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Melting pot suggestions needed (Read 14893 times)

Schuetzenmiester Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 6707 Location: Cool Wet Side of WA Joined: Apr 27^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #15 - Jul 27^th, 2016 at 1:07am	Print Post
	The dimmer should eliminate any off / on cycling if you can dial in the temp you want with it.

	"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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Schuetzenmiester Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 6707 Location: Cool Wet Side of WA Joined: Apr 27^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #16 - Jul 27^th, 2016 at 1:07am	Print Post
	The dimmer should eliminate any off / on cycling if you can dial in the temp you want with it. It needs to be rated for the load or it won't last long

	"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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Jimofatl Junior Member Offline Posts: 87 Location: Georgia Joined: Apr 16^th, 2004	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #17 - Jul 27^th, 2016 at 6:23pm	Print Post
	The PID will self learn your speed of casting, as you proceed, and adjust the temperature accordingly. The dimmer is just another adjustment (finer) control to adjust your temperature. FWIW....................


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SgtDog0311 Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 391 Joined: Mar 19^th, 2014	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #18 - Jul 27^th, 2016 at 6:46pm	Print Post
	bpjack wrote on Jul 25^th, 2016 at 6:52pm: I hear the $350 pots actually cast the bullets for you. They run Windows 10 so you just ask Cortana to cast a few hundred bullets of any type she can find on the internet using a Bing search. ( may only find two or three) The bullets look good on the surface, but require $100/lb Microsoftlube and they will infect your rifle with lead-borne toxic mold and viruses. Hackers may take control of your rifle during a match and throw a few out into the 22 ring just because they can. Jack pbJack, That is very funny! J Louis, Very helpful posts. Almost makes me think I could get it done. Maybe Vall can help talk me through it over the phone. He's a good friend and I happen to know he has good electrician skills, among other things. Keep trying to talk him into a personal seminar on stocks and restoration of receiver finishes. He says I have to cook if I come for longer than a day. To the rest of you, I hope I catch up someday.

	Best Regards, John
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Schuetzenmiester Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 6707 Location: Cool Wet Side of WA Joined: Apr 27^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #19 - Jul 29^th, 2016 at 11:25pm	Print Post
	If you don't turn the up dimmer for the initial melt, it might take a couple days to get up to temp

	"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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SSShooter Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2944 Location: Southern NJ Joined: Aug 1^st, 2010	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #20 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 8:52am	Print Post
	Mike65 wrote on Jul 24^th, 2016 at 10:07pm: Lee coupled with a PID controller. The Lee is cheap and works well, the PID controller will hold the temperature + or - 5 degrees of your set temperature. PID controllers are easy to build and the parts are about $100. Mike Easy to purchase, you likely mean. Building one would be a real effort. Just purchase the PID controller (make sure it goes to 900F, or higher), SCR (30amp or larger) and type 'K' TC off of eBay and connect the parts. Works great. I went with the Omega Engr'g TC as I wanted the longer probe. Been bullet-proof for the past 3-4 years of casting with my Lee Magnum pot.

	Glenn - Stevens 044 1/2, Bartlein SS 5R barrel in 22LR
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.22Hepburn Oldtimer Offline Posts: 844 Location: Pennsylvania Joined: Feb 18^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #21 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 10:03am	Print Post
	I've had a couple of Lyman furnaces that crapped out after a year or two of use. I'm now using a Lee Mag Melter - it's cheap and durable.


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 18070 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #22 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 10:44am	Print Post
	5-6 years ago I broke down and bought a 20 lb. Lee, after a couple decades of using a 10 lb. Lee, and often wishing it was larger. But now I end up often using both, and the old 10 lb. is still going strong.

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Schuetzenmiester Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 6707 Location: Cool Wet Side of WA Joined: Apr 27^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #23 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 12:46pm	Print Post
	The more I think about it, it seems like it would be a bit of a pain with lots of supervision to establish the proper temp before setting the dimmer at a fixed setting to maintain casting temp. How do you go about that?

	"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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MT Chambers Full Member Offline Posts: 141 Location: Foam Lake, Saskatchewan Joined: Oct 3^rd, 2011	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #24 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 6:05pm	Print Post
	On some better pots the internal bowl is made of Stainless Steel and shouldn't rust through, I believe that the RCBS is made that way.


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Mike65 Full Member Offline Posts: 198 Joined: May 4^th, 2004	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #25 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 6:11pm	Print Post
	SSShooter, Well, yes they are easier to buy but they really are very easy to build also. I've built two so far and the process was easy both times. (They both work fine it's just that I'm a "snowbird" and this way I don't have to move one.) The prep of the case takes the most time as I used "found" from the local electronics supply house and they were both different. The nice thing about PID controlled devices is that the PID does truly "learn". Besides maintaining your temp within 5 to 10 degrees it supposedly can recognize speed of temp fluctuations as the metal level goes down in the pot and adjusts for that also. PID controllers also have an alarm circuit that you can wire in for alerting you to when the pot is at temp, if you're off doing something else while you wait or whatever else you may desire. I understand that some mold makers, NOE I think for one, will drill and tap a mold for a probe and you can wire the alarm to that if you want. Just punch in your desired temp and go ("set it and forget it"). As long as the probe is in place the temp will not vary and you don't have to worry about run away if the wife calls you in for lunch. I also found it best to completely by-pass the Lee controls. Unlike the dimmer switch, the pot does cycle on and off to adjust the temp which may affect heating coil life but certainly no more than the stock configuration. For all of the best info on buying or building a controller and their varied uses go to the "Cast Boolit" site. Mike

	We are seldom as smart as we think nor as dumb as others believe.
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Schuetzenmiester Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 6707 Location: Cool Wet Side of WA Joined: Apr 27^th, 2008	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #26 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 6:29pm	Print Post
	Thanks John, probably easier than I envisioned. Certainly a digital amp or volt meter should make dialing it in quite repeatable. I am thinking initial warm up could be very quick setting the pot's internal stat slightly below the target and turning the dimmer on full. Once you have hot lead, set the dimmer to the desired setting. Ever tried that to speed the initial melting?

	"some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence
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rgchristensen Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1189 Joined: Jan 2^nd, 2014	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #27 - Jul 30^th, 2016 at 9:07pm	Print Post
	For some years now, I have used a "Variac" (variable voltage auto-transformer)to control the heat input to melting pots. I set the pot thermostat to some temp higher than I want, just to prevent overshoot when heating up. Heat up at 110 volts, then drop back to ca 70 V to hold around 750F. I set it so it tends to creep up, and watch the thermometer. Drop in some sprues or reject bullets now and then to lower the temp if it gets 5F or so more than I want. CHRIS RGChristensen


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SSShooter Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2944 Location: Southern NJ Joined: Aug 1^st, 2010	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #28 - Jul 31^st, 2016 at 8:36am	Print Post
	This is what I use, except I have a 40amp SSR. Takes about 30min to make the wiring connections (I splice the SSR directly into the pot's AC line and set the pot rheostat to max). Order the type K TC from Omega Engineering for about $30 and you're ready to go. Note: this is not the eBay seller I purchased from and is only shown for display. May or may not be a good seller. Check the feedback. (You need to *Login* or *Register* to view media files and links)

	Glenn - Stevens 044 1/2, Bartlein SS 5R barrel in 22LR
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Larry D Full Member Offline Posts: 164 Location: Ventura ca. Joined: Jan 12^th, 2013	Re: Melting pot suggestions needed Reply #29 - Jul 31^st, 2016 at 9:42pm	Print Post
	This is the setup I use. To get the correct temp. On mold I use digital thermometer on the mold and adjust the pid until I get correct mod temp.


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