Magma Master Caster

I have a Master Caster that has run a min. of 200,000 boolits over the past years. I am experiencing more leakage over the past while and I was wondering if anyone has rebuilt the spigot / seal on the lead pot?

I have a copy I built, if it starts to leak, I just tap the top of the valve with something soft and it stops. I do have a cup that I place under the oraface plate while it heats up.

I find f I leave it full of clean lead, once hot it does not drip.

If that does not work, after I machined my needle and seat, I lapped them together with valve lapping compound. May be a fix.?

Do what Jmorris said, lightly tap the top of the valve rod with a light hammer. I use an 8 oz. brass hammer for that. Previously, I tried every trick in the book to make it stop leaking, but tapping it lightly works the best.

Hope this helps.

Fred

I'd be careful about "tapping" on a tapered valve.

I did dump mine out and clean it up one time. I've had to remove the orifice from underneath to clean that out.
Generally a good fluxing and scraping will clean them up. Open the flow adjustment up and place a small iron pot or something under to catch the lead. Give it a dollop of lard then start stirring and scraping. Once you get it cleaned out. Add more lard then open the valve to let a high volume stream run a bit. You will want to take the pot outside unless you have a very good indoor setup.

I've emptied my pot and cleaned the valve several times, both the seat and the stem, but I've found that generally it's some small debris that gets caught in the seat. A couple of very light taps with my brass 8 oz. hammer stops the dripping right away. I emphasize "light taps", since that's all it takes.

There's nothing more frustrating than emptying the pot and scraping all the crud out, using a tapered dowel with steel wool to clean the inside of the valve seat, cleaning off the stuff stuck to the tapered end of the valve rod, and then cleaning everything out again to make sure nothing is left behind, and then find out you've still got the dripping. That can take an hour or more, and I've done it several times, and still have the drip after spending all that time and effort. Now I just tap lightly and the drip stops and I spend all that time casting bullets.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Thanks for the tips. When I start up again, I'll try the light tap first and see how it goes.

If you are skittish about heavy fluxing to clean it up. That's probably why the pot is dirty in the first place. A good vent hood over your casting area can solve a lot of issues.

I flux pretty hard. I use pine sawdust and a tablespoon full of bullet lube that I made when I first started casting and sizing. I now use Carnuba Red from Lars but the old stuff (lube) works great for fluxing. I do agree the lead / pot must be contaminated otherwise the pot would not leak. It's a balance as to how much leakage is acceptable and right now I prefer to have none.

I have cleaned mine so much it still leaks. I called Magma the other day about it and they can fix it. Gonna box it up tonight or tomorrow and sent it back to AZ.

Mine leaks if some small stuff gets under the valve. I flux with a wooden stick thru the lead and clean the bottom and sides of the pot with the wooden stick.

I even cut a little notch on a new stick that has not gotten burnt and clean very close to the valve.

A little lead flowing into a small tin can and the wooden stick with the notch usually stops the problem.

The brass spout will get clogged and a stainless steel TIG welding rod bent pushed up into the spout with the lead flowing usually cleans the spout.

My Master Caster is automated with a PLC and I cast many thousands of the same bullet at a time. The automation will cast about 800 bullets per hour.

I still watch the machine as it runs just in case something gets out of order.

I've had mine for almost 20yrs now. I only emptied it once when it got badly zinc contaminated. It doesn't leak, I flux often, never let it get more than half empty.

Thanks for the tips here. I've only run about 15K through mine and it started leaking last week. I drained it and cleaned it up, but I will try the light tap next time I fire it up.

I had it happen to mine a couple of times I would clean the orifices then I started making sure I cleaned my lead real well when casting ingots. I was letting a lot of small particles get into the pot

It is rare for mine to drip, when it does, it's mostly at warm up. I did empty it and get into it with a wire brush and used a bore brush to clean the seat at the base.

It has already been stated a few times, the cleaner the ingots you put in, the fewer issues you will have with crud getting between the seat and valve rod. I drop wax in and give it a good stir to get the rubbish to float then skim off, just be careful of the flare up that generally happens once the wax is put in.

When i had drips, i wiggled the rod and it seemed to stop.

200K projectiles cast is not a bad number at all. I don't know if mine has reached the 100k mark since i bought it, no idea what it did before it changed hands. Still no wear on the pivot points.

Had that problem last night, cleaned it up and it stopped leaking. But the flow rate is slow.

If the flow was slow, be sure the stopper isn't preventing the arm from moving enough to allow good flow. If it is good, you may need to remove the orifice plate and make sure no crud is stuck in there.

I use a piece of welding wire bent at 90 degrees to poke in the orifice plate to clean out anything that stick inside it. I do it when hot, so the lead just pushes up and out the other hole. Give it a few "squirts" watching if the flow from both holes is equal.

I had a problem with mine and took it apart(I bought it used) the pin actually had a ring around it where it seats in the pot. Took it to one of my buddy's and he stuck it in his lathe, following the same angle and cleaned it up. all of this was after I talk with magma and told them what I had found. Justin at magma told me have this done and it should fix it if not they have an adjustable pin for sell now. so far after 5000 it has not leaked, maybe a drip here and there but not a leak.