Hot Plate Question ?

[tacofrank]

I've decided to quit waiting for my molds to heat up and get a "Hot Plate". With exposed coils or a platter/plate type?
Advise is really welcomed.

Thanks for looking,
TacoFrank

[Wheelguns 1961]

Don’t get the cheapest one they have. The cheap ones don’t last and they don’t have enough power. Use an old circular saw blade on top for even heat. A brass mold takes more heat to warm up than an aluminum mold.

[Hossfly]

I use hot plate with exposed coils, with a old piece of aluminum flat plate directly on top of the coil to distribute the heat. Old saw blade would work also. Must watch if heating ingots they can reach temp to melt. Just get up to about 400’ cast boolits as soon as pot gets to 750’

[Minerat]

Mine is a coil type and it was about $10 at wallyworld. I use an old circular saw blade on the coils and a large tomato paste (industrial size) can (as a mould oven).

[FLINTNFIRE]

Mine are platter/ plate style no old saw blade needed , it was also from walmart , not very expensive and been in use for some years now and it gets hotter then you need low end of medium setting works , above that is getting to hot .

[tacofrank]

Thank you all very much for your help. This forum is awesome!
Thanks Again,
TacoFrank

[Herb in Pa]

Check on ebay, they always have a supply of used lab grade hot plates, mine has a ceramic top and a very good temperature control..........

[metricmonkeywrench]

+1 on the cheap Wally World one, couldn’t find anything worth while at the recycle shops or yard sales. We had done a bunch of tile work we had some worn out blades that work real well, though they are a bit thinner than a circular saw blade

[jonp]

Cheap wally world coil type. I picked up an old flat cast iron thing for pancakes or something all rusted at a yard sale for $1. Cleaned it up and use that

[slim1836]

I too have a cheap one from Wally World and it has worked well for years, however, I still look for the old coil style hotplate at yard sales just in case. I love having 2 P.I.D.'s, wish I had a couple more.

Slim

[hc18flyer]

I picked up a small electric skillet and notched the cover to let the handles stick out. It was 3.00 at Goodwill, works fine. hc18flyer

[lightman]

I use an open coil type from Walmart that was about $10-12. I scrounged a piece of 1/8" plate to set on it. If you use it to preheat ingots after you start casting be aware that it can melt them.

[wv109323]

I have the cheap one from Wal-mart. The wires going to coil have burnt or come loose several times. Easy fix but kinda bad during a casting session.

[358429]

My hot plate is the Open Flame from a turkey fryer

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

[tacofrank]

Thanks again guys
Heading to Wally World in the am. Have several saw blades I should have pitched a long time ago. Lol!
Sincere Thanks,
TF

[OS OK]

I wish I had discovered the hot plate pre-warmer many moons ago...



One nice feature is that you can set a mould back in, go take a break from casting and come back and never skip a beat...good casts from the get-go.

[Shopdog]

Yup(above OS OK),go whole hog and fab up an oven. Looking close at mine in pic;

Made a sliding door so it can accommodate 1 or 2 moulds. So nice as mentioned to be able to "park" a mould in and take a short break. Also,if you have a mould running hot,you can alternate using another whilst the hot one settles down a bit. Point being,you're getting lots of options with an oven.

[ChuckO]

Another benefit to using an oven made from a #10 can is the ability to put ingots on top of it. They can then preheat a little to drive moisture away and reduce the time for the melt pot to return to heat.

[JMax]

I cast with one mold at a time, my WW hot plate has covered coils but to improve control I got a charcoal grill thermometer, got an aluminum block, drilled a proper sized hole and mounted the thermometer. I like to preheat my mold to 450 degrees and start casting raining bullets.

[John Guedry]

I use an open coil model given to me by a friend. It was at least20 yrs old when I got it, but I think was unused. Works fine.