My Lee 4-20 Tried To Burn Down The House!

[Southern Son]

Before I start, I know the Lee is also known as the DRIP-O-MATIC. However, In my part of the world, it is either the Lee, or an old camp oven over a gas burner. I do use a gas burner and an old LP gas tank to melt down the larger ingots and to process wheel weights, but I don't know that it is up to the task of making Match Grade BPCR projectiles.

Anyway. Today I had a last minute roster change which left me with a day off. So I thoughts to myself "I am goning to get my new Steve Brooks mold and make some boolits." I moved house only a couple of months ago, and locating some of the things I needed (the pot, the lead, the tin, the spoon to scrape the slag, the tin to put the slag in, pretty much everything except the mold and handles), was a bit of a challenge. When I got it all together, I loaded up the pot and turned her on. The lead had melted and I checked the valve on the bottom pour (put a screw driver in the slot and gave it a few twists). It was fine and there was no leaking. I then got called into work (remember, I am supposed to be on a day off, but living right next door to my office means whenever someone don't know what to do or wants to have a dummy spit, then I end up being dragged into it).

I was in the office for 30 minutes and when I got back, I found that the pot had emtied itself of all 20 pounds of 20/1. The lead had flowed all over the wooden work bench, under the foot on the pot, and down onto the cement floor. 20 pounds of lead wrapped around the foot of the pot is a PITA to deal with. I could not put it back in the pot, it was too big. So I just pulled the pot apart (it was wrapped around the pot supports) and threw the slab of 20/1 into a big bucket I have. When I start the gas burner, I will melt it in there.

I then refilled the pot with fresh lead and tin and sat and waited for it to melt, again. This time when the lead got up to temperature (I wanted to try the new mold at 700-725 because that is what the instructions that came with the mold said to do, I normally work in the 775-825 range), I started casting. The new mold from Brooks is FANTASTIC. While the lead was in the 700-725 range, that mold made magnificent boolits, however, this was where the Lee pot threw me a new one.

The pot could not hold a constant temperature. My bullets started going frosty and I saw on the RCBS thermomiter that the lead was up to 820-840. I did not know what to do, and i was desperate for some boolits (I have none for the BPCR) so I kept going, only to watch the temp. drop to 650. I know that the thermomiter is not too far out, because at this point, the lead stopped flowing. I had not added anything to the pot since I started casting (and I had only cast about 75 boolits) and the lead had gone up by more than 100 degrees, and then down by almost 200. I refilled the pot with lead and tin and let it melt. I checked the valve on the spout again and it was not leaking. The lead was about 700 degrees and I thought that I would let it sit for a bit and watch the thermomiter.

Being a complete idiot, I left the pot and went inside for a drink of water and toilet break. When I returned, the pot was in the process of emptying itself, down about halfway and flowing freely, not dripping. I tapped the top of the valve and it stopped. I saw the pile of lead that was wrapped around the base of the pot, again, and I unplugged the pot and went inside. It was go inside or smash the pot with a hammer. As I sit here typing this, I wish I had used the hammer.

I should be able to work out what is going on with the valve and fix it (although if anyone has encountered this before and fixed it, I am not too proud to hear the fix). Who can tell me what is going on with the temperature fluctuation? I will never get decent boolits casting with that much temperature variation.

[Southern Son]

Sorry for the long post above, BUT I AM A LITTLE BIT CRANKY.

[725]

Can't comment on your drip-o-matic. It's a mechanical thing, so it can break or go wrong. I only use mine to cast small boolits, now. At one time I used it for everything. Now most of my casting is done with an egg shaped dipper and I'm happier with the process and product. Much less frustration! I have enough of that elsewhere in my life.

[NoDakJak]

Good morning Southern Son, It sounds as though you are having the same problems with the Lee pots that I have. The Thermostats seem to go bad and I usually go through at least one of them a year. They were so cheap that I just tossed the pot and ordered a new one. My casting activities have increased enormously over the last few years and I now have three of them sitting in the shop. All three had the thermostat go bad last summer. Midway now offers replacement thermostats for around $10 american and I just installed one. I have finally grown tired of fighting the problem and ordered a new RCBS pot several days ago. And yes, when the thermostat goes bad I usually wind up with a massive lead leak or alternately a pot full of hardened alloy. Good luck! Neil

[Sig shooter]

Like cooking - kids around a pool ,,,, Never take your eyes off them . I try to lap - hammer - wire wheel a good fit on the bottom pour pins , with about an 80% success rate.


I do enjoy the splatter piles of lead art they can make . Remember when you get mad , the pot has won at irritating you , I just laugh and yank the cord.

[VTDW]

SS,

I had to laugh because that has happened to me too. I just finally learned to never leave when the pot is warming up. There is a temp range in there where it will drip, drip, drip and start pouring. I figure it has something to do with leaving lead in the pot when we turn off the pot. Anyhooo it never drips otherwise.

Sig Shooter got it right. He does what I do...just unplug the darned thing and you win.

