Lyman Big Dipper Warning

[Dr.S]

I have a seven month old big dipper pot.Lately its been taking forever to heat up.
That changed this evening.As it was heating up I went inside and made a sandwich and ate it. When I went back out to the garage the pot and a full load of lead were cherry red.
I'm sure it was minutes away from a disaster.Don't leave these unattended for any length of time.Its on full blast whenever its plugged in now.I'll call Lyman,but they don't list replacement thermostats or anything on their website.I've read elsewhere they're made in China and I believe it now.Geez.

[twc1964]

Wow! wouldn't need to cast many boolits to get yer mold up to temp i guess lol. but really, that could have been a disaster! glad u caught it in time.

[imashooter2]

Nice. There have been a couple threads on these pots, none of them bragging on the high quality. I had to modify mine to get it to heat. I'd never recommend one to a friend.

[Ben]

China will be the end of us all before it is over !

[Handloader109]

Get a Lee, better to drip a bit than buy China ****

[EDG]

China will be the end of us all before it is over !

Not true. The Chinese can produce top quality items if the customer knows what he is doing.
In this case Lyman may be displaying its lack of knowledge in dealing with the Chinese manufacturers.
There are other areas where Lyman demonstrates this same lackadaisical approach to product design and manufacturing.

[ghh3rd]

Get a Lee, better to drip a bit than buy China

+1 ... I agree

[dikman]

There are other areas where Lyman demonstrates this same lackadaisical approach to product design and manufacturing.

The same can be said about Lee

Yes, the Chinese produce products with questionable quality control, but they also produce some excellent goods. It is up to the buyer/importer to do his homework as to where, factory-wise, the goods originate from.

[762sultan]

Would a PID be able to control this situation? I don't understand a PID but I thought they controlled the electric current to the furnace. Anyone know for sure?

[imashooter2]

Sure, adding $100+ in PID would fix your $50 pot no problem at all.

Perhaps I'm old school, but I'm the kind of guy that believes my $50 pot should work out of the box.

[doghawg]

I use my "big dipper" solely as a feeder pot for either the Waage or RCBS pots. On a good day it can usually keep the sprues and rejects liquid. Lyman told me I could return it for repair but the shipping costs were mine. Junk.