dripping lead pot and evaporust

Buy more molds and go so fast it doesn't matter?

There are a lot of people that just put a catch pan under the spout. Its a never ending battle.

Yeah , well this one is dumping 4 bullets/balls worth in the time it takes me to dump the mold . Gotta do something about it . If it was a drop every 3 or 4 seconds I wouldn't be trying to fix it .

My $30 yard sale bottom pour lead pot drips . A lot . I've cleaned up the stopper rod with no noticeable slowing . The bottom of the hole has some crusty rust That I haven't been successful at removing . I see 2 options - try to match the taper of the bottom of the hole (drill bit isn't the same) with a dowel and lap it clean or try using Evaporust to clean it up . If anybody has other options I'd like to hear 'em . I'd really like to use this over the dipper and pot , I've started casting balls and bullets for some of my neighbors and this is faster and less spillage . Snag

---------------------------------------------- Hydrochloric / Muriatic / pool cleaning acid dissolves non-oily rust very quickly, vinegar, Naval Jelly or battery acid more slowly. Baking or washing soda will stop the action when you see bare metal.

The stopper could have a similar or the same taper as the hole, perhaps you could copy it to a D bit? One way is to chuck it on the lathe and match the compound to the taper angle. For a tapered recess I molded it in polymer clay, baked it hard and measured the angle, then turned and hardened a D bit to match.

I mentioned using a bronze gun bore brush to reduce bolt thread rust through a hole in the car frame because it worked better than I expected. I haven't found a source of small straight fine wire bristled brushes to customize and clean rusty recesses, it was the closest. Another that helped on my 91 truck's electrical contacts was pipe cleaners with stiffer bristles, Dill's -Bristle- Premium Pipe Cleaners in a red sleeve.

I'll have to go look, but I thought the stopper on the Lee bottom pour pt had a ball nose plunger and tapered cone nozzle.

I'll have to go look, but I thought the stopper on the Lee bottom pour pt had a ball nose plunger and tapered cone nozzle.

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Will a chainsaw file fit through the hole?

The top half of the hole yes . The actual nozzle where the lead comes out no . Won't quite pass a 6d box nail . Got a dandy new pin vise and #60 and finer bits here somewhere ... somewhere I can't quite recall . Some of the aspects of living a long time are oh s*it , I forgot what I was going to say .

Bob's right about the ball nose rod . I don't know yet about the nozzle because of the rust . I did polish the rod tip earlier today to make sure there are no pits . Right now the pot has about an inch of Evap-O-Rust soaking . All I know for sure about the nozzle is that the bottom has what looks like maybe a 90° included angle like maybe a countersink . All my countersinks are too large diameter and have short shafts . I like Jim's d-bit idea , I have suitable stock but need to find the angle . Maybe a dowel spun in the hole will grind to conformity ...

The top half of the hole yes . The actual nozzle where the lead comes out no . Won't quite pass a 6d box nail . Got a dandy new pin vise and #60 and finer bits here somewhere ... somewhere I can't quite recall . Some of the aspects of living a long time are oh s*it , I forgot what I was going to say .

Bob's right about the ball nose rod . I don't know yet about the nozzle because of the rust . I did polish the rod tip earlier today to make sure there are no pits . Right now the pot has about an inch of Evap-O-Rust soaking . All I know for sure about the nozzle is that the bottom has what looks like maybe a 90° included angle like maybe a countersink . All my countersinks are too large diameter and have short shafts . I like Jim's d-bit idea , I have suitable stock but need to find the angle . Maybe a dowel spun in the hole will grind to conformity ...

-- Snag I appreciated foreign cultures more when they stayed foreign ...

------------------------------ I spent the day on rust projects, the second trying to remove 1991 Ranger cabin trim screws that hold down the carpet edge, so I can check and spray for rust under it. LPS-3 kept the screws intact and only moderately rusted where they protrude below the floor behind the front tires, but not on top where salty slush from my boots wicked into the carpet, froze the screw heads and threads and corroded the aluminum trim strip. The self-drilling screws are hard enough to dull an HSS bit in seconds and Vise-Grips just slipped off the short threaded end below so I drilled the heads with a masonry bit that still had to be reground once or twice for each screw. Fortunately I recently acquired a 6" carbide grinder for which I had a partly used diamond plate wheel. The no-name grinder is of unimpressive Enco quality, good enough for a hobby shop.

