| Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2009 10:50 PM |
|
1st Post |
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
I have several casting pots, two bottom pour pots, both Lees. One is the 10 pounder and the other is the Pro 4 20 pounder. The 10 pounder has been used for at least 20 years with few problems. The 20 pounder, the current one is a replacement for a problem one.
Plus I have 3 open cauldron type of lead pots; 4 pounds, 20 pounds, 50 pounds.
I have two ladles, one is for casting with bullet molds and the other is for ingots and larger molds.
Over the years I have used both methods and both methods do work well. For when I can making ingots, I use a Turkey Fryer type propane heat source with a HF dutch oven to melt down lead of various types to make 1 pounder or Lee 1/2 ingots.
Once my foundry building passes inspection by the local barn cat and his buddies, I will probably get a plumber furnace for casting lead and low temp alloys. I do make pewter items, as well as brass, bronze and aluminum.
So what type of casting pot do you use?
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2009 10:58 PM |
|
2nd Post |
3006 user
Gold Sponsor
| Joined: | Mon Jul 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | Denver Area, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 645 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | 30-06 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Jerry, I use an old Lyman bottom pour pot.. Had it since the 60s. No problems so far - I think it will outlast me!!!
____________________
Molon Labe
Patron member NRA
USN 1956-1961
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2009 11:10 PM |
|
3rd Post |
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
But your only 27  That pot will probably out last many of use.
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Thu Apr 30th, 2009 11:17 PM |
|
4th Post |
3006 user
Gold Sponsor
| Joined: | Mon Jul 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | Denver Area, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 645 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | 30-06 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
miestro_jerry wrote: But your only 27 That pot will probably out last many of use.
Jerry
Jerry - probably better add 45 to that!!!! 
____________________
Molon Labe
Patron member NRA
USN 1956-1961
|
| Posted: Fri May 1st, 2009 12:06 AM |
|
5th Post |
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
So your al old F@rt like me, but the casting pot will still out last both of us.
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Fri May 1st, 2009 03:26 AM |
|
6th Post |
Old Fart
HB Pro Staff
| Joined: | Fri Jan 30th, 2009 |
| Location: | East Of Pink |
| Posts: | 128 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
I've got two of the Lee Pro bottom pours. One since the 70's the other for about 6 or 7 years. I recently had to put a new pot in both of them. The old one had just got plugged up beyond repair so I used it for smelting the last few years. The new got plugged up with something and while I was drilling out the crud the drill bit poked a hole just barely out the side. Lee replaced the newer one for free, charged for the old one. They also threw in two new plungers. Not bad huh? As a side note the old one still works great. Who knows how long it will work.
Oh and I saw the old fart remark........
My father in law gave me a Johnson propane smelter the other day. Heavy duty doesn't begin to describe it. Pot looks to be about a gallon and a half size.
Man once I get that thing fired up I can do most of my smelting in one day.
____________________
"All my life I've had a bad case of the Fred's.
Fredrick Vanderbilt taste on a Fred Sanford budget."
NRA Life Member
|
| Posted: Fri May 1st, 2009 06:23 AM |
|
7th Post |
fryboy
Moderator
| Joined: | Sun Feb 24th, 2008 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 1329 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | ones that work |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
well ...since u asked about casting pots and not smelting pots.....lolz i have two lee's,one is a old one that i got used long long ago , the ol boy i got it from had cut a notch in the bottom and added 2 wood risers to it for more clearance ,rarely use that one much since i got a newer tall bigger one it sees most the duty now ,years ago i casted using a friends ladle i much prefer the bottom pour even tho sometimes it drips ( keep a extra ignot mold under -thatz where the tallness comes in handy ! )i believe i read somewhere that ladles will eventually ruin a aluminum mold ( no self proof of that but i think it was in some lee literature ?) something about the heat and the pressure together heats the one side too much and eventually wears or oblongs the mold ? i never used a ladle on a aluminum long enough to verify that or not tho ..
____________________
(happy shootin'-the best way to get empty brass!)
|
| Posted: Fri May 1st, 2009 03:48 PM |
|
8th Post |
Charley
Board Founder
| Joined: | Fri Sep 9th, 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 3259 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | all of them |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
I've got the 10 pound Lee bottom pour. Works fine, never had the drip-o-matic problem that many seem to have with it (here's a hint, there are printed sheets called instructions that often explain how to deal with problems from a specific tool. I find them very helpfull). All my bullet casting is done with it, dipper and pot is how I started...don't plan on going back to it.
I will add a Lee 20 pounder eventually.
Smelting is done on a Coleman stove, and a thrift store cast iron pot.
____________________
Charter Member of the vast right wing conspiracy
|
| Posted: Fri May 1st, 2009 04:14 PM |
|
9th Post |
wheezengeezer
Moderator
| Joined: | Mon Jul 16th, 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp,Corbin, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 1125 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol | | My favorite chambering is:: | 44 Marlin 1.28 straight |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
I do my wheel weights with a turkey frier burner and a cut off 30 lb freon bottle.i also use it to mix 200#batches of alloy when mixing ww with lino,and/or mono and/or tin.the ingots from the batches get a lot # for consistant bullets.i use a lee 20# pot for the alloys and a cast lyman pot and dipper for small volume soft lead stuff.
