Lee Loader

I will be sandblasting the pot this evening and hope to get it finished up and ready to put back together tomorrow. I just may get a brass Chore Boy to help finish the bottom of the pot.
Yesterday I cleaned up the valve handle assembly with a vinegar soak, wire brush and 2000 grit paper. A couple coats of red followed with a coat of clear. I also cleaned up the two brackets which hold the valve handle to the pot and gave them a coat of gloss black.
Once I put it all back together it will look good, just hope the paint holds up.

Holly cow, guess I've got a bit of work to do?? Admittedly, I am still a stone cold
novice at casting after only 7 years. I got my 10# Lee pot in a trade, it was pretty
cruddy. Empty, full of hard crusty white stuff & some other stuff that looked like
dried mud. Slapped on my respirator, fired up the Dremel brush, cleaned up
everything inside & out, lapped & hi-temped the nozzle. Since then, I have done
what my casting mentor told me to do, fill the pot & let it cool??
I've also read that a lot of casters spray the molds with WD40 after use ?
So, do molds have to torn down, degreased, resmoked every time before use?
Same question on the pot & WD, does it flux right out with sawdust or do you
have to scrub up with Dawn? I was recently gifted a 20# Lee by Dan, think ill
fire it up later tonight, empty & give her an innitial go through.
Ok, Ok, Ok!! Stop laughing so hard, I told you I was still a rookie...

My steel and iron molds get WD40 while still at least warm. It means using brake cleaner for next use but it keeps the rust down, very humid here in SW Ohio. My Lee molds don't get any special treatment except to make sure they are clear of spilled lead. I generally smoke a mold before each use, if I remember . An otherwise consistent mold that doesn't start throwing good bullets pretty quick usually remind me I forgot. I still cast from a pot with a ladle heated on a turkey fryer burner. All of this reminds me I should empty the pot and clean it, another task for the list.

Make smoke,

Kroil for the iron moulds .

I scoured a couple 5# pots when I got them 10-15 yr ago . Haven't had to do much scrubbing on them since I mastered the rendering of recovered berm metal and raw WW , lead pipe pewter etc .

larryw wrote:I've also read that a lot of casters spray the molds with WD40 after use ?
So, do molds have to torn down, degreased, resmoked every time before use?

I was them with hot water and dawn, then blow them dry.

larryw wrote:ISame question on the pot & WD, does it flux right out with sawdust or do you
have to scrub up with Dawn?

Nothing needs to be done to the pot when it is started again other than fill it. I don't fill it up, I get lead melting and add the ingots as the level comes up. Much quick prep with molting lead doing the work.

I never render alloys in my spout pour pot.

Well got the blasting done last night. He has 150 grit aluminum oxide in the cabinet and I had him set it to 20PSI. It worked great, took a little longer to get it done but it was also hard to see inside of the pot as you are blasting so several progress checks were necessary.

O, and I now have a can of WD-40 on my bench.

I keep my WD-40 in my garage filing cabinet. Yes, it's harvest gold in color.

Lots of discussion about WD 40 and bullet molds;
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive ... 32171.html
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive ... 32171.html
And general mold info; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdi ... and-Design

My pouring pot only gets clean alloy so cleaning it isn't a big deal. I will empty (and allow to cool ) the pot and wire brush the interior (a pristine, smooth surface isn't necessary). I'll remove the needle valve and wire brush it clean of any scale. I make sure the valve seat is clean then dab a little valve grinding compound on the valve then "seat" the valve stem to the seat. After a quick clean up of the compound I fill 'er up and melt some alloy...

Thanks Mikld, I really need to get back over to CB & dive back into the archives....

My main purpose of using WD-40 is to help dry the mold after I clean it.