Where Do You Buy A Hot Plate Without The OSHA Safety Cr*p?

[UtopiaTexasG19]

I am getting ready to try out a new 6 cavity mold and need a electric hot plate to pre-warm the mold. All the hot plates on the Internet I find now have a safety device that turns them on and off at 190F! Is this warm enough to pre-heat properly? I sure am glad our government is helping to keep us from scalding ourselves with boiling water since we have dumbed down since childhood.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Thrift store.
I bought one for $1
Jon

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I have a very old Sunbeam electric skillet. It goes to 420 deg. I cut the side of the skillet down just enough to slide a mold through. I know it's not a quick resolution to your problem but see if you can hit estate auctions and yard sales. The old stuff is there.

[44man]

Wall Mart, about $8.
Use it until it quits, then remove the bottom. You will find a thermal fuse under some tubing that blows from too much heat. Remove or bridge it by soldering a wire across it. Mine has worked for years since. It will hold my little mold oven a perfect 500*.

[BigRix]

I bought a cheep one at Walgreens. I put an old circular saw blade on the coils and usually set my mold over the diamond shaped hole in the center. As a side note I was casting the other day and started smelling something funny but was "in the zone" so it took a minute for it to register with me. I look over and my ingot that I was pre heating has melted and run down. The smell was burning plastic. Yes it gets hot enough.

[Colorado4wheel]

The meter inside the unit will cycle but it gets much hotter then 190F. I can get my molds up to about 275F using my Walmart hot plate. Just get one and you can mod it later if you need to.

[montana_charlie]

Find an electric deep fat fryer. The thermostat is one that plugs into the side of the pot, and the temperature range usually goes up to 500 degrees.

Cut off the upper 'side' of the pot, leaving just the flat bottom, and a small raised edge if you like.

Won't melt pure lead, but it might melt various alloys, like solder. It definately gets hot enough for preheating moulds.

CM

[geargnasher]

Wire around the overheat switch, and BE CAREFUL. Once you do that, it can Chernobyl on you if you leave it unattended. Don't burn your house down.

Gear

[Hardcast416taylor]

A few months back I bought a single burner unit at Aco hardware. The unit has a knob with low, med., and high settings for $10.Robert

[Wayne Smith]

I spent a little more and got one at WalMart that has a continous heat control. A little over half way is plenty hot enough.

[HeavyMetal]

I have the same one Big Rix does, bought a Walgreens, 9.95!

Works great and has no OSHA on it that I know about but I did buy it a year or more ago.

[94Doug]

I took someone's idea and found one on ebay that is designed for lab use. (not the dog) It has a solid 1" plate that the mould can sit on directly. I have yet to use it however. It just seems to be "the ticket."

Doug

[376Steyr]

I couldn't find an old fashioned hot plate, so I bought an electric skillet at Wal-mart. It heats up a lot of ingots at once, and does a good job of pre-heating my aluminum moulds.

[30CAL-TEXAN]

I got mine at Harbor Freight. It's nothing special but it works and it was cheap.

About $9 I think.

[Shiloh]

Good Will Store. $2
Check Salvation Army as well.

Shiloh

[firefly1957]

I have three one will not boil water the others work well got them all at yard sales. To cast I use Coleman gas fired stove and iron pot I just set mold on grate next to pot it heats just right uses no extra fuel or electricity.