Lee melting pot broken?

[henry8734]

Whoops hoo! Thank you so much os ok! I had tones on both prongs to the switch and also from both prongs to the two posts that go in to the barrel... now what?

[OS OK]

I can't find where anyone refers to that pot as being a 10 or 20lb. pot. It looks like a 10 lb. and older version perhaps but...it doesn't have supports under it going down to the base under the pot itself. I see the screws in the back of the pot between it and the control enclosure are pulled loose and...the pot looks to be leaning forward at it's top toward you when your sitting in front of it.
If my suspicions are near right, I think that when you were handling it to dump it you may have pulled those screws loose and caused a short somewhere along the element.
Now I have both pots here but I don't intend to open one up to trouble shoot yours so yours is going to have to be the guinnea pig. The front end of that pot needs to come apart to see and photograph the condition of that element and to determine the condition of the element insulation. Since I haven't been into my pots before I don't know what to expect to find...other than...wherever it sparked there will be carbon tracks on the inside of the area at the point it shorted, if in fact it shorted. I expect it did and blew one of the element connections partially open to disrupt the circuit.
I'm sure other fellas here that are monitoring your progress has been inside the pot area before and we'll need their help on this part.

Now, the other thing is that we need to see that the rheostat temp control is continuous in resistance and 'smoothly so' from one end to the other of it's control knob travel (this will be monitoring the value of resistance as the knob is slowly turned from low to high).
We'll get to that after we have seen the element, diagnosed it and just as important put that pot back together with whatever needed repairs it's going to need to fix those pulled out screws. I don't think that the pot is made to support the weight of the Pb soley by the element connections at the pot control enclosure.

Be especially careful when you go to tighten the screws that go into the sheet metal housing...that housing is really too thin to hold a sheet metal screw and they will 'strip out' if you even sneeze. Then we are going to have problems.

Also pay attention to the length and size of each screw you remove in order to get back where it was removed. If you have to draw some circles on a piece of paper, label one top and the othr bottom and put the screws, as you remove them on whichever circle that represents the bottom or the top of the pot enclosure. Since I'm not sure what we are going to find here we'll just go at it as simplistically as possible.

You might want to clean a spot on that bench so that if something falls out and you don't see what it was, you will have a chance of finding it.

OK...standing by for pictures of what you find inside...OS OK

[Mike W1]

First I'll see if I can stick a simple drawing in here and then edit things a bit.

Looks like it got on here. Your pot looks to be a Lee 10# unit. That little crude drawing shows how the thing is wired. From the cord coming in to the control switch, other side of the switch to one side of the element. Other side of the element is the other wire to the wall plug. If memory serves all the wires hook up with snap on connectors to the terminals.

Set up your meter to read ohms resistance. Don't plug the pot in. The heating element would have a high resistance so use the higher scale, usually marked with "K". If you're hooked up right touch your test leads together and you'd read "O" (zero) ohms. Then hook on lead to one side of the plug and same on the other side of the plug. If you're seeing a high ohm reading you're looking at the element resistance. If not use your test leads to check each section of wires jumping from one spot to next. If you can't get a reading across the switch it's bad but you might have to vary the turning of the switch a bit.

No reading across the element terminals would indicate a bad element. etc.

Also check both side of the plug to the chassis. That should read as an open. If anything is shorted to the chassis find it and fix the problem before you plug the thing back into the wall socket. Hope this helps, if not holler.

[454PB]

It says 500 watts in one photo, so it's a 10 pounder.

[rnelson11]

500 Watts/120 Volts = 4.16 Amps. 120 Volts/4.16 Amps = 28.8 ohms. If you check the 2 wires going into the pot (the heating element) your meter should read ~ 30 ohms.

[imashooter2]

Unplug the pot. Pull the cord lead off the thermostat spade terminal. Pull the thermostat lead off the heating coil spade terminal. Plug the cord terminal straight into the heating coil. Plug the pot in.

Breaker blows, you have a short. Replace heating coil.
Pot does not get hot, you have an open heating coil. Replace heating coil.
Pot gets hot, you have a bad thermostat. Replace thermostat.