At first the 1/8" masonry bit wouldn't cut, magnifier inspection showed that the silver colored braze metal had flowed onto the carbide insert faces and needed to be ground off with a Dremel to expose the hard edges.

Success with LPS-3 is the reason I didn't try Extend or other opaque coatings that winter salty water might work its way under unobserved. I'm on my second 5 gallon drum of it. It also protects galvanized steel roofing pretty well, but apparently not aluminum.

The top half of the hole yes . The actual nozzle where the lead comes out no . Won't quite pass a 6d box nail .

------------------------- I assumed you wouldn't have a set of jewelers' needle files or rifflers, the chainsaw file is similar and common.

Maybe you could chisel out the crud with a pin punch ground flat with sharp edges, which doesn't ruin it as a punch. A broken tap with the end ground at an angle and held in the pin vise might work as a gouge chisel. The half-round shape is useful enough to be commercially produced.

Actually I have 2 sets of needle files , 3 if you include the diamond grit set . This is a hole just under .375 diameter , at the bottom it necks down (like a shouldered cartridge inside) to less than an eighth . If I can match that shoulder angle I can clean it up . If it's pitted I'll have to use your d-bit option - but I gotta figure out the angle first because I don't know how much meat there is and I don't want to cut too much and ruin the unit . It's not really a high priority task but I just can't resist a challenge .

Actually I have 2 sets of needle files , 3 if you include the diamond grit set . This is a hole just under .375 diameter , at the bottom it necks down (like a shouldered cartridge inside) to less than an eighth . If I can match that shoulder angle I can clean it up . If it's pitted I'll have to use your d-bit option - but I gotta figure out the angle first because I don't know how much meat there is and I don't want to cut too much and ruin the unit . It's not really a high priority task but I just can't resist a challenge .

-- Snag

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The files (or punch) could cut out to solid metal on two opposing sides to give an angle you could copy with a soft template. An old method was pressing thin sheet lead (flattened plumbing solder) against the unknown angle. Your dowel may work well if most of the rust/crud has been knocked off.

A D bit made of unhardened mild steel should dull before cutting much cast iron, which will show as metal chips or a ring. Watching for metal vs rust vs no chips is how I knew when to regrind the masonry bit cutting (or not) the hardened self-drilling screws. My replacement screws are stainless, like much of the rusted-out hardware I've replaced.

I bought some scrap yard 0.030" aluminum sheet that I mistook for stainless, the price per pound was the same so no loss. It will become the new uncorroded trim strip. That thickness is a good balance between strength and workability for small electronics enclosures etc, and doesn't stress the CM

The grinder's lamp was missing. A clamp base ring lamp from Walmart is a good substitute that attaches to the table where needed and lights the bit evenly from all sides. I need good light and a magnifier to cut to a scribed line or hand sharpen a drill bit.

The derusting helped a lot . I was able to remove most of the crusty rust and clean up the seat . Got it down to a drip every 5-10 seconds which is good enough for me . Setting the rod in the hole and tapping on it with a light hammed also helped a lot .

Lee has parts available for these I am pretty sure. I replaced the control and heating coil on mine some time back.

Yes they do fail. If you think about what it is with a much lower production number than a cooking appliance, they are pretty cheap devices. I used to be a Lee dealer some years back, but I decided I only wanted to sell my own products. Sorry, I sold all my inventory a long time ago.

Scheels may have the lowest retail price on them today. You can get parts direct from Lee.

There is nothing complicated about them.

That's pretty normal. A near continuous stream like you described before was not.

It's a Lyman . And it's old enough that the base is cast iron instead of stamped sheet metal . I need to get the plug and socket for the cord cleaned up , I noticed today it's getting hot and that means a high resistance connection .

My mistake. I do recall you said Lyman.