Project - PID on Lee Pro 4 20 furnace

[Frozone]

Ok, there is your problem. The pins 1, 13 and 14 are not powered.

Run one side of the 110V to pin 13.
Now hook one wire from a neon to pin 1 - that is alarm1.
Take the other wire from that neon to the other side of the 110V.
circuit complete.
do the same for alarm2 only use pin 14 instead of pin 1.

[Ultravox]

Got my parts on Friday and slapped it together. I made a blog post about it.

Here is a quick photo.

[Mal Paso]

Very Nice! Welcome to the next level of casting!

[cal50]

My no frills controller......

Stainless steel flat stock I bent and cut a hole for the process controller. SSR mounted on the aluminum back side of unit. Stainless temp probe holder with stop to keep off bottom of pot.
I removed the Lee thermo unit and ran the heating element wires through the hole. I have to place a grommet in the center and tighten the cover down. Its in the process of auto tuning . I have a piece of lexan I need to mount as a cover for the controller face and the exposed wiring.

Now to work on my clamping mold handles and a casting session....

[Scott_In_OKC]

Total noob question, what are the little rubber gaskets surrounding the incoming and outgoing extension cord pieces as well as the thermocouple? I didn't see them on Auber's site.

I'm definitely taking the plunge and building one of these

[Roger Ronas]

Those are called "Grommets". You can also search for "strain reliefs".

HTH
Roger

[Scott_In_OKC]

Those are called "Grommets". You can also search for "strain reliefs".

HTH
Roger

Thanks!

[mactool]

How would this unit go. I plan to use it for my melting pot Lee 4-20, and a annealing oven for brass. The heating element i 2.2kW and outlet is 220V

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-240V-Dig...item2a2269dd14

[boltons75]

It should work, though you may want 2, one for 110 and one for 220.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[Frozone]

That thermocouple is only good on your heattreat oven.

Um.... "annealing oven for brass"!
I'm not sure I want to know, but that sounds like an incredibly bad idea.

SSR is fine.
ALL the PIDs do ~ 80 to 260 volts input.

The Low end Sestos PIDs often don't do Fahrenheit only Celsius displays.
If you look closely at the included spec sheet you'll see there's no way of setting the unit to Fahrenheit .

The SSR doesn't care what voltage it switches as long as it's not over it's maximum voltage. The seller claims 360volt max but if you look at the SSR in the pix it's rated 260 volts.
The PID doesn't care if you feed it 120 or 240 volts, so you don't need 2 units for different voltages. You May need an adapter to match up the power cords but that's all.

So as long as you're comfortable with the temp in Celsius, it'll likely do what you want.
But the seller makes claims that aren't supported by visible fact - that SSR max for one. That always makes me nervous.

[mactool]

Thanks for the input.
The annealing oven is meant to anneal large quantities of 9mm brass for swaging.
Celsius is what im most accustomed with. I hateit, when i have to use conversion programs
My pot is 220V
Why is the thermocouple only good on my heattreat oven? because of the voltage?

[Frozone]

No, it's a low temp insulation model.
While the K type TC will read to ~1250ºC
The insulation on the wires is limited.
To get the full range a mineral insulation is used.

While 400ºC (752ºF) is fine for most casting temps. It's a little close to the upper edge.
And I just like a little margin between 'max operating' and what I might need.
I have a couple molds that like 385ºC alloy.

As is it is only useful as a outside the pot contact sensor.

[mactool]

Ahh thats why. Then I will buy another one for my pot, and use small one in the oven whre it will be protected by 2" of hard compressed Rockwool insulation.
Thank you all for you help
Mactool

[Jumping Frog]

Thanks for the input.
The annealing oven is meant to anneal large quantities of 9mm brass for swaging.

That does not seem like a good idea.

Typically, case necks are annealed, but if you anneal the case head you ruin the brass -- too soft.

[rbertalotto]

He's not reloading the annealed brass. He is using it for bullet jackets. So what he is doing is an incredibly good idea.

[jarex]

Has anyone had the same problem as me with this, when i plug it in the temprature shows around 140f at start even i roomtemprature, i have looked in the userguide for it but i cant find any way to reset it.

I bought a new temp sensor for it aswell but still the same.

so when i set it to 950F it actually 700F in the pot.

Any ideas?

[HATCH]

Look and see if there is a offset feature. If there is put in the offset. mine starts at room temp

sent from my mobile

[Frozone]

Short the 2 TC pins together at the controller.
That will show what the temp compensation circuit is doing.
It should read ambient temp if the controller is working correctly.

DON'T try to fix a 100º error with the 'Input Offset' setting!!!!!!!
There is something else wrong.
That adjustment is only good for a degree or two of error, and should be set with the TC pins shorted at the controller.

Make sure you have the correct sensor type set.
If you don't take the sensor wires straight to the unit (you didn't use copper wire to lengthen the TC wire did you?) check polarity of the wire you used.
You may reverse the wire types. It'll still read the correct direction (shows hotter when heated) but have a large input error.

[jarex]

I will have a look at it, its really not a big problem since the error is consistent, i set it to 950F and it always shows 700F in the pot with a RCBS probe.

[rasto]

I just want to give you my 2c.

Yesterday I bought on ebay so be inspired:
probe 2.99$
SSR 3.82$
SSR heatsink 3.1$
controller 12.83$
totally 22,74$ shipping included!