Hot Plate-Finally!

[TXGunNut]

I've been looking for a hot plate for over a year, not looking too hard as I felt heating the moulds on top of the furnace worked just fine. Finally found one this past week. You'd think a college town Wally World would have them but this is the first time I've seen one.
I stand corrected, this hot plate got my new 380681 up to temp and casting great boolits within just a few casts. Couldn't let my new mould have all the fun so I preheated my 375449 to see if I could cast with two moulds. Got that worked out and had all the boolits I needed in a big hurry! Production was close to the rate of a five or six cav mould.
Decided I was on a roll so reloaded the pot with 50/50 and set my NOE 360318 on the plate. Learned a hard lesson there, could have gotten me hurt or ruined a nice mould. Plate is 900 watts, I had it set on "HI". That was a mistake; first pour the lead disappeared soon after I filled the last cavity! Mould was closed but somehow it ran out the bottom onto the bench. I got it cooled down and cleaned up but I could have spilled lead elsewhere while I was moving the mould or warped the mould. Mould cast just fine but from now on I think "MED" will work fine for my precious NOE's.

[Walter Laich]

I set my wallyword between low and medium and that does the job for me.

[HeavyMetal]

Just a hair under medium seems best for both 6 cav alum and my 4 cav steel molds, brass to for that matter.

Best to be a little slow than to fast when setting up the casting gear, if you have a single cavity HP mold that hot plate will make one neat pin heater as well, a steel plate with a rod welded to it with a hole just a little bigger than your pin diameter will make HP's a lot easier.

[bangerjim]

Don't forget to use the plate to pre-heat your feed ingots going into your casting pot! Saves tons of time!.

I set mine to where the bottoms of the ingots just start to melt and back off a bit. That is about 12 o'clock on the three plates I use.

banger

[Bodine]

I use a pid on my hot plate as I cast with a propane furnace. I stack my ingots on the back of my casting pot to preheat.

106793

[TXGunNut]

I had forgotten about pre-heating the ingots, thanks. Sometimes a room-temp ingot is handy for cooling down a pot that gets a little hot but some pre-heated ingots would keep things going when I'm on a roll.

[mikeym1a]

I have a confession to make. I don't use a hotplate. I use one of the burners on my old electric stove. I put the molds sprue plate down on the burner, and put it on med, and then go play a game on the computer, while my Lee 10lb pot melts the alloy, with a catch basin under the spout. i have a hot plate, I just don't see the need to use it. If I were married, it might be different, but, since it is only me and the cat, I use what is most convenient. Cheers!

[TXGunNut]

Just me and the cat here too but I think I'd rather use the hotplate. Does clutter up the work area a bit but it's quite convenient.

[Garyshome]

Hot plate is mighty handy!

[Doc Highwall]

I use a PID unit on my LEE pot to control the temperature, now so I use the old RCBS thermometer to let me know what the temperature of the hot plate is. I have a piece of plate aluminum that has a hole in it for the thermometer to fit into that sits on top of the hot plate, and the moulds and extra ingots get pre-heated on that.