Lee 10 pound pot

[az2vet]

Yesterday I had to take my pot apart because the pour spout was plugged up. I had a full pot of lead and nothing I tried would get it unclogged. When I had the thought that I was about to end up splashing hot lead all over I ended up finding an old pot and dumped the molten lead into the pot and let it cool. I took it apart and tried using a small drill bit to get it clear which only sorta worked to where I could see a little light passing through. I ended up having to lite up the propane torch, ( the little blue bottle) and holding the spout with channel locks went to heating it up and after a couple minutes gave it a hit on a board. A bit of molten lead came out but I could still see more in there , after 2 more cycles it looked clear. Gave it time to cool and gave it a little cleaning with a brass brush.
Today I did a little cleaning on the plunger as it was looking a bit rough with slag build up. First I was spinning it while holding the tip in a green scotchbright pad and that got the tapered tip pretty nice and clean. Then I took some 1200 grit sandpaper and put some oil on it and chucked the thing up in a drill and went at it for a while. Just enough to get it nice and smooth, not like all polished up though. I put the contraption back together and turned it on and put some lead in it to melt. Once melted I did a bit of wax fluxing to make sure it was clean then put the pot I dumped the lead into yesterday under it and ran it almost empty as if I were filling molds. It went good and did not have any clogs. I just hope that this is the last time I end up with a clogged spout that takes the same effort to clear.

[GasGuzzler]

Mine is getting that way.

[Macd]

I have thought about leaving a welding torch tip cleaner of the right size in the nozzle and letting it cool.in place. Next session it should pullout if heated with a torch or so my idea goes. Now maybe it will and maybe I will regret trying but where is the fun in being cautious.

[Ranch Dog]

When I start a new pot, I lap the valve rod to the pot spout. I also follow Lee's recommendation about using Permatex where these two parts meet.



I always empty the pot an ingot mold when I'm finished casting; either through the spout or pouring it over the side if there is a lot of alloy in the pot. After doing that, I immediately rock it back, resting the front of the base on an appropriate length of 1"x2". Once it cools, I clean it out with a brass brush, it's small enough to get around the rod and nozzle port. I blow it out keep what comes out away from me, and then I spray the interior down with WD-40. I've done this for two decades now and have never had a failure to flow on startup. I have two Pro 20s.

Another thing that I do at the end of my casting season or at least once a year is to boil the "salts" out of the pot. This is just something that some old casters told me to do the two decades back. When I'm done with the above, I fill the pot with water and then let it boil a few minutes. With my brass brush, I clean the sides while this is happening. I unplug and dump the liquid. Some nasty crud always comes out. I blow it dry and spray it down with the WD-40.

[GasGuzzler]

I might just go fire mine up with the only intent to clean it.

[Ranch Dog]

I might just go fire mine up with the only intent to clean it.

I do that too!

[GasGuzzler]

I might just go fire mine up with the only intent to clean it.

I do that too!

Job was done by 9AM yesterday. There was about a tablespoon of crust that looked sulfuric? Also lots more rust on the sides than I could imagine. There is no pitting or even scale, just surface rust. I wire brushed and scraped and picked at it then pulled the rod out. I chucked it in my cordless drill and spun it up against some worn Scotch-Brite. I poked out the spout hole with a paper clip then hosed it all down with WD-40.

[Ranch Dog]

Good Job! The WD-40 will dry it out thoroughly and dissipate. I doubt you have much humidity up where you live; I suspect the rust is from that crust working on the metal. It doesn't hurt to use light oil, 3-In-One would be a good one, on the bare metal. The sulfuric material is what the old guys referred to as "salts."

[az2vet]

In the next couple of days I am going to get my 10# pot cleaned out by using a little blast cabinet. I took it apart again and was using a flapper wheel on the sides and top lip. It actually did a fair job but could only go so deep. I then did a bit of wet sanding with some 2000 grit to get it smooth. After a little lite sand blasting I will do the 2000 grit again to get the surfaces nice and smooth.
I will also remember to do a "boil the salts out" once in a while. Maybe Lee should put that in the instructions as well. Thank you for that bit of very helpful education.
Can't wait to put my new to me molds to use.

[Macd]

This post got me feeling guilty for not ever cleaning pot so I got at it. After emptying small amount of leftover lead into a ingot mold I scrubbed out the interior with a Chore Boy brass pot scrubbing pad. There was no rust just black deposits. Removed valve rod, scrubbed it shiny with pad and used a small wire dremel brush to clean up interior of spout and floor of pot.. all back together and after drying out I ran a 1/4 pot of clean lead through it. It needed some exterior spout cleaning with a paper clip but it flows like new.