Diary of a Casting Pot Construction

[Buckshot]

.............Yeah, and having a young Terry Garr around wouldn't be bad either, "What magnificent knockers!"

.................Buckshot

[shooter575]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/quotes

Frankenstein, Igor and Inga in front of HUGE castle doors]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: What knockers.
Inga: Oh, thank you doctor.

Man that was 1974 She was 25 then.Damm I am getting old!!!

[Texasflyboy]

Today was spent fabricating the foot pedal assembly. I had a hard time with this one, but in the end it turned out OK.

I intitially tried to duplicate my old foot pedal, but since it was made entirely out of iron, and was on the small side, I really wanted to use off the shelf parts. Problem solved at Home Depot. I found a galvanized reinforcing sheet metal piece that is used to reinforce deck 2 x 4's. Here is a photo of the piece, unmodified:




Since it was created to fit over a 2 x 4 (edge on) I slipped it over the edge of a 2 x 4, traced its outline, and then made a gentle curve from the inside line out to the edge of the 2 x 4. Something like this:



This piece of curved wood would become the foot pedal.

I next took a short (about 8" or so) piece of 1/2" flat stock and bent it into a wide "U" shape. This would be the bracket to hold the wood & sheet metal foot pedal to the "L" shaped board (more on that later).

I notched the opposite end of the wood slice out of the 2 x 4 to create a gap for a double 1/4" nut that I had welded together (poor man's collar).

Here is a drawing of that:



This was really a one-off, go-by-feel type of thing, so I won't go into more detail into how I built it. Here is the finished product:



Here is a slightly different angle that shows the "U" shaped bracket better:



The assembly was bolted to a 7" wide "L" shaped piece of wood as seen in the above photo. This will get screwed to one of the front legs of the table where the pot will be placed.

Here is a short Quicktime movie of the foot pedal in action, it's about 2MB:

Short 2MB movie of the Foot Pedal

[Texasflyboy]

After a week of work, I finally managed to fire this thing up! The good news is that it works! Here is a 10MB QuickTime Movie of the pot heating up:

(I did mention this is a 10MB file!)

Movie of the Pot Heating up (File Avail. only for 10 days)

Due to my server space starting to fill up, this movie and all the others I posted will only be available until March 22, 2006, and then they will be deleted.

The final 5% of work proved to be challenging. Last week I received the Watlow (made in 1979) temperature control I purchased on eBay. It took a few days for me to figure it out, and how it worked. I grew to like this temperature control, on the inside it looks like a High School science project, with relays, resistors, pot controls, etc... REALLY easy to work and repair these, as you will see later in this post.

Once I figured out the temperature control, I decided to create a control area at the rear of the pot to house all the electrics. Here is what I ended up with:



The Watlow is a very simple temperature control. The dial ranges from 0F to 800F and uses a "J" type thermocouple. There is a range window above the temperature control wheel that shows action 50F above and below target temperature range. The relay inside the temperature control activates when the range setting hits the center. It seems to work pretty well for a nearly 30 year old control. On this particular model, the relay simply flips between open and close on three contacts. Contacts 1 & 2 are normally closed, and when the relay fires, 2 & 3 are closed, 1 & 2 are open. So I decided to use this relay (inside the temperature controller) to control 110V to the other 220V 30A relay that I had purchased. It worked fine.

Finishing up the pot called for installing the foot pedal and welding the round rod to the top of the pot. Here is what it looks like finished (warning - the link is a BIG photo)



Link to larger photo

After I finished welding the round rod extension (basically I was connecting the gap between the round rod from the foot pedal to the round rod that was hanging from the turnbuckle attached to the spout control) I decided to add some reinforcing to the wood stand that holds up the pot. Don't have photos of this, but I had some leftover oak 1" planks and these were cut to fit alongside the wood box. Once cut, they were gorilla glued and screwed into place to provide additional support for the pot.

After everything was hooked up and checked for the 10th or 11th time, I decided to plug it in and see if it worked.

And.........it didn't.

The relay in the temperature control was firing, but the big 220V relay wasn't. It's not hard to miss as it makes a loud "clunk" when it opens and closes. I pulled the temperature control apart (the inside just slides right out of the box) and discovered a broken wire on the relay contact. It was an old repair, and the wire had been jarred loose. Yah! I got to use my soldering iron. Popped it back in and the big 220V relay fired right away.

