Casting with double pot

[hawkeye1]

I finally got an RCBS Pro melt. Excellent pot.
After reading through many posts here, I decided to mount my old Lee 10 pound bottom pour pot above the ProMelt. Worked great. Keeps my lead hot and ready to add to bottom pot. No wait for temp to come back, no muss no fuss.
Thanks to all of you who post regularly. This site is a wealth of information. 315663

[G W Wade]

Nice. Tried this But couldn't get enough lead flow out of premelt to help. Always looking for ideas to steal GW

[sierra1911]

I preheat ingots in a 20 lb Lee Magnum Melter and transfer the lead to my RCBS ProMelt with a ladle. Thought about mounting my old Lee 20 lb bottom pour above the Promelt and connecting the valve mechanisms, but that seemed a bit Rube Goldberg-ish.

When the ProMelt gets low, I ladle from the Lee, refill it with ingots and sprues and turn the knob all the way to 10. An analog thermometer tells me when it’s temp is 25* above the ProMelt; I then turn it down to 7 or so. The extra 25* covers the temp lost by ladling. I have a second PID I could put on the Lee, but I’d have to manually set the parameters to melt the ingots as quickly as possible and then reset those parameters for my HiTek oven.

The Lee gets up to temp just before the ProMelt needs to be refilled, casting quickly with molds that produce 1,400 to 1,600 grains of pistol bullets with each cast.

I cast sitting so the time spent ladling allows my legs to stretch a bit as I stand and ladle.

[kevin c]

I have a modded 4-20 over an old style ProMelt. I remounted the pot on the shorter stand for a Lee Magnum, drilled a hole in the base under the nozzle and just clamped it over the ProMelt so one pot is directly over the other (smaller footprint). Both PID controlled.

Ingots preheated on the lip of the Lee feed the upper pot. The top pot tops off the lower before the melt level drops much more than a quarter, keeping the head pressure more consistent. If I were clever and not a klutz at my workbench, I’d rig a linkage that’d work both valves simultaneously.

[GregLaROCHE]

I’ve heard that some people keep some ingots on the hot plate they use to keep molds hot. That way the pot doesn’t cool down as much when they are added. Makes sense to me.

[endwrench]

Ahh, nice! An excellent use for my old Lee bottom pour. Seemingly simple concept I just never thought of. Thanks!

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[ioon44]

After casting 20lb or so out of my RCBS Pro melt I am ready to take a break while the added ingots melt.

[hockeynick39]

After casting 20lb or so out of my RCBS Pro melt I am ready to take a break while the added ingots melt.

Definitely agree with this!!!!! Also, if it is a multi-caliber casting session. Great ideas though. Good luck and stay safe!!! ;););)

[shell70634]

I built a small shelf and put one 10 lb Lee pot above another 10 lb Lee pot. Both have their own PID. Works great. Copied another's on this forum.

[Patrick L]

I need to post pics of my casting cabinet. I'm on the road now and can't do it from my phone.

I mounted my old Lee 10# to the rear wall, over my Lee 20#. All in an enclosed cabinet with an exhaust hood. Pretty slick.

[Wheelguns 1961]

I have spent many hours contemplating a similar setup. I now preheat my ingots on my hotplate. This works pretty good, and by the time my 20 pound pot is getting low, I am ready for a short break. So, I decided to just keep doing it the same way that I have always done it. I have also thought about just using 2 20 pound pots. While you are casting from one pot, the other one is coming up to temp. When the first pot gets low, fill it up, and cast from the second pot while the first pot comes back up to temp. I guess that I just got old, and lost interest.

[lightman]

I’ve heard that some people keep some ingots on the hot plate they use to keep molds hot. That way the pot doesn’t cool down as much when they are added. Makes sense to me.

Thats what I do. I don't mind a little wait between melts. By the time I go through 20 pounds my old wore out back wants a stretch. May take a bathroom break too!

But to the OP, thats a nice looking set-up.

[wilecoyote]

[QUOTE=Patrick L;5612152]I need to post pics of my casting cabinet. I'm on the road now and can't do it from my phone.
I mounted my old Lee 10# to the rear wall, over my Lee 20#. All in an enclosed cabinet with an exhaust hood. Pretty slick.[/QUOTE

...here both the same Lee(s), a reversed hand dryer with exhaust tube ready to eject gases via an holed (plexi) window glass, etc._
pictures very welcome, sir: just in case, my winter project is waitin'for them !

[stubshaft]

I've just used two Lee 20# pots side by side. Especially useful when I cast a bunch of bullets over 550 grains.