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Does anyone have any info on a larger pot? I have been using Lee for many years with no problems at all. (guess I got lucky never has any of them leaked). The problem is 20 lbs is just not enough. I have to stop and wait for more ingots to come up to temp. A 40 lb would be great. Any ideas?
I’d love a magma but with preheated ingots and a 20 pound lee I get along okay
I missed seeing the 40 lb pot before. I think i must have it. Just need to hide the cost from you know who.
do the 2 pot deal, put one over the other. the top preheats and then pours into the lower casting pot, several members do it this way.
I have a Master Caster with the 40 pound pot, but even with it, I put two 8 pound ingots up on the edge of the pot to allow them to warm up while I'm casting. When the pot gets low enough (which doesn't take long with the Master Caster), then I'll add one of the preheated ingots and place another on the rim to take it's place. This allows me to continue casting, rather than waiting for the alloy to come up to temperature.
One caveat, though. Don't take a lunch break, and then get sidetracked, and leave two 8 pound ingots to warm up on the edge of the pot. They melt.... And make a mess in all the wrong places........:groner:
Hope this helps.
Fred
Got me a Magma 90# pot fill her up and get her hot you can cast for a while.
Or get another Lee 20 lb'r, fill both and use the second to refill the first. Use a hotplate to preheat ingots to replenish the second pot. Depending on the hotplate you can probably pre-warm 4 or more pounds of ingots.
I’ve been tossing extra ingots into my PC oven … 400 degrees really minimizes the time to bring those cold ingots up to temp.
I use a Lee 20. I have ingots in Lyman bricks and lay one on each side of the pot rim to preheat as I cast. As pot level falls, I add a brick from the rim (alternating sides) and replace it with another. I never let the level fall farther than one brick and adding pre heated bricks does not cause excessive temperature fluctuations. Using this method I can cast continuously as long as I have bricks to preheat. Give it a try.Quote:
Originally Posted by flatnose
Have you tried preheating your ingots on a hot plate before putting them in the pot?
The dual pot setup is something like this:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/atta...1&d=1623136592
That’s a modded 4-20 on top, with a shortened height using standard Lee hardware and a hole drilled through the base to let the alloy into the ProMelt. A two 4-20 setup would require different mounting.
If you feed ingots to and molten alloy from the top pot while cooling the current pour, you never even have to break rhythm.
I guess I'm a little different caster than most here. I ladle cast out of a stainless pot (I have several) on top of a Coleman stove. As a quart equals about 25 pounds of lead I like a 2 quart pot. I do have some larger, and some smaller. I can put about 40 pounds in a 2-quart pot and it last me quite some time.
Rick
I have a Waage on the side and I use a dipper to dump one pound at a time into my RCBS when the level gets to the right spot. Usually it is two pounds at a time. You don't need something as expensive as the Waage and could probably get by with a 10 pound Lee as long as you started out with it near full and replaced ingots as soon as you remove some. That way your temperature never gets compromised and your rhythm does not get interrupted. The only drawback is that I wind up fluxing two pots but that is really minimal.
There are a few larger pots available When looking at the industrial style pots you need to make sure they are the right wattage for you use. they come in seeveral ( cosmoline, lead, zinc) ranges.
McMaster Carr, Graingers, MSC have the industrial models. Buffalo arns or MVA have the 40 lb wages.
Anither route is to make your own from pope plate and heating elements.
Everybody forgets to mention, the Magma also comes with the option of a 2 hole pour spout. Speeds things up considerably. It is easily changes out with the 1 hole adapter if you need to use a single cavity mould.