But, no joy on the heating elements.

I was only getting 110V to the heat elements. Unplugged everything and checked again. Starting running continuity checks on the wiring and discovered that the little 30A fuse box I installed had a fuse that was seated cockeyed. The bracket holding the fuse must have gotten bent (opened up) when I was installing the box and the fuse wasn't making contact with one of the circuit legs. Once that was fixed, plugged everything in and .....SMOKE!

Started getting smoke off of everything on the pot. Residual oil from construction, etc.... Let the temp come up to about 400F or so and the smoke disappeared.

I didn't melt any lead tonight, just wanted to verify that the pot worked. Tomorrow, I will start testing the pot with lead to see how long it takes to melt a 50% load of lead.

I consider the project complete. I want to thank everyone for their advice and comments as I went along building this thing.

I kept all the photos I took, the original files, not the reduced photos I posted here.

I have about 350 photos, and the movies also. The folder takes up about 300MB of space, so it will fit on a CD.

My intention is to archive the thread, the photos, and all the other info I gathered to build this pot and put it on a CD and offer it to the visitors of Cast Boolits.

I will make it available for the cost of the blank CD and postage, which I think will be about $3 or less per CD. I ain't interested in making money on this thing.

If you want a CD,

DO NOT POST TO THIS THREAD.

Email me. Here is my email address:

Texasflyboy@yahoo.com

Again, please don't post to this thread if you want a copy of this CD. It wastes bandwidth and doesn't add to the value of the thread.

I do not guarantee that I will do this. I am self-employed, and my time is sometimes gobbled up by making a living. However, if I do decide to do this, here is how I plan on operating:

1. Email me with your name and mailing address. Do not send any money. Don't know how you would since I haven't posted a PayPal address (I don't use PayPal anyway) or my mailing address. Yet.

2. Once I see how many people are interested, I will place a trigger date and number let's say "By May 31, 2006 , 35 CD's" for the sake of argument.

3. On June 1, I will email folks with a mailing address who have emailed me. I will then produce the number of CD's and mail them out once payment is received.

4. Once that is done, game over. I am not interested in mailing out CD's of this project for the rest of my life. So, this is a one time deal.

5. I reserve the right to change or modify any part of this deal at anytime for anyreason including not doing it at all.

I am getting married in a few weeks, so my time is no longer my own. I want to share the info with folks, but I realize that circumstances beyond my control may affect my ability to do this.

So, if you want a CD, EMAIL ME.

texasflyboy@yahoo.com



Cheers!

[jar-wv]

I have been wondering throughout this project how you managed enough time to spend the weekends on it. Now I know, your single and didn't have to deal with the honeydew list every weekend. Good thing you got it done before the wedding, and congratulations. To bad that you won't have enough time to use it now.

First class work and I bet it's going to do a great job for you. Its been interesting following your progress.

jar

[Buckshot]

.............TFB, you did a rally proffessional job. Not only in the pot construction but in documentation and explainations of why and whatfor. I really like these step by step construction jobs.

I'm anxious to hear about how it works, etc.

..................Buckshot

[Texasflyboy]

Thanks for the kind words.


After 24 hours since I made the offer for the CD, I received just one email.

So, I am modifying the offer.

I am making five (5) copies of the CD. Period. The next four people that email me asking for a copy will get it.

After that, no more.

If the mods of Cast Boolits want one of the CD's for arhive with the thread then PM me or email me and I will mail one free of charge for the board archives.

Time to start casting....

[45nut]

That is a very cool project and I for one am flattered you shared it with us here at CB. I didn't want to step in early but did want to make sure you knew I have been following this thread since day 1.
The membership talents showcased on threads such as this are inspiring and welcome,I look forward to more contributions as you obviously aren't done,despite what your new wife might think.
I would like a copy of the CD,I will pm you my address. I will keep it next to the shooters.com CB archive cd I have on hand. Copies will be available from me in the future for new members that join too late to take you up on this offer.
Thanks again!

[GLL]

TexasFlyBoy:

BEAUTIFUL JOB all the way around !

I would also like a copy of your CD documenting the construction. E-mail is on the way.

Thanks for all of your efforts in putting the thread together.

Best Regards,

Jerry Lewis

[Texasflyboy]

You make a big pot, sooner or later you gotta feed it.

At some point today I realized, just maybe, that the pot might be a little too big.