Dave

[Edward429451]

My Lee pot is a child so requires supervision...My RCBS is more mature so requires (less).

[Sundogg1911]

I had the same thing happen with a Magma master caster. It was a nightmare. the entire mould carriage assemble was hidden in a big hunk of lead. 2 hours with a tourch to find it again. I have read that when the alloy heats up it pushes up on the rod that blocks the flow. I try to never leave the pot with more than about an inch of lead when I finish. I also don't answer calls from work anymore while casting

[454PB]

As already said....never leave a heating pot of lead unattended. Also, the Lee pots continue to produce heat as long as they are plugged in. Turning down the thrmostat keeps the lead from melting or staying melted, but the pot is still heating. I use a five outlet power strip to run mine, and just turn off the power strip when done.

I guess I'm really lucky, I own three Lee pots, the oldest is 30 years old. None of the thermostats have failed and no other problems. The famous dripping is cured by keeping the spout and metering rod clean.

[compass will]

While mine is still new, I have not experienced this problem (yes) but I thought about it.
I use a baking pan on top of the feet. I support the sides away from the pot with 1/2" nuts sitting on the table top (they were sitting there, and happen to be the right size). I think the pan would hold the entire contents of the pot in the event of a leak.

[Ben]

I use a Lee 4-20, but it is the " Ladle Model", I've never had a problem with mine regulating the temp. of the alloy.

I'm an old " dyed in the wool " ladle caster, I'm too old to change now.

Ben

[Cherokee]

I've got three 4-20's that will drip some from time to time, just clean the spout or twist the plug some. My original 10# pot died a few years ago @ age 10 or so. YMMV

[Baron von Trollwhack]

The Lee dripper pot is right up there with the best of the drippers. I'm a ladle Baron myself and rather like the dipper pots. Have had few thermostat problems too.

.Advice? Don't be knocking sludge off your dipper on the edge of the pot. Listen to the thermostat cycle, Learn how to clean the contacts when they corrode a bit. YMMV. BvT

[AZ-Stew]

Speaking of the Lee 4-20 pot, I had an exciting few minutes in my shop a couple of weekends ago. My son (age 31) and I were doing some loading for his .357 and he wanted some .44 bullets to load and shoot in one of my guns. I lit-off the pot and let it come to temp. When I stirred the alloy I apparently bumped the valve mechanism with my stirring spoon. The valve rod groove disengaged from the flow rate adjustment screw and the valve rod lifted up out of the nozzle, with its tip coming to rest on the bottom of the pot, locking the valve in full-open mode. I couldn't get it back in to stop the flow due to the small ridge around the nozzle where it is pressed onto the bottom of the pot. 700 degree lead began pouring out as fast as it could run through the spout. Since I had enlarged the spout opening a bit with a drill when it was brand new to allow a faster flow for casting big bullets, the flow was a lot faster than one would want under the circumstances. I keep an ingot mould under the spout to catch the "Lee Drip", so the molten lead didn't immediately spread out over the entire bench, but it was exciting trying to get a couple more ingot moulds out of storage and under the open spout before things really got messy. Let's just say the Lee 20 pound pots don't have a robust valve mechanism. I didn't get burned, but I was lucky. On top of that, this particular pot won't hold temp. I've seen 100+ degree temp swings during casting without changing the thermostat.

I ordered an RCB$ ($330+ +shipping -Ouch!) Pro Melt several weeks ago from MidSouth to replace the Lee 4-20. I'm going to send the Lee pot back to them in the RCBS box and ask them to swap it for a mould or two. It's only had about 10-20 hours of use.

As for the RCB$ pot, it is more professional than the Lee, but I'm not sure there's $250 difference between them. Time will tell. At least it holds temp and the dripping is minimal.

Regards,

Stew

[trooperdan]

It helps to add a bit of weight to the valve handle; I've found a tiny set of vise-grip pliers that I clamp into the lever when the pot is being cranky!

As a couple of folks above noted, leaving the pot full contributes to the leaking when it is warming up.

[pumpguy]

One word. Ladle!!

[Ben]

Ditto ! ! Pumpguy's comments above.

Ben

[Springfield]

AZ; the money for the RCBS was well spent. I have 3 LEE's, 1 RCBS and 1 Magma. If it weren't for the RCBS being too small to keep 2 LEE 6 cavity moulds full I wouldn't have bought the Magma. Buying good tools is always a good idea.

[bruce drake]

My LEE Auto-Drip became a ladle caster because I hated the splatter.

A 3/4 Drywall screwed into the drip spout with an offset screwdriver stopped my drip problems forever. Went to Ladling and have never looked back. Bullets filled out better and less slop.

I haven't tracked any temp variations as when I'm casting I'm casting fast (the BruceB method) and I usually have long pauses in-between to replenish the 10lb pot and to get it back up to temp.

Bruce

[Lloyd Smale]

even the lyman and rcbs pots will drip if you dont keep the valve clean. Ive came out in the garage to a ball of lead like sundog more then one time with both of my lyman pots.