[Walter Laich]

Unplug the pot. Pull the cord lead off the thermostat spade terminal. Pull the thermostat lead off the heating coil spade terminal. Plug the cord terminal straight into the heating coil. Plug the pot in.

Breaker blows, you have a short. Replace heating coil.
Pot does not get hot, you have an open heating coil. Replace heating coil.
Pot gets hot, you have a bad thermostat. Replace thermostat.

simple explanation of possible problems and fixes
good job

[fatelk]

The element literally broke in half on mine years ago. Believe it or not parts from Lee are fairly cheap and easy to replace. I had done the same thing; shook or tapped it too hard when it was hot. The heating element was old and corroded and simply broke in half. It was open, not shorted. If you test infinite resistance on the element, that could be the problem.

[Strtspdlx]

I like this way!!!!!!!

Unplug the pot. Pull the cord lead off the thermostat spade terminal. Pull the thermostat lead off the heating coil spade terminal. Plug the cord terminal straight into the heating coil. Plug the pot in.

Breaker blows, you have a short. Replace heating coil.
Pot does not get hot, you have an open heating coil. Replace heating coil.
Pot gets hot, you have a bad thermostat. Replace thermostat.

[Strtspdlx]

Web reading continuity there is a difference between 0 ohms and say .1-.5 ohms or an OL reading. It is helpful when ohming out the coil if the op stayed the value given in that circuit. And I feel for that to be valid the spade terminals have to be off so your isolating the coil. The pot shouldn't have to come apart to diagnose a bad coil if you have a meter.

[richhodg66]

I'm not an electrician, but I fought with one of those little Lee pots for years and replaced a lot of parts during that time. They're OK for what they are, but it finally gave up and I bought a used Lyman 61 for a little more than a new Lee would have cost and it is so much easier to get good bullets now that I can concentrate on casting and not fiddling with trying to make the pot work right. My advice would be to upgrade to a new pot.

[Smk SHoe]

To a point, I agree with richhodge66. I have and use a lee pot and a lot of other lee casting equipment and I am pretty handy around electricity. But, really, you are spending a lot of time and energy troubleshooting a cheap pot that even if you get it fixed will probably have something else go bad. Yes, replacement parts are reasonably cheap ( thats the problem, cheap) Sometimes you have to just call it what it is, a old broken lead pot.

[henry8734]

Sorry guys, out of town at the moment. I'll have to get back to you when we make it back! Merry Christmas and Happy new year to all of you! Thank you again for all the help!

[Eddie Southgate]

I'd trash it and get another one . Lyman or RCBS either one .

Eddie

[NavyVet1959]

Put your location in your profile and maybe someone local will offer to help.

[mac1911]

The element literally broke in half on mine years ago. Believe it or not parts from Lee are fairly cheap and easy to replace. I had done the same thing; shook or tapped it too hard when it was hot. The heating element was old and corroded and simply broke in half. It was open, not shorted. If you test infinite resistance on the element, that could be the problem.

Manypartsarefreefromlee

[mac1911]

Many parts are free from Lee although the shipping can be costly ....usually 13$ or more.
So be sure to get as much as you think you might need.
I recently picked up several mold parts, a discounted mould and a few other items along with new parts for my pro 1000. Almost snagged a O style press that was heavily discounted also.
Good luck.
Lee stuff is funny. I don't know how old mine is but it's still rocking...I have left it on. Has been left in the rain, dropped, kicked and all. It still keeps going.
Would adding a grounded cable to the pot be a good idea?

Your pot looks pretty beat up and as,mentioned the screws holding the pot look like they pulled out. The lee 20lb bottom drop pot is under 70$ and if you look most likely find one free shipping.
If you have a C&R license you can get it for 63$ from brownells

[henry8734]

What is a c and r license? Yeah maybe.... it would be nice to have a new one!

[Soundguy]

What is a c and r license? Yeah maybe.... !

A c&r is a collector of curio and relics, federal firearms license.

[RP]

Wondering why has the hammer fix been applied ? Hit it lightly on the side then the top if that fails hit it harder if that fails give it a few good hits. If that fails wrap it in plastic trash bag or trash can and pick up a new one save the hammer for testing of other things that just need a little tweaking.