Lee Pro 4-20 vs Magnmum melter for new caster

[fredj338]

Does the bottom pour apparatus of the Pro4-20 prevent the easy use of muffin sized ingots? We're talking about ~2.5" diameter by ~1.5" deep ingots.

Thanks again for all of the excellent information.

Hugh

No, the top is quite large. I feed mine w/ 2 1/2"X4"X1" ingots (+/-3#).

[nonferrous]

The Lee 4-20 is a better piece of gear than I ever expected to get for 64.00, it puts out several hundred Boolits in a couple hours. If I do get a drip, it lands on the bottom plate of the stand and I just toss it back in the melt.
I keep the thermometer in the melt all the time so I know the temp and I find that it works best if you keep it half full or more.
Don't forget to flux and stir.

[armyrat1970]

Yeah the Lee drips. No big deal if you keep something under the spout to catch the drip and then just drop it back into the melt. I have the Lee 10# and have used it for years. Just about worn out and want to get the 20# when I can get enough cash for it. I have always wondered about ladle casting as to getting some dross when pouring the boolits. Guess that's why I chose a bottom pour.
Don't know of any real trick to stopping the dripping from the Lee but it is not enough to bother me. The only fault I find with the 10# pot is once you add your sprues or drips back into it the temps drop a little. Maybe I wait a little to long to drop them back into the pot. Not really a big deal as it gives me enough time to take a break and drink a brew, and smoke a cig while waiting for the temps to get back up to where I cast at. Then I just start pouring bullets again. It is a little hard at times to set the mold under the spout to get it right but alot of that is my poor eyesight. Again, no big deal. Lee works well for the money spent. As I have found with all of their handloading tools.

[GRid.1569]

OK I've not been doing this long but... is the Lee drip a myth?

I've gone a few melts / re-melts and the only drip I've had (so far) is when I'm stirring and I can feel the valve lifting as a result of impacts with the stirrer...

Spoke to soon... had a gusher on my hands for a few seconds today... no idea why, just filled a mold, sprued 'n' dropped to find about 2 inch wide half inch high mountain forming... good flow... quickly turned the valve stem and it stopped, hasn't happen again (yet)...

Thought I might have 3/4 pot of lead run over the bench...

[Bret4207]

What till the 20 lbser does that while your back is turned.......

[qajaq59]

What till the 20 lbser does that while your back is turned.......

Those do bring a little excitement into your life, don't they?

[lurch]

I didn't see the question answered, but maybe I missed it.

The 4-20 can be used for ladle casting. I've just started casting some long .30's (311299 and 311284 that I got off a couple of really nice guys here) as well as a few 311466's and found that the bottom pour that I get good results with pistol type bullets was just not cutting it with the rifle boolits. On a lark I drug out my really ugly (previous owner had let it rust up quite badly) Lyman ladle, cleaned it up and tried it. I found it easy enough to use in the pot and the results were far superior in terms of number of keepers once I got the hang of it.

So, yes the 4-20 can be used to ladle from without a lot of hassle.

[RoyRogers]

I have posted this before BUT.harbor freight has a router speed control $15 that controls voltage.I am using it on my old saeco.have tried it on lee and it works on both.by controling the voltage you control the resistance and heat.and it runs constant so there are no ups and downs in temp.
also a weight on the rod on lee will help on the pot.

All opinions welcome.

EDIT: Oops - I read the PID thread on Friday. I just found it again and saw most of my ? has been answered.

[armyrat1970]

I have posted this before BUT.harbor freight has a router speed control $15 that controls voltage.I am using it on my old saeco.have tried it on lee and it works on both.by controling the voltage you control the resistance and heat.and it runs constant so there are no ups and downs in temp.
also a weight on the rod on lee will help on the pot.

Question? Isn't the temp control on the Lee resister controlled? Why would the Harbor Freight control make a difference? My Lee pot has a metal, not wood, handle that weighs around 1/3lb. That seems to be enough weight. It's just that for some reason the Lee pot at times drips. I don't think you could hang a 10lb weight on it and stop it. Well, maybe.

[Mk42gunner]

I have 2 Lee bottom pour pots; a 10 pounder I paid ten bucks for at a pawn shop that was missing the valve rod and a twenty pounder that I bought new. I haven't really used the ten pound pot yet, but I have poured and ladled a lot of lead with the 20.

The valves are totally different between the two. I can easily ladle from the big one, while I think it would be a real pain in the neck to ladle from the 10.

Muffin ingots work well with the 20 lb Lee not so well with the 10. Ingots from 1 1/2" angle iron work with either pot.

The last time I cast bullets I ran about half a three pound coffee can of Lee's 312-185, bottom pouring and had 4 rejects. I should have bought a lottery ticket that day.


hope this helps,

Robert

[sciguy]

In my boodk, there has been enough positive feedback to warrant going with the Pro 4-20 for now. I will keep a drip catcher large enough to catch the entire pot contents under the bottom pour spout and perhaps eventually upgrade to a PID controller if the temperature swings are too hard to deal with. The UPS trackers shows my unit arriving from Midway today along with several other goodies

Thanks for all of the great discussion, warnings, positive reviews .............

Hugh

[eikeland]

Could someone please post the internal dimensions of the Lee Pro 4-20?
Thanks

[sciguy]

Could someone please post the internal dimensions of the Lee Pro 4-20?
Thanks

The interior is almost exactly 4" wide as well as deep.

Hugh

[blikseme300]

I have used the Lee pots for many years but the size bothered me so this is what I did....



....built my own.

Bliksem

[TAWILDCATT]

they all use make and break temp control its a bymetal strip that heats and opens.breaking the curcuit. the harbor control is a reostate and controls the voltage so the element is alwas on.
Oh and BRET: the lyman pot dissapered when saeco closed so I think saeco made the lyman.I bought the aluminum lyman pot you think you have troubles the lyman pot melted.and 20 lb went all over.I do believe the lyman and RCBS is related.I started with a lyman ladle in the 1937.and went to a gilbert toy caster
I modified based on the miller I saw in phil sharps book.I still have the gilbert pot.
very little I have got rid of in 76 yrs.the ladle was good on small molds pre WW2.
some of the casters clamp a vice grip on the lee rod.I think the leads weight lifts the rod.I even have a POTTER pot 3lb.

[nonferrous]

I guess it's like anything else, for instance. If you do not like the intrusion of road noise into the cabin of your Ford Focus, or the cramped back seat, there is probably a Lexus Dealer not to far away that can make all the shortcomings go away.

I am sure that the same concept applies to loading gear, or bicycles or BBQ grills for that matter.

The main thing is to score those WW's and keep it flowing.