LEE Pot run outs

[Piglead]

G'day .Look I know there's probarly a simple answer to this problem but I'm Buggered if I can work it out ! I have a Lee 20lbs Bottom pour Furnace ! It has a nasty habit of not sealing from the spout on the Bottom after you've been casting for a while it just dose'nt seem to close off properly .So I've got to the point of just useing a ladle to cast with & this seems to defear the whole concept of the bottom pour ! Any ideas please?

[dromia]

Hi piglead.

That pot is a piece of s**t, I've got one and it just dribbles constantly. I just use it for dipping now and use my Pro Melt for bottom pour, now there's a proper bottom pour pot.

My fix for the Lee was picked up from one of these boards and was easy, just clamp a pair of vice grips onto the top of the pouring rod. The weight helps to keep the rod in the nozzle and you can twist it around to push out any crud.

It still dripped occasionally though, you can make bullets with it but me I'd sooner pay more for something that worked as advertised rathet that go cheap with the Lee stuff and have to fettle.

I think their collet dies are a work of genius but you still got polish the mandrell to get the best out of them.

As for their moulds they drive me up the wall, the 6 holers are the best. They seem to last a bit longer before going out of whack.

Lee do great design but are let down by short term materials to come in at a price

[MT Gianni]

There are a couple of fixes for this on these boards if you run a search. Basically empty your pot, lap in the seat of the rod and spout and never smelt lead in it. Use it only for clean alloys. My biggest problem with my lee is the rod floating free from the adjustment screw requiring a plier adjustment to bend the bracket and screw threads back in line. Gianni.

[RayinNH]

MT Gianni, I had the same problem with my pot as well. The adjusting screw jumps out of the groove on the spout cutoff rod. I took fine steel wire and wrapped it around those two pieces as tightly as I could
and they no longer migrate from each other. You can still turn the adjusting screw as the wire just runs in the screw threads...Ray

[Buckshot]

.............You might have gotten the Vise-Grip deal from me, but I doubt that I'm original with the concept. A combination of the lighter steel being somewhat buoyant and the added weight of molten lead in a full pot makes the lighter rod's seal pretty marginal.

http://www.fototime.com/EB8491CA90B0461/standard.jpg
The setup, complete with pliers attached 8). There are also another couple mitigating things you can do. First, do as Mt Gianni suggests and do not put anything other then clean ingotted alloy into the pot. Even doing that, eventually you will get tiny granules of carbonized crud in there.

Even being so much lighter then the lead you'd figure it would HAVE to float, thermal convection can carry these light particles around. They can get trapped between the lead and the pot walls. Quite a bit will find it's way to the bottom of the pot. There it's pulled into the spout and it keeps the rod from sealing well. The extra added weigth to the rod helps. Maybe every so many pots full once empty and cool, upend the pot withdraw the valve rod and clean out the well the valve rod sits in. This well just gathers up this crud.

Another thing to do when you're done filling the mould is not to lower the valve handle. Instead when done, pull your finger straight out so as to let it 'slam' shut. Works.

I put aluminum foil around the post itself. Insulation. The pot seems to heat faster and not cycle so much. I just tear off a sheet of the foil and fold it over until it's width is the same as the pot's. Just wrap it around the pot. In the back where the element rods are I slit the foil layers to sit over the rods, and kind of twist it a bit and that's what holds it up.

................Buckshot

[boogerred]

i dont have a 20# but like buckshot i have adapted my 10#. i found a coil spring with 2 "eye"ends and i made a bracket to go on the bottom of the pot.i lift and release the handle and let the spring snap it back down.i also lapped the rod and seat and wrapped it with insulation.i also NEVER put anything but clean metal in it.this little pot works great for me but i love to tinker with things.i have also hammered out and ground down a spoon to fit the pot to use for a scraper.the big thing with a bottom pour is to keep it clean.a lot of people gripe about the lee,s but i like mine.

[Sixgun Symphony]

As for their moulds they drive me up the wall, the 6 holers are the best. They seem to last a bit longer before going out of whack.


You may be using a stick that is too dense, heavy, and large for hitting the sprue cutter.

Try using a stick cut from a broomstick. It is good for the task and it is light enough to not damage your Lee moulds.

[Piglead]

Thankyou kindly for that advice everyone ! I've had the Old Pot for years know & it was starting to worry me as it had just started recently to play up ! Now I have the solutions (hopefully )

Dave

[swheeler]

piglead; I have an old Saeco and Lyman, both bottom pour, both dribble. Someone on this board said to touch a piece of bullet lube to the bottom of the spout when hot, it works for a while and just reapply if it starts again. The Saeco finally expired not long ago, I replaced it with the 20# lee dipper model, when the Lyman mouldmaster dies, it too will be replaced with a Lee, but I,m a dipper.
Scooter

[chunkum]

Lee 20# bottom pour 120V - Mine has a little "twist-it" screw on the top that seems to turn something down in the valve and get seal back right. It will stop the drip, albeit temporarily, but it will stop it. My Lyman 10# drips sometimes too but it's older. Can't figure why those tiny particles that should float, gravitate to the bottom. I'm a convert on putting nothing in them but clean ingots. Oh well.....
chumkum

[MTWeatherman]

MT Gianni, I had the same problem with my pot as well. The adjusting screw jumps out of the groove on the spout cutoff rod. I took fine steel wire and wrapped it around those two pieces as tightly as I could
and they no longer migrate from each other. You can still turn the adjusting screw as the wire just runs in the screw threads...Ray

Use the same fix myself, Ray. Works well.

Crud buildup around the rod seat is the usual cause of the dripping. Keeping the melt and seat clean and occasionaly lapping the seat as mentioned earlier solves the problem. However, the problem is inherent in the design. There is not enough rod pressure on the seat. Since the part of steel rod embedded in the melt wants to float...running a half-full pot helps by both increasing rod pressure and by decreasing the melt pressure at the seat. Buckshots fix for the "floating rod" syndrom really works (I did try it). However, can't say I've been blessed with the best luck and I fear those vice grips will slip off, plunge in the pot, and give me a lead shower. I thought of threading the top of the rod to allow me to screw a nut with a weight cemented or welded to it but after the passing thought, just decided to live with the occasional dripping and fix it when it gets worse.

[versifier]

I just leave an ingot mold under the spout in my old Lyman, which will drip and occasionally clog with hardened lead if I don't keep it hot enough, and sometimes even when I do. Gives me a chance to get really creative with my cursing where and when it won't bother anyone. Keeping it clean (i.e. preventative action) also seems to minimize the problem. I can dip more easily at lower temps for those molds that prefer it, but when using the bottom pour I have to turn up the heat or I run into trouble.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I use a pro melt and have picked up a small production pot which I haven't used yet.

The only trouble I have had with the pro melt is that as the metal is used up I have to adjust the screw on the lever up and down so that I get a consistent 'head' of metal in relation to the sprue opening.

Lots of metal=small lift on arm attached to sprue plug/nozzle whatever,
Not much metal= big lift on arm.

Bit of a pain, but keeps it flowing consistently.

I don't know if your pot has this sort of adjustment, but 20lb of molten lead above a sprue needs a fair bit of pressure to shut it off.