PID electronic pot controller

As an electrical designer I need to caution people...more people die from electrocution than getting shot...


;)

pish posh, 120v ain't nothing! i work with 575 3phase all the time (commercial hvac), that's a good time. although it's always been 1 phase to ground, so technically only 350volt.

It was much more fun and satisfying to build this - there are guys putting these together and selling them for the same price as a lead pot.

This would be a better PID for the project. The short K thermocouple is not ideal for immersion - you should use 4" K type thermocouple (~ $3.00 on Ebay, shipping included)

agreed, also much cheaper! some people don't like messing around with them so it's a way to get a pid system running.
 
pish posh, 120v ain't nothing! i work with 575 3phase all the time (commercial hvac), that's a good time. although it's always been 1 phase to ground, so technically only 350volt.

Oh we are going to pull out and compare are we? :) One of my last systems was 115kv.....I win.

Just doing a tongue in cheek that the electrical stuff is more dangerous than the gun :)
 
Just an update , used the REX C-100 to cast over 150 .227 caliber 55 grain bullets. - Temp at 370C. maybe 20 rejects in the whole bunch (bases not filled because I did not pour fast enough.
Also cast 100 0.279" loverin 160 grain RN from a lyman Ideal mold that is probably over 60 years old. 6 rejects (rounded shoulders on the bases) from the who mess.
Molds were preheated on an electric hot plate with an aluminium sheet on top.
Preheating the mold this way means the good bullets on the first or second casting cycle.
Any bullets that were rejects were as a result of a slow pour into the mold.

Alloy was Monotype, bullets are extremely hard. Ingots "ring" when tapped with a hammer...
 
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I just did an Ebay search, and these are really affordable. How do you guys mount the probe? Is it an complete immersion, or do you need to drill your pot?

The easiest way is to get a K thermocouple with a 4", 5", or 6" probe and mount it so the thermocouple sits in the alloy. I use a slip fit so that I can pull out the thermocouple before the lead turns solid when I turn off the pot.

It is interesting to know the exact temperature that the alloy does turn to a solid - pure lead goes solid at 620F, Alloys at lower temperatures.
 
Another update.

selected 7 ingots of wheel weight, 1 ingot of near pure lead, 1/4 oz tin.
Put them in the Lee bottom pour pot at 9:30 last night. Pluged the pot bypassing the PID until all ingots were melted in the pot.
When the last ingot was melting (about 9:45 or so) pluged the pot into the PID controller.
By 9:55 pm the alloy was up to the set temperature of 365C and fluxed ready to pour.
By 10:30 I had 2.2 lb of .0226" 55 grain NOE bullets with less than 20 Rejects.
With pre heating the mold on the hotplate, the first cycle cast was dropped in the reject bin. The second cycle cast was inspected while the mold cooled while filled with lead from the 3rd cycle. No rejects.
All rejects were my doing, not keeping the sprue large enough and getting a rounded base under the gas check rather than a sharp square base.
There were 3 or 4 bullets with part of the land between lube grooves that did not look "right" so got rejected.

No frosted bullets - I could have made more by cooling the sprue with a damp cloth once the sprue solidified. It was 20 seconds between pours without. That could be cut by 5 seconds with cooling.

Now to work up a load in the Hornet and the 223..
 
I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Amazon order for the components. Thanks for the update.

Having the alloy in the pot stay at a constant temperature takes one variable out that gives wrinkled or frosted bullets. Also there were no bullets sticking in the mold, most times they dropped out when I opened the mold. A light tap on the hinge would get the lazy ones out. - It really helps to hold the mold upside down to open after you break the sprues...
 
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