Torching the spout on lee bottom pour

[DrCaveman]

Man, i dont know how i missed that tip with all the reading ive done here

Each time i see that a thread has begun about proper casting temperature, ive taken another stab at "pouring cool". My lee 20 lb production pot always works well around a 6 or 7 setting, when using 2-cavity lee moulds. I almost always cranked it to max while the lead was melting, and for the first few pours. Mould dropping frosted boolits meant: drop the setting to 6.

I bought a thermometer, a while ago now...learned that my temps were quite higher than those who are able to drop larger diameter boolits on command. I was operating around 800* during the good part of the run, and close to 1000* during warm up.

I tried pouring closer to 700*, but couldnt get the lead to pour from the spout. I unclogged it with a small nail/allen wrench, but the metal would not move. I gave up on the effort (multiple times) and settled for using the moulds that dropped the size i wanted within the system i was working with

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Reading goodsteel's posts about consistency, i wondered what was meant by "priming the spout" (and i still may be unclear, please enlighten!)

I thought maybe he meant hitting it with some heat, in the form of molten lead or a torch. As my pot was warming this afternoon, i hit the spout with the propane torch when the thermo read about 640*.

The silver stream immediately poured! (yeah i still got some drip issues)

The drip stopped after rotating the spout-rod, as usual. I was able to repeatedly lift the spout arm and get a very nice, heavy flow of molten alloy suitable for casting!

Lowest temp yet!

Of course other things interfered right then and i didnt get to pour a run of boolits. But i will try again tonight, using the lee 358-158-rf which is sooo easy to get to temp and keep there.

Just thought id share this experience which is probably obvious to most of you but i dont recall reading about it.

Nutshell: hit your bottom pour spout with a propane torch right before starting to pour into your mould. It may allow lower alloy temps than otherwise usable

[prs]

Priming the spout in my vernacular means to pour some lead from the spout onto a vacant flat spot on the spue plate BEFORE filling a cavity. The idea is to avoid the relatively cooler lead that has been resting in the spout below the main pool of hotter lead in the pot. Consistency item.

Lead freezing in the spout can be a royal pain in cool/cold weather. The problem is greatly reduced if you are meticulous in fluxing, reducing, and cleaning the alloy; so avoid rendering scrap in your casting pot and do a great job of rendering. I have often thought it would be nice to have some sort of insulation around the bottom spout, but asbestos sleeves are no to be commonly had these days, maybe ceramic?

And, the propane torch is handy when it does gob-off.

prs

[Land Owner]

I "stumbled upon" torching the pour spout on my RCBS pot rather than continue to ram-rod it with a finishing nail at the end of a needle nose vice grips. For certain, the torch really does the trick. Pouring the first gob of lead on the spru plate rather than down the mould is a nice trick too~gotta try that next.

[clintsfolly]

Try a wooden match most of the time that all you need:) Clint

[bhn22]

Instead of "priming" the spout, try opening the valve slightly before moving the mould cavity into position to fill, for the same effect. A microsecond is all it takes. I use a ladle instead of bottom drippers, so I neatly escape the foibles of needing to clear the spout before filling the cavities. The concern is that the alloy initially in the nozzle could be at a different temperature and or consistency than the alloy that's coming fresh out of the pot. I suppose there could be a minor oxidization concern too.

[milrifle]

My Lee has the same problem sometimes upon initial start up. I use one of the Lee ladles (full open top, not the 3/4 of a sphere type) to stir with, so it is a simple thing to just fill it with lead, then hold it under the spout with the spout down into the molten lead. I will hold the valve open during this process and as soon as my ladle begins overflowing, I know the spout is open. It only takes a few seconds. Lots less than going to find my torch and lighter.

[osteodoc08]

I keep a small SS shot glass from Wally World under the spout and let the cooler stuff flow into the shot glass. When it's cool I can drop if back I the melt. It is short enough to not get in the way. Big enough to be useful. A propane torch is also handy for heating up lead picks and knocking them off with a bamboo skewer as well heating up a cold sprue plate, melting lead, etc.

[Bird]

I have the Lee 4-20 pot, and never let the temp go over 725 deg., I dont want to risk burning off tin if thats possible. Lower temp also helps with less oxidation I think.
I set to 7 on the dial for melting the lead in the pot, while pre-warming ingots on the lip of the pot.
For the dual cavity 45-70 rcbs molds, I like to pour when the pot temp is at 700deg. I tried lower temps, but ww lead will not flow through the spout at less than 680 deg.
Casting at 650 is possible, but the spout will freeze if I spend too long cooling the mold for more than a couple of seconds. A few seconds with a propane torch on the spout gets things flowing again.
Mold on the cool side, and lead on the cool side makes for the largest diameter bullets which I need. Running at 650 is a pain, and quite honestly pot temp is not as important as mold temp.
I have been casting outdoors, 70 deg, no wind. The pot, full, will hold at 725 with less than a 4 setting. Manufacturing standards will give a lot of variance to the setting.

[bangerjim]

Using a BBQ/water heater butane lighter is a MUST with a bottom pour! Lee should ship one with each 4-20! I use one of those long gooseneck things.....EVERYTIME I add feed ingots. Takes all the frustration out of casting. Have been doing it for years and years. The professional industrial metal casters do it with larger torches.

bangerjim

[geargnasher]

I just use a butane BBQ lighter if I'm impatient, normally it 'unclogs' all on it's own once the pot gets heat soaked. "priming" in this context means just what PRS said, and, like Popper, I haven't found it makes much difference to size or weight as long as the pot has been on for a while, like 45 minutes or so, and there's no bad draft or anything. I suppose if you had a fan blowing cool air under the pot, the spout could freeze or cool enough to affect the bullet quality, but I cast indoors at a comfortable temperature and have a fume hood built over the pot with a remote fan/duct way above it to exhaust the fumes without excessive draft.

I can run WW alloy down to about 650F before I start having problems, and do so with some moulds. If I need larger bullets I cast slower and run the pot temp higher. With 50/50 WW/pure, bullets tend to be smaller to begin with and that alloy has a higher liquidus point so I usually run the pot close to 750 to make up the size difference (if need be).

Gear

[BAGTIC]

I use a partially unwound large size paper clip to clear the spout.