor thing. Take the top and bottom covers off the pot, the sides come off in sections, and then you can remove the pot section from inside the heating coil. Do this gently. Once it is out, you can do what ever you want to it to make it flow. The actual outlet come out at an angle. I used a very small bit to get the rust and crud out of mine, and then used gradually bigger one until it was clean. Now it's back to its old self, a regular drip-o-matic! I was surprised how well it worked with my new 6 cav mold. makes for fast production. Cheers! mikey

[Garyshome]

I use a piece of heavy wire to stick up the spout from the bottom. but put a L bend in it first. Use a torch if you have to. Remove the stopper chuck another piece of the wire in your drill and wrap some steel wool around the end and run it in the spout from the top down. Cleans it out with a little effort.