Jig Pouring

[ifish]

Anyone that needs to rebuild their Lee pots they offer a total rebuild for 1/2 the retail price. Lee Precision, Inc. Reloading Tools and Equipment: Satisfaction Guaranteed I put a new inside pot and plunger in mine for $18.00 including shipping.Lee Precision,Inc. Serving You Since 1958 Lee Precision is very good about fixing ther stuff. I use a Lee Production IV. Great American Company by the way.....Ifish

[fish_4_all]

Okay, I guess I will have to consider getting the bottom pour pot now. Not sure if I will get the bigger one or the smaller but it seems like my mind has been changed. I don't mind being wrong, well wrongish. If we never ask we never get the answers we need even if it turns out preconceptions are wrong.

Oh and a little more on the wax, let me make sure I have this right for all of us:
Put a small piece of wax, maybe the size of a pea in the pot and let it melt
Once melted, light it with a match
When it goes out, stir it in and then scrape off the junk

Or do you stir it while burning?

[redear]

I don't know about the match, or what it's supposed to do, but I just put a little peice of candle wax in there, like you said, and a few short peices of solder wire with flux in it. the wax will smoke and stink quite a bit, so if ya do it in the garage while the mrs. is home, get ready for some fussin. lol we forgive ya for bein sorta wrong, especially since ya turned us on to that hair straightening trick with the straightening iron. lol the most time consuming thing about pouring jigs is putting the hooks in the mold correctly so it closes all the way, so considering this, you don't need to be messing with a ladle too.

[fish_4_all]

Okay, I just hope it is easier than I think it is gonna be to melt and clean hundreds of pounds of wheel weights in that small pot.

[JSC]

I use the small lees pots ... I only put in lead that has been cleaned .. fluxed ... in a pot that I heat over a gas burner OUTSIDE.. add the flux material (I use pariffin most of the time candle wax & etc) for just a Lees Pot about 3/4 of a marble ... you do not have to allways light it ,, if it is hot enough it will light its self ... if not put a match to it .. this burning is one of the big things ... stir while burning and afterwards ... them skim off all the "Junk" .. If I have some to sit for a while not in use in the pouring pot I will flux it .... also when adding some that I am not sure of ....

Hope this clears up what I was talking about 2 pots ... The cleaning pot can be anything that can stand the heat and weight of the lead ... cast iorn is best (holds the heat better as well).


You have gotten some reall good advice.

JSC

[RonDon]

Thanks guys! I now know what to ask Santa for Christmas!

[cadman]

Okay, I just hope it is easier than I think it is gonna be to melt and clean hundreds of pounds of wheel weights in that small pot.

The post below By JSC is the best answer you can get, other than us being there to show you. Clean dirty lead in a cast iron pot, then pour to make ingots, then put clean ingots in your Lee IV bottom pour pot.

I use the small lees pots ... I only put in lead that has been cleaned .. fluxed ... in a pot that I heat over a gas burner OUTSIDE.. add the flux material (I use paraffin most of the time candle wax & etc) for just a Lees Pot about 3/4 of a marble ... you do not have to always light it ,, if it is hot enough it will light its self ... if not put a match to it .. this burning is one of the big things ... stir while burning and afterwords ... them skim off all the "Junk" .. If I have some to sit for a while not in use in the pouring pot I will flux it .... also when adding some that I am not sure of ....

Hope this clears up what I was talking about 2 pots ... The cleaning pot can be anything that can stand the heat and weight of the lead ... cast iron is best (holds the heat better as well).


You have gotten some reall good advice.

JSC

Well put JSC

[skeetbum]

I probably have 300lbs of wheel weight material in the shed in ingots. Used the coleman stove and a big cast iron stew pot to melt em in. I let them get good and hot, then cleared out all foreign material I found on the surface. Is this clean enough? Thought about pouring my own but I already have lots of "stuff" from all I do and really don't need another. If all I need is a pouring pot and a couple of molds it would be worth looking into. And also is wheel weight material suitable for our purposes? I've heard conflicting reports. Thanx.

[cadman]

I probably have 300lbs of wheel weight material in the shed in ingots. Used the coleman stove and a big cast iron stew pot to melt em in. I let them get good and hot, then cleared out all foreign material I found on the surface. Is this clean enough? Thought about pouring my own but I already have lots of "stuff" from all I do and really don't need another. If all I need is a pouring pot and a couple of molds it would be worth looking into. And also is wheel weight material suitable for our purposes? I've heard conflicting reports. Thanx.

This is a hard question to answer. Hard lead is hard to pour if you have never done it before. I personally think it is better to mix it with pure soft. Pure soft is real easy to pour, but I think it is too soft, and in my case with bigger jigs, the paint doesn't hold up as well so I mix 30% soft with 70% hard. You will get a wide variety of answers on this as everyone pours differently and there are so many variables. I can pour straight hard lead with no problems, buy I've been pouring for 8 years. So will you have problems pouring pure hard, my answer would be yes. Definitely mix some soft into it. It also depends on the mold you use. Also each mold is different. I pour over 40 different molds and they all have their own characteristics. Even if you and I bought the same mold, some cavities pour better than others. It's the nature of the beast. I hope this helps answer some of your questions. If you need more help you can always PM me and I will try to help you further.

[Doc Crappie]

Ditto JSC & cadman

If you don't empty the pot you won't have the plugging up issues. I keep my pots full all the time.

These pots (bottom feed) are probably the safest way to pour and fluxing/cleaning the lead is not a problem. I usually flux every other pour.

Ledhed

Do you mean you keep hot lead 24/7 or do you turn off the heat and leave the lead in the pot.... sort of confusing me there since i have never poured before but have just about everything I need to get started pouring....