Lee 4 20 lead melting pot

[@fishingthepnwwithdave7833]

I just put mine through a trial, the lead I used was pretty ..... cloggy. I had to clean a lot of it, I would say about half came out and I think I clogged the pour spout underneath. Every time I scrapped, the surface got full of junk. But seeing how it's supposed to pour gives me the confidence to get this working right. My first pour dribbled out, not a good pour. My very first lead pouring experience. I think I just need to start out with clean lead. Thanks for the vid, really helped.

[@brokeloader]

Cool glad it helped.

[@lestergillis8171]

@@brokeloader After many years of use with my old 10 lb pot, I upgraded to a new 20 lb pot just like you. My old pot still works, and I still use it to process wheel weight, blending for handgun alloy ect. My old 10 lb pot DOES have a noticeable slope in front like yours does. But I ordered a couple of spare 20 lb pot FRONT SUPPORT POSTS & cut them to custom length for more support on my old 10 lb pot. It required just a bit of high temp oxy-cetalyne brazing of a screw to one end of the support. I also attached one of those mold guide supports as well. As long as the internal heating element holds up, it should be fine. It can't slump any further in front because of the improvised support. I recomend you, or any other viewers consider the same modifications !🤔

[@lestergillis8171]

@@brokeloader TWIST your valve stem with a screwdriver to help it seal. That is merely lead dross/slag getting caught under the valve seat.

[@lestergillis8171]

If your first pour was "cloggy" & not flowing reliably, you MIGHT have lead that is contaminated with some amount of ZINC. Many wheel weight now actually consists of zinc. It only takes one piece of that to contaminate a whole pot-full. The physical properties you describe is EXACTLY that for ZINC contamination.

[@JohnDoeEagle1]

@@lestergillis8171 You can remove Zinc from a contaminated batch of wheel weights if you heat until your lead is still slushy and stir in pure Sulfur powder available at lawn and garden, farm supply stores. After you stir it in you bring the temp back up to 700ish degrees and skim off the clumped Zinc. You must do this outside in your smelting pot and not in your bullet casting pot. It smokes like crazy and you should be wearing a 3M P100 respirator because the fumes are nasty. It catches on fire as well so DO NOT do it indoors.

[@williamganley4739]

Well you convinced me to go to the 20 lb pot. I don't need 10 lb of molten lead sitting in my lap. Currently I'm using 8 lb Lyman cast iron pot and ladle but the electric pot just seems so much easier than a Colman stove.

[@brokeloader]

I think if they would've added a support to the 10 lb pot it would have been better. The 20 is a good cheap pot.

[@lestergillis8171]

@@brokeloader As mentioned before, that IS what I did with my old 10 lb pot. I bought the supports from LEE as "replacement parts" for the 20 lb pot. You could probably fabricate your own support rods from the hardware store if you wanted. Anyone else with a pre-existing 10 lb pot can easily modify it to look like the 20 lb pot in front. 👀

[@lestergillis8171]

I took my old LEE 10 lb pot & upgraded it with the same kind of supports that the 20 lb pot comes with. You can buy replacement parts for the 20 lb pot from LEE. The actual upgrade is not too difficult, but you should have use of a ocy-cetalyne torch to join a sheet metal screw to the new support rod. You might be able to use some small "all thread" from the hardware store to simulate the same kind of fix. To only thing I use my 10 lb pot for now is rendering wheel weight, blending LINOTYPE, formulating, ect. I use my 20 lb pot for actual casting.

[@tacticalfudd4240]

I have the same pot can`t wait to try it out. just waiting to find a sturdy table or roll around tool cart to go on sale

[@brokeloader]

That should work for ya.

[@JohnDoeEagle1]

Harbor Freight handles U.S. General.....the SAME as the old Sears Craftsman badged rollaways before they went under. They are about 50% less than what Sears used to sell them for with a "Craftsman" badge on them. For half the price nobody should care if the badge says "U.S. General" or "Craftsman". Obviously U.S. General is the company Sears used to make and relabel theirs for a hefty markup profit margin. All of my big rollaway toolboxes are Sears Craftsman. I didn't stumble upon this until all the Sears closed around here and I paid close attention while walking Harbor Freight. That is the same box.....for half the price! Damn!!! Shoulda, woulda, coulda!

[@jamespollard1670]

I think mine is going on 10 years old . Other than cleaning the pot from time to time , no problems with it .

[@brokeloader]

Mine going on 3 right now

[@pokcek85]

Can i know where to buy this pot??

[@brokeloader]

Midway Usa

[@lestergillis8171]

YES...🤔 That is WAY more excessive slump than my old 10 lb pot. You MIGHT be able to "re-hab" your 10 lb pot with a new heating element & a few other minor parts. If you decide to try to do that, consider putting the improvised support on the front.

[@brokeloader]

I snagged all the useable parts off it and trashed the rest. Thanks for watching.

[@박종구-m6u]

I want to know where to buy your machine

[@brokeloader]

Midway usa

[@billprice6248]

nice video

[@brokeloader]

Thank you

[@dickdyson3100]

420 pot, wait what channel is this? puffff .

[@brokeloader]

😄 🤣