Lyman Mag-20 Repair

[Stonecrusher]

Gentlemen,
I have been lurking here for quite a while and it is an excellent site, much good info. For my first post I have a question. I have a Lyman Mag-20 I have been using since about 1986. Last time I used it the thermostat seems to have gone bad. The element acts like it is on all the time, light never goes off, and the lead seems to get too hot. I don't have a thermometer so I can't check the temp. Anyway, I called Lyman about repairs and they won't let you speak to a repair tech. When asked for a ballpark figure repair the pot, new thermostat & element, I was told to send it in and ask for estimate before repairs are done. I am leery of this. Has anyone else had experiences with Lyman's repair and were they good or bad. Were they expensive? What about turn around?
Thanks in advance for the help.
-William

[Calamity Jake]

The only way to get it fixed is to send it to Lyman, turnaround time and $'s are not that bad.
Get the lead out first it saves shipping $'s.

[sagamore-one]

The Mag 20 thermostat is indeed adjustable.
Just remove the dial and in the middle of the shaft there is a screwdriver slot. Turn one way to increase heat shut off point, the other way to decrease heat shutoff point. I forget which way is which. Mine acted up enough times I drilled a hole in the silly dial so as to be able to adjust the thermostat without removing the dial.
Try adjusting before sending the whole thing back to Lyman.

[TAWILDCATT]

I jusr bought a speed control for a router from harbor freight.$19.99.it is a voltage controler and runs all the time not make and break.keeps the temp at steady level.I tried it on a Lee and now its on My Saeco.:coffee:[smilie=1:

[Stonecrusher]

Thanks for the quick replies! I will try to adjust the thermostat and see if it works. The voltage controller sounds like a great idea also. If I can't get it working, I guess I will send it on to Lyman.

[WHITETAIL]

Stonecrusher, Welcome to the forum!:drinks:

[anachronism]

My Mag 20 is at Lyman, and has been for 2 months now. I burned out an element & they won't sell me a replacement unless they install it. I asked about replacing the thermostat & was quoted approx. $25.00 for the thermostat, plus labor, which they wouldn't quote. It's likely to get sold when it returns, so I don't have the frustration of dealing with them anymore.

[1hole]

"It's likely to get sold when it returns, so I don't have the frustration of dealing with them anymore. "

It's easy to agree with your irriatation. But have you thought of how much trouble they would be in with today's mindset of, "I screwed my tool up, it failed and burned my house down, so I'll sue you for hundereds of thousands for the house and everal millions for my emotional stress" society?

Court awards in such cases are almost automatic even if the company nor its product is at fault. Juries almost always take the position that, "Yeah, the poor slob did it to himself but that big ol' company has lots of money so we'll give him some of it." That sorta restricts any repair a company will help the user to attempt on his own. And Lyman isn't a huge outfit so they can't support a large repair shop, things do get backed-up at times for any repairmen.

[Stonecrusher]

I figured since the pot wasn't working right, I had nothing to lose, so I broke it down to take a look. The other posters were right about the insulation. It is packed tightly and kind of nasty. I found that some alloy had gotten inside the housing of the furnace and was attached to the wiring, as well as an ounce or two on the bottom of the pot cast around the coils. I cleaned it all out and found the lead had taken the insulation off of one of the coil wires. I assume it was semi-shorting out and causing the thermostat not to work. I hooked it back up, laid the temp probe on the coil and it seems to be working fine. I will find out when I get the insulation back in and some lead melted. I am curious how the lead got inside the housing. I sandblasted the pot and there are no holes, just salt and pepper pitting here and there. It must have run between the rim of the pot and the housing. I have spilt a little lead over the last 20 years or so!

[Lloyd Smale]

i think lyman charges about 75 bucks to rebuild a pot. they will fix whats broke and on the two i sent in they even replaced the bowl and the drop valve for that price. Shipping is the killer though. Ive sent two of them for rebuild so far and turnaround is pretty fast. Little bit of advice though when you send it to them for a therostat have them change the element too. I had one pot with a bad thermo and one with a bad element had them both fixed and within a year the opposite problem showed up.By the way a couple years back they sent me a heating element. I told them i was an electricain by trade which wasnt really a lie as i was a eletrical lineman. they were confident enough to send it to me to do myself. You might want to try telling then that as its a piece of cake to replace. After all these hastles i bought new rcbs pots after the fire. At least rcbs fixes stuff for free.

[thebigmac]

YOU OLD GUYS WITH YOUR ANCIENT SAECO AND LYMAN LEAD POTS NEED TO DO WHAT I DID.
(Plastic Process Equipt. Inc--8303 Corporate Park Dr.---Macedonia, Oh. 44056). IS THE PLACE TO CONTACT FOR A REPLACEMENT THERMOSTAT. I JUST COMPLETED REPLACEING MINE, AND WITH A LITTLE MINOR ENGINEERING(?) MADE IT FIT. WORKS GREAT, JUST LIKE HAVING MY OLD POT BACK. YOU WANT MODEL B-200. SORRY, DON'T HAVE ADDRESS OR WEB, BUT GOOGLE IT.. WORTH A TRY. $23.00 PLUS UPS/// Mac

YOU OLD GUYS WITH YOUR ANCIENT SAECO AND LYMAN LEAD POTS NEED TO DO WHAT I DID.
(Plastic Process Equipt. Inc--8303 Corporate Park Dr.---Macedonia, Oh. 44056). IS THE PLACE TO CONTACT FOR A REPLACEMENT THERMOSTAT. I JUST COMPLETED REPLACEING MINE, AND WITH A LITTLE MINOR ENGINEERING(?) MADE IT FIT. WORKS GREAT, JUST LIKE HAVING MY OLD POT BACK. YOU WANT MODEL B-200. SORRY, DON'T HAVE ADDRESS OR WEB, BUT GOOGLE IT.. WORTH A TRY. $23.00 PLUS UPS/// Mac

[madcaster]

Hmmm,another intresting thread,mine needs a replacement spout on the bottom of the pot...

[montana_charlie]

YOU OLD GUYS WITH YOUR ANCIENT SAECO AND LYMAN LEAD POTS NEED TO DO WHAT I DID.
(Plastic Process Equipt. Inc--8303 Corporate Park Dr.---Macedonia, Oh. 44056). IS THE PLACE TO CONTACT FOR A REPLACEMENT THERMOSTAT. I JUST COMPLETED REPLACEING MINE, AND WITH A LITTLE MINOR ENGINEERING(?) MADE IT FIT. WORKS GREAT, JUST LIKE HAVING MY OLD POT BACK. YOU WANT MODEL B-200. SORRY, DON'T HAVE ADDRESS OR WEB, BUT GOOGLE IT.. WORTH A TRY. $23.00 PLUS UPS/// Mac
I Googled it.

The website is ppe.com, and this .pdf shows the B-200 down at the bottom.
http://www.ppe.com/10cat/0714.pdf

It looks just like the thermostat in my ancient Lyman Model 61.

CM

[TAWILDCATT]

Montana it probably is.yrs ago I tried to get an answer from lyman and couldn't.
so now I have a Saeco thats thermo is kaput. got a speed control from harbor freight,its on sale now for $14.95.its a voltage control,and is probably better for the pot as it controls voltage to coils.its a plug in.

[TAWILDCATT]

that thermostate only goes to 550 degrees