The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
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The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I decided to see what the Hotpot 2 could do.
As I noted in another post, I plan on using it to reduce reclaimed, unused, and rejected bullets back to ingots. I haven't been working on this at all and probably have about 50 lbs in metal pails. I started the chronograph, plugged it in, and filled it with bullets. It took less than 10 minutes to melt the bullets. It holds 625°very consistently, sorry about the blurry picture.
It could have taken another ½ lb of bullets, but I decided to go with the pour.
Sure enough, it could have done that ½ lb. Ten minutes start to 6 lbs of ingots. I bet it can maintain a heck of a cycle.
If I was a ladle caster, this is a melter I would consider. I think it would keep a mold busy! It would be more consistent and faster pour right into the mold. In fact, for small lots of bullets of 3 to 5 pounds worth, I will just use it rather than set everything up.
As I noted in another post, I plan on using it to reduce reclaimed, unused, and rejected bullets back to ingots. I haven't been working on this at all and probably have about 50 lbs in metal pails. I started the chronograph, plugged it in, and filled it with bullets. It took less than 10 minutes to melt the bullets. It holds 625°very consistently, sorry about the blurry picture.
It could have taken another ½ lb of bullets, but I decided to go with the pour.
Sure enough, it could have done that ½ lb. Ten minutes start to 6 lbs of ingots. I bet it can maintain a heck of a cycle.
If I was a ladle caster, this is a melter I would consider. I think it would keep a mold busy! It would be more consistent and faster pour right into the mold. In fact, for small lots of bullets of 3 to 5 pounds worth, I will just use it rather than set everything up.
Michael
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I put my rejects right back in the pot. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I do likewise GG. It's only wrong if it doesn't work for you. When I go to actually reloading, and find a poor cast or whatever I set those aside as they have the lube on them. Those get smelted later by themselves.GasGuzzler wrote:I put my rejects right back in the pot. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
It looks nice for someone who has limited space and casts small lots of bullets. I have cast small lots of bullets a couple of times in my 55 years of casting and reloading. If I have a small number of a particular bullet to make to try out , I just cast them first, then go to the one that will be done in thousands.
My 25 lb Lyman takes 30 minutes to temp, so I never use it for small batches.
Usually though, if I sit down to cast, I will go for 2 to 3 hours at a time reloading the pot continuously with ingots that are preheated on a hot plate.
The Hot Pot 2 would also work great as a pre melt to feed the big bottom pour . I get a 25 deg drop when I add a hot Ingot to the pot, and this would eliminate that.
My 25 lb Lyman takes 30 minutes to temp, so I never use it for small batches.
Usually though, if I sit down to cast, I will go for 2 to 3 hours at a time reloading the pot continuously with ingots that are preheated on a hot plate.
The Hot Pot 2 would also work great as a pre melt to feed the big bottom pour . I get a 25 deg drop when I add a hot Ingot to the pot, and this would eliminate that.
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I do too, but I also can find rejects at every stage of the bullet prep and reloading process as well. Since my retirement, I've had three slow shooting years, but I still managed to put approximately 5K bullets down range each year (about half of a typical year). Any way you put it that is a lot of bullets being looked at. Personally, I reject a bullet for the slightest flaw. At one time I weighed bullets to obtain uniformity, but I soon realized that what all the oddballs had in common where physical defects that could be caught with the eye. I spent a couple of years testing my assumption, and it proved valid, so I stopped weighing them. It is easiest to catch these small flaws at the sizing or loading bench.Old Scribe wrote:I do likewise GG. It's only wrong if it doesn't work for you. When I go to actually reloading, and find a poor cast or whatever I set those aside as they have the lube on them. Those get smelted later by themselves.GasGuzzler wrote:I put my rejects right back in the pot. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
My reject tray has three years worth of accumulation on it. It also includes any bullets I pick up at my berms, chamber casts, and any wheel weights I pick up in parking lots. I had the time yesterday afternoon, so I gave the Hotpot 2 a proper run.
When I started, I wasn't taking the session very seriously as I was cleaning my garage benches during the refills, but I kept after it. I would pour one Lee ingot mold, retaining about half of the Hotpot 2's capacity, and refill it with the scrap. I soon realized that this little melter was more serious than I so I got down to a better cycle to see just what it was capable of producing. So, I'm adding three pounds of material a cycle. I never timed exactly how quick it recovered, but it was quick. Once finished clearing my bench, I was working with my Lyman Lubesizer to complete some bullets and was only cycling ten bullets at a time, so the interval was very quick. The walk was about 30' between the two operations and when I returned the pot was ready to pour.
I finished in 2 and a half hours. The material produced 37 pounds of finished ingots. I didn't think to weigh the slag, but it was significant. That material should be added to the work capacity as the Hotpot 2 had to produce it just like it produced the finished product. Without a doubt, I could cast about 15 lbs of bullets an hour. In terms of a 170-grain 30-30 bullet, that 600 an hour.
When I was reading reviews of the Hotpot 2, the base and its stability were referenced. Before use, I thought how light it was going to be a problem, but in practice, it never moved. It is very light but as soon as the pot is on it is not going anywhere. If one thought it a problem, they could easily attach the base to a board, but I will use it just like it came.
I'm not going to do the large production runs anymore, so I see me using the Hotpot 2 for some of my casting. Without getting into the numbers, I have a bunch of firearms shooting a bunch of different cartridges and my shooting is spread across them. Very few get shot a lot, mainly the pistols, but they all get shot in a year's time. If I run large lots with all the mold designs that I have on the shelf, that is a lot of bullets needing storage. It is easier to store ingots than it is bullets.
Michael
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
It looks as they made some improvements over the original that I have. With it the coils are inside the pot and they always got covered with crud. The last time I used it I got shocked pretty good,some of the insulation melted and shorted it out. I removed the wire and coils and just use it on a camp stove.
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
Perfect for someone like me who casts a couple of hundred at a time. I still like my bottom pour pot though for ingots .....
Last edited by Macd on 18 Dec 2017 18:54, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I was wondering what changes the "2" brought to the table. Coil in the pot would not be good.jdl447 wrote:It looks as they made some improvements over the original that I have. With it the coils are inside the pot and they always got covered with crud. The last time I used it I got shocked pretty good,some of the insulation melted and shorted it out. I removed the wire and coils and just use it on a camp stove.
Michael
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Re: The Hotpot 2 is a surprise!
I just looked at the C. Palmer Mfg website and it is probably as cheap to buy one directly from them as any other source, $40 plus $12 flat rate shipping.
As far as Lee goes, I see their Precision Melter (#90021) being the competition and you can find it. It holds 4 lbs of lead vs. the 6 lbs of the "2". The Lee has a rheostat control but with the same 500 watts of the "2", it would probably need to be run wide open. The thermostat is also something that can fail. You can find the Lee Melter for about $36 without shipping, but you can not pour directly from it.
Replacement elements are available for both. $14 for the Lee Pot and $19 for the "2".
As far as Lee goes, I see their Precision Melter (#90021) being the competition and you can find it. It holds 4 lbs of lead vs. the 6 lbs of the "2". The Lee has a rheostat control but with the same 500 watts of the "2", it would probably need to be run wide open. The thermostat is also something that can fail. You can find the Lee Melter for about $36 without shipping, but you can not pour directly from it.
Replacement elements are available for both. $14 for the Lee Pot and $19 for the "2".
Michael