Sheesh.....How am I going to keep this thing fed?

[Beau Cassidy]

That looks like a pretty good size ingot. Tell us more.

[Texasflyboy]

The ingot is from an old linotype mold that I found in the trash behind a printers shop years ago. One corner had broken off, so they threw it away. However, the other 8 cavities still worked well.

It makes a 3.5lb ingot when using wheelweights.

Here is a photo from my website:

[shooter575]

A linotype mold,so that is what it is.I got two of them some years ago.Gee,I do not even remember where? CRS

[Texasflyboy]

Seven CD's were mailed out. One was sent to this board for the archives. I think this thread is going to be saved, or moved to an article. You can contact the Admin of this board if you want a copy of the CD.

I have archived this post, and the photos on my web server. I have reformatted the text into a web page describing more detail regarding the construction.

I will be happy to answer questions in the future regarding the pot should anyone email me. The link to the new page will be posted here, and also on my Casting Home page as soon as I have time to finish the coding.

[zuke]

I'm looking foreward to getting my disc. Now to start hitting the tire shop's

[dragonrider]

"If anyone here is a machinist, I could sure use some help." I am a machinist with a home shop.
If you are serious hit me with a pm or email, I think I can solve you problem about raising the spout off the bottom of the pot by making an adapter to thread the spout into. Just trying to help.

I also made a large bottom pour pot but fired it with propane and compressed air. use it for converting wheel weights to ingots

[zuke]

I got my C.D. and spent some time watching it. Very informative and a labour of love. It's given me idea's on my own smelter.

[Texasflyboy]

Due to the loss of my server space since this original posting, many of the photos and embedded links in the original posts no longer work. I have moved all the necessary files to my space here at Cast Boolits and am slowly updating a page I created showing how this pot was built.

This new page is meant to replace this original thread for the source material regarding the construction of this casting pot.

Here is the link:

The Cast Boolits Model 1 Casting Pot

[Texasflyboy]

Hard to believe its been 15+ years since I made this casting pot. For the last 4 years its been idle, work and family have taken most of my time but in a fortunate series of events due to the pandemic, I was finally able to construct the home office I've been wanting for a long time. Took me almost a year to complete the construction in my backyard, but once I completed it in January of 2021, I started moving all my reloading, casting, and other gear into the new "office." The casting pot got its own honored space in a corner near a window and this week was the first time in years I plugged it in, allowed it to come up to temperature, and started casting. I've been casting Hensley & Gibbs #50 plain base wadcutters all week.

The pot has given me zero issues over the last 15 years. I've never had a failure of any kind. The old school analog temperature controller keeps on working. Non of the 6" stove elements I used for heat sources have failed. No mechanical failures of any kind to report. Maintenance of the unit has consisted of dusting it free of cobwebs and dust when required.

Moving all of my gear that has accumulated over 30 years has revealed additional benefits. I discovered 2500 Remington Peters (R-P Headstamp) .38 Special Wadcutters, once fired, in two boxes. I don't recall where I purchased them, but they were tucked away deep in my closet. I broke them out last week and started running batches through the vibratory tumbler. Due to a finickly long unused 10 cavity #50 mould, casting is slow going. I've had to tear down the mould twice and rebuild it and get it calibrated and aligned properly, which is no easy task with a 10 cavity mould. I had forgotten how important it is to get the torque and tightness absolutely dead correct on the hinge to prevent egg shaping of the alignment pin hole. Its been a frustrating task to get the hinge properly tightened. And the sprue plate may be warped. Some light 600 grit sanding of the plate on a plate glass pane revealed that the plate doesn't appear to be warped, so its back to getting the sprue plate hinge bolt height correctly set. Which reminded me I wanted to write an article years ago on how to properly do all these torquing and alignment tasks that Wayne Gibbs patiently explained to me over email 20 years ago. Once aligned and torqued, the moulds are a machine, spitting out perfect wadcutters cast after cast.

Anyway, happy to be casting again and reading up on articles here.

Tom in VA.



Link to bigger pic:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/art...tDEC2021_1.jpg




Link to bigger pic:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/articles/castingpotDEC2021_22.jpg




Remington Peters Wadcutter Brass + Hensley & Gibbs #50 Plain Base Wadcutter:



https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/art...wadcutters.jpg

[FISH4BUGS]

Hey...I was wondering where you went. Welcome back!