Kinda funny story about a Lee pot.

[LarryM]

I've always been a dipper and cast iron pot on a stove caster, well for the 8 years I've been casting it anyway.

A couple of years ago I traded a buddy for a bunch of casting stuff he didn't use which included an older Lee production pot (10 pounder).
Well A couple of days ago my ancient Coleman stove went goofy on me and I couldn't get my lead much over 600 degrees. So, I drug out the old Lee pot that I had never touched. I cleaned it up and gave it a pretty good looking over and decided to give it a go. I plugged it in and turned it on. It started to get hot so I filled it up with ingots and watched it melt it down. It got up to almost 800 degrees so I dialed it back and started casting.

Yeah it leaked a little but I expected that and kept an ingot mold under it. Things were going pretty good and I was getting some serious production going with a 6 cavity .357 rnfp Lee mold. I had to keep the pot topped off but it never took long to get back up to temp. It was going pretty good till after a refill I didn't put my gloves back on. I happened to have one hand on my metal workbench and grabbed the valve handle to jiggle it a little.

That was when I discovered that somewhere inside this little pot the insulation had broken down on the wiring and I (re)discovered electricity.

Just a good strong tingle but enough for me to shut it down for the night.
I'll see if I can fix it, being an electronics tech I mostly know what I'm doing.

Worst part is I ordered a new Lee Pro 4 20 the next day. I'm hooked on this bottom pour thing. [smilie=w:

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Larry,

Damn Shocking the things we'll do. Enjoy the Lee Pot.

Sam :D

[DLCTEX]

One more reason to wear gloves.:mrgreen:

[KYCaster]

I'll see if I can fix it, being an electronics tech I mostly know what I'm doing.[smilie=w:

Well......yeah........I'm a plumber and I mostly know what I'm doing, but my Lyman pot still drips!!! :groner:

Lots of luck. [smilie=l:

Jerry

[JIMinPHX]

At one point in time, I had a job calibrating high voltage probes at 10,000 vdc. One day I got one of them with a bad insulator. Boy that hurt. With AC shocks, you kind of vibrate. With high voltage DC, you just clamp down tight, lock up & fry. Fortunately, the guy sitting at the bench next to me saw what happened & got a running start to tackle me & knock me loose from the calibration standard. Ouch. Be careful with electricity. It can bite.

[Rockydog]

I once had an electric fencer that shorted out to the case and also didn't pulse off and on. I grabbed the case to turn the switch off because it wasn't clicking. My arm and shoulder joint ached for a week. Yowsa. RD

[WILCO]

As a kid, I got tangled up in an electric fence. Only happened once. :holysheep

[southpaw]

My Dad has been building house since he was in his early 20's ( a good 45 years now ). Growing up I have helped him with a lot of projects. Some of the jobs we would be rewiring or replacing outlets, tho most are roofs.

We normally we had a couple of circuits off at a time. Dad would always check and make sure that they worked after HE was done with his. Sometimes he would turn on the right braker and sometimes he would hear me yell. It seems like I did alot of yelling tho. I still do alot of work with him I just pay a little more attention when he gets near a braker box.

Jerry Jr.

[redneckdan]

I've never had a Lee pot that didn't zap the livin' snots out of me when I grab the handle bare handed. Then again I usually have bad luck with electricity.

[The10mmKid]

A shocking tale of bottom casting.

Larry, being very old, your LEE may have a 'non-polarized'. Flip it in the outlet and take a voltage reading. Can't hurt . . . . . . . . :bigsmyl2:

Maybe that's why the new #20 have a wooden knob. It wasn't asthetics . . it's a safety feature.

I thought Al Gore discovered electricity???

'da Kid

[markinalpine]

Did you hear about the cow that tried to jump over the electrified barb-wire fence?


Udder Destruction!
:groner:
Sorry,
Couldn't resist.

Mark :mrgreen:

[JIMinPHX]

Larry, being very old, your LEE may have a 'non-polarized'. Flip it in the outlet and take a voltage reading. Can't hurt . . . . . . . . :bigsmyl2:


Or the wiring in the house may have the hot & neutral wires reversed.

I kind of thought that anything without a third ground prong on the plug is supposed to be double insulated anyway. I'd need to look that up in the NEC though.

[LarryM]

The cord has a polarized plug and the wiring in my shop is done right, I know because I did it:D.
I suspect some of the old insulation broke down after it had been up to temp for a while. I had checked it before I started. Haven't had a chance to tear it apart yet. I hope to use the old pot as a back-up reservoir for the new one so I will be fixing it.

[JIMinPHX]

It's usually best to use woven fiberglass insulating sleeves on wires that are subjected to very high temperatures.

[Rockydog]

It's usually best to use woven fiberglass insulating sleeves on wires that are subjected to very high temperatures.

Jim, Just look around for some old asbestos sleeves. They go well with that dangerous demon lead. RD

[Crash_Corrigan]

I had an electric fence set up on my place in Vermont some years ago to keep the goats inside. It worked great on the goats.

One day my wife's cat decided to investigate the goat pasture. She got near the electric fence and going under the fence her back hit the hot wire.

I never did see a cat do a back flip and achieve a height of 10 while moving in reverse. She hit the ground running and never went to the back of the cabin again. She never knew what hit her and she did want a repeat performance.

The goats did a great job in removing all the brush from that overgrown old orchard and when I sold the property it was a major point on why the folks bought it. It just looked so neat and tidy.

Part of the deal was that the new owners kept the goats and chickens.

[condorjohn]

Howdy,
I was raised in Chigago. We had vacation on a relitaves farm in NE Winconsin.

Once, my cousin Kenny dared me to piss on the fence.... I never did that again.

[LarryM]

I put up an electric fence around my garden this year. Mostly to keep the deer and dogs out. Seems it was a bit stouter than needed and I won't be using that charger next year. I used yellow insulators on orange T-posts. Apparently that color combination attracts humming birds. It looked like they would land on the wire and go after the space between the insulator and the T-post. I would find them hanging upside down on the wire. Oops. Also got a couple of larger birds and one young rabbit.

[Mk42gunner]

My 20 lb Lee is only three years old, it has a non polarized plug.

:hijack:Since we talking about electric fences-- One night close to thirty years ago we (my best friend his dog and I), were out coon hunting in a pecan grove. No water for half a mile so I had on my work boots, he had hip boots. Bill stood on the electric fence so I could get across... To this day he swears he thought I was already over the fence when he very deliberately and with malice aforethought stepped off of it. :holysheepHe got both me and Red's tail, I can still feel it across my thighs.

That was the same night the dead coon came to life and bit my leg.

Later that year I learned not to go coon hunting with anyone that had on higher waterproof boots than I did.

Robert