Lyman 61

[Shopdog]

I have a twin pair of 61's. The first was pretty much given to me mid to late 70's from Clark bros. Warrenton Va. and is just a wonderful piece of "kit". Outfitted with a Hatch PID,zero problems in all these years.

Lyman 61 #2;
Was bought off the bay for under 100 about 5 years ago and is probably a touch "nicer" than #1. Well,#2 has also never seen the shear weight of lead it's brother has.

Here's the question; #2 has a minor incontinence problem,haha. It dribbles. Right now I tolerate it but in the big picture what needs to be done? Obviously lose the contents..... is incontinence a "seating" issue?

Take it apart and what?

[TNsailorman]

I had an old Lyman that would drip. I heard/read somewhere that polishing the rod tip and the orifice a little with 0000 wool would help. I polished them and that took care of my problem. You milage might vary. james

[Eddie Southgate]

I had an old Lyman that would drip. I heard/read somewhere that polishing the rod tip and the orifice a little with 0000 wool would help. I polished them and that took care of my problem. You milage might vary. james

Sounds about right.

[Shopdog]

Will empty #2 pot on Monday and report back.

[PhilC]

I have one that did the same thing. Chucked the stop rod in a 1/2" drill, added some valve lapping compound on the seating portion of stop rod, and polished the spout seat and rod at same time. Flush the spout and stop thoroughly with Brakleen. Tedious but worked well.

[Shopdog]

PhilC, thank you.

Am wore out from wrastling an 800# sander today.... lapping the stop rod is going to be relaxing,bwahaha. Will report back.

[Shopdog]

Ok,#2 pot got detailed cleaned;

8/32 threaded gun brush got screwed into a section of aluminum arrow. Easton RPS inserts are this pitch. Arrow/gun brush got chucked up in a drill motor. Cleaned the slag out of the hole,being mindful of the seat. Worked peachy.

Cleaned the shaft,blew out the hole,and then hit it cautiously with clover coarse lapping compound. Marvelous.

Shot some brake clean into the hole with pot inverted. Swabbed after... reassemble and take it for a test drive.

This ALL but eliminated the dribble. Sayin,maybe one drop in a 5-10 minute window is good enough for me. Other than the obvious, learning to do this... one thing I need is better ingot mould/s. Aluminum muffin pans ain't hitting on a whole lot. They work but,real cast iron mould/s are now on the gotta have list. Saving lunch money's for those and a second Hatch PID. Only been in the last 5 years I even used a thermometer. For the last 40+ years have just cast by intuition...which isn't that big of deal. Run the pot to boolit frost,then either back off a smidge,add some (warm) sprues, and/or adjust casting pace.

However,even if the PID wasn't 10 times more responsive compared to the dial... seeing that lit up screen with those numbers sure is nice to have. Looking forward to casting in a day or so.

[PhilC]

Great to read that worked for you.