____________________
I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
|
buffybr
HB Pro Staff
| Joined: | Tue Oct 31st, 2006 |
| Location: | Bozeman, Montana USA |
| Posts: | 63 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Charlie,
I too cast with a 10# Lee bottom pour and smelt with a large cast iron pot on a Coleman stove -- up to 700# of WW per year.
I bought my Lee pot in the early 70's and it has worked good for me all these years, but it will occasionally drip between pours. You mentioned that little thing called "instructions". I'm afraid those disappeared decades ago.
Could you enlighten us on what Lee's instructions recommend for preventing dripping? Thanks
|
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
From what Lee said about the 20 pounders, is to put a piece of wire between the drain rod and the adjuster screw. If you adjust the top screw, then you have to adjust the bottom screw also
Clean all debris from the pot. Use that silver antisiezure compound that garages use on your lug bolts on the drain hole and all of the moving parts with the pouring system.
That is basically what you have to do, the instruction that come with the pot are much clearer.
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/EL3469.pdf
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
Charley
Board Founder
| Joined: | Fri Sep 9th, 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 3259 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | all of them |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
The dripping on the 10 pounder is a very critical, high tech approach. Find a tool called a screwdriver (yeah, I don't have any idea what one is, I'll check Wikopedia) and slip it into the slot on the shaft that blocks the drain hole. Rotate it back and forth when it tends to drip, and that moves most debris out of the way and the dripping stops.
____________________
Charter Member of the vast right wing conspiracy
|
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
This is what I use for bulk melting. I have other furnaces that achieve much higher temperatures for melt bronze, brass and steel.
Jerry
Attachment: cookingleadalloy1a.jpg (Downloaded 95 times)
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 27th, 2009 05:39 AM |
|
16th Post |
fornra
member
| Joined: | Wed Feb 27th, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 35 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
I don't have any fancy equipment but I made my ladle from a oxygen cylinder cap cut to about 1-1/2" long with a steel handle welded on and a peice of broom handle as an insulater. It will fill a muffin pan ingot mold with one dip,(2.25 lb).
My melter is an old Lyman with bottom pour that I bought at a yard sale, the only reason it isn't a Lee.
I use a propane burner that I bought from Harbor Freight and an old ducth oven to melt my wheel weights.
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 27th, 2009 06:12 AM |
|
17th Post |
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
You have all the stuff to do this, my HF burner is my pre/ost heater for welding and I am using it as a weed burner.
One ladle I have has a broom stick handle as an insulator. I found a really nice lead ladle at an antique store for next to nothing.
I look thru stuff at yard sales and junk stores.
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 28th, 2009 02:27 AM |
|
18th Post |
fornra
member
| Joined: | Wed Feb 27th, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 35 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! | | My favorite chambering is:: | |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Jerry do you have a foundry? Is it a business or hobby?
I'm an ornimintal iron worker by trade, the last few years have gotten kinda crazy,the work that is!
I spent more than 6 weeks in Washington DC this summer working on the Jefferson Hotel, now I'm building stairs and railing for the state house in Topeka Kansas. I'll soon be working on some stairs and railing for a court house reinovation project in Houston Tx.
This one has me a little worried since the hand rail caps will be made of nickle silver (over $28,000 worth) and I've never worked with that stuff before. I just hope it will tig weld similar to bronze!
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 28th, 2009 02:44 AM |
|
19th Post |
miestro_jerry
Administrator
back to top
|
I own a smithy, just building a new foundry, have my own machine shop, have a 100 yard range in the backyard, almost all of my hobbies are businesses.
PM me your email address and any questions, I am always willing to help.
Jerry
____________________
No Goats, No Glory
NRA Benefactor Member
Ohio Rifle and Pistol Association Member
The Cast Bullet Association
Bethesda Farmers and Sportsmen Club
ODNR Certified and Licensed Hunter
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 28th, 2009 05:23 PM |
|
20th Post |
Harvey57
member
| Joined: | Tue Sep 22nd, 2009 |
| Location: | Bowie, Maryland USA |
| Posts: | 62 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol | | My favorite chambering is:: | 357 magnum ... |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Well my smelting story may not be as glamorous as y'alls. I used a a few large pavers, a charcoal grill wire grate, a chimney insert, charcoal and fire wood. I put a small cast iron frying pan on a galvanize fence poll for a pot. I used a leaf blower to ad air from the bottom.
Well the alloy was free of Zinc and Cadmium. The clay insert turned to glass or Obsidian. The cast iron pan oxidized nicely with large flakes of ferric-oxide. The flames out of tho top were spectacular at sunset. I call this "The almost as bad method."
Now, I use a Coleman stove and aluminium two Quart pot. I can poor into muffin pans and skim while still on the heat. A friend has made an ingot mold from two inch angle iron, four pound ingots. I will have an other made from four inch angle stock adding re-bar handles.
Good SCHMELTING!
WARNING!! Wash your hands, change your clothes and don't eat before washing your hands. We all know the precautions. I thought I'd pass it on anyway.
____________________
Yours, Harvey
|
| Current time is 10:28 AM | Page: 1 2   |
|
