Just a heads up for anyone using lee pot. When I got it I didn't have thermometer, so online said put it about 7. I just bought a lyman and an a rcbs thermometer for my shot maker, which looks like it needs 650. I checked my thermometers on the lee pot, at 7 thermometers went up to 900 before I pulled them out. I had to put it down to 2.5 to get it to 700. And incase anyone is wondering, both digital lyman and mechanical rcbs read same temps, so if you need one, both work.
Lee lead pot temp
- Thread starter Greglc
- Start date
My Lee I run at 5. I use 4 and 6 cavity moulds so gets drained quickly. I have my alloy premixed so with bars constantly going in the temperature stays around 750. My Lee is a 4-20. The high setting definitely helps during initial melt. I use the Lyman thermometer.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I found similar - Lee pots seem to have simple rheostat - not really a thermometer - or at least not very precise - I was using a dial Lyman thermometer to monitor lead melt temp when I was casting bullets - did not "trust" the setting on the Lee melting pot. About similar on my Salt Bath annealing set-up - that uses similar Lee melting pot - digital readout tool would show way high temps - compared to what I thought that I had the Lee pot set for. So using thermometer is very good idea, I think - to get a temperature readout in degrees - maybe my Lee units were older - was just a number like from 2 to 10 - was not given in degrees - I do not trust the Lee pot's settings, at all.
I have never used a thermometer on my LEE pots. I mostly cast WW, and sometimes add a wee bit of lino if I'm casting rifle bullets. I don't seem to have the trouble a lot of people complain about - dripping pot, poor bullets, etc. I have two 10 lb. bottom pour pots. One I intended to use for melting WW and the other for casting, but that big plan soon went by the wayside. I do use a bit of Marvelux with my melt. I have had the same jar for many years, but I will need to buy another soon.
- Location
- Nova Scotia
Honestly you'll find pros that still do it on camp stoves with a cast iron pot and dipper. Depends on what you want, or use. How long did they cast bullets before all this technology came ?
My first time casting. I melted my digital thermometer coupler smelting. This was just going by flow.
Attachments
- Location
- Western Manitoba
A suggestion - before you completely run out of that Marvelux - maybe try some sawdust? I had read somewhere that would work - my first attempt was just grabbed a handful from the bag on the cross cut miter saw - then I would actually stand there and cross-cut saw-up repeatedly a length of spruce 2x4 to create sawdust - might have been odd scrap of fir that went in as well - I used a slab of white poplar from fire wood as a "stir stick" - maybe twice as thick and a little wider than a paint stirring stick that you get at hardware store - over time that "stir stick" got reasonably charred and edges would go away - but was easy to replace and cost nothing. I found that I could melt a pot full of wheel weights - dump in a handful of sawdust and stir with stir stick - unbelievable pile of crap and what-not came floating up that had been suspended in the melt or stuck to the pot walls - so I presumed that it was working. Ended up that was all that I ever used for flux for casting - just sawdust and that stir stick - for the bottom pour pots, was not unusual to have entire top of melt to be covered in sawdust layer - seemed to work okay with wheel weights.
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sillymike
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Those are pretty frosty bullet (lead too hot)
- Not that it matters all that much for slugs
Welcome to the zoo!
BattleRife
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- of No Fixed Address
Important to know, the Lee controller has significant dead time, meaning it is reacting now to temperatures that happened 3-4 minutes ago.
Because of this, the temperature will overshoot significantly on startup, but then it settles down to a temperature well below that peak, and it won't come back up to that again unless you seriously upset the system (something like dropping 10lbs of cold ingots into a pot that's almost empty.)
"PROS" was tongue in cheek...
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I was curious about the same thing - maybe true or not, but I was told that once you have made an alloy, normal processes about impossible to separate the alloy back into original components. Is like when someone claims to be able to separate zinc from lead by controlling melting temperature - does not work, if the zinc is alloyed into the lead, but might work BEFORE any alloying has taken place.
Yup
Paraffin, beeswax and Marvalex. Marvalex is my preferred flux. Only time I don’t flux is when I have chimney flashing as the tar does a wonderful job of fluxing. Bullet lube also works. Probably due to having beeswax in it. Problem with a lot of fluxes is they ignite. Marvalex don’t.
BattleRife
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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When you pour a glass of gin, does the alcohol separate and float to the top?
Once one substance is dissolved into another, they behave as one. Such is the case with small amounts of tin and antimony in lead.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
Not according to the metallurgist that do smelting for a living & cast slugs as well. They claim that fluxing is essential before skimming crud off a melt. The claim they make is that fluxing helps keep the alloys embedded in the mix but if you skim before or without fluxing you can easily remove 75% of the tin/antimony from an alloy mix.
The reference I use for this is "From Ingot to Target, a Cast Bullet guide for Handgunners by Glen E Fryxell & Robert L Applegate" An excellent read for casting beginners that is a free download (at least it was when I got my version).
I think the point is that the other metals oxidize more readily than the lead. So do they seperate? Nope.
They create more oxides than the lead
Reductants such as wax reverse the oxidization. Wax is a reductant as it does not clean the lead as a flux would do
They create more oxides than the lead
Reductants such as wax reverse the oxidization. Wax is a reductant as it does not clean the lead as a flux would do
