stubbicatt
New member
Guys. Got my Pro Melt fired up for the first time today. I noticed that for the first 2 of 3 hours use, it didn't want to hold temperature. The last of 3 hours it worked fine. Is this a common symptom of breaking it in?
After about an hour casting poorly filled bullets, I added about ½ pound of tin to my melt and continued to cast. The pour spout would clog, so I began verifying temperature with my thermometer, and it was less than 600*. So I poured all the bullets and sprues back in and it just wouldn't melt them. I turned the thermostat to an indicated 800 degrees, and it shortly melted them all.
While the melt was coming up to temperature, I left the thermometer in the melt, and when it hit 725*, I slowly turned the thermostat until I heard it pop off, and left it there the remainder of the casting session. It held that temperature just fine, and (since I read the instructions) I stopped with about 1" of melt in the bottom of the pot, threw in the sprues, and let it cool down. I also like the "on/off" switch feature, which is missing on my Lee Drip 'a Matic bottom pour pot.
In the last of 3 hours, I casted some beautiful bullets. I really appreciate the fine adjustments to the pour rate, as one can vary the pour to a really ideal stream for any given mould. The mould guide setup is really very nice, though it took a little time to get it set up properly.
If it continues to perform as it did the last hour, I will be happy with my purchase. If I have more of the drops to 625* I'll be seeking a replacement. Nice machine.
I don't think I'll mess with those one off gizmos that help the pot to hold temperature, I forget what they are called, but I've seen reference to them on cast boolits dot com. I believe that the pot itself should be able to accomplish this just fine... "if" it continues to perform as it did for the last hour.
After about an hour casting poorly filled bullets, I added about ½ pound of tin to my melt and continued to cast. The pour spout would clog, so I began verifying temperature with my thermometer, and it was less than 600*. So I poured all the bullets and sprues back in and it just wouldn't melt them. I turned the thermostat to an indicated 800 degrees, and it shortly melted them all.
While the melt was coming up to temperature, I left the thermometer in the melt, and when it hit 725*, I slowly turned the thermostat until I heard it pop off, and left it there the remainder of the casting session. It held that temperature just fine, and (since I read the instructions) I stopped with about 1" of melt in the bottom of the pot, threw in the sprues, and let it cool down. I also like the "on/off" switch feature, which is missing on my Lee Drip 'a Matic bottom pour pot.
In the last of 3 hours, I casted some beautiful bullets. I really appreciate the fine adjustments to the pour rate, as one can vary the pour to a really ideal stream for any given mould. The mould guide setup is really very nice, though it took a little time to get it set up properly.
If it continues to perform as it did the last hour, I will be happy with my purchase. If I have more of the drops to 625* I'll be seeking a replacement. Nice machine.
I don't think I'll mess with those one off gizmos that help the pot to hold temperature, I forget what they are called, but I've seen reference to them on cast boolits dot com. I believe that the pot itself should be able to accomplish this just fine... "if" it continues to perform as it did for the last hour.
Good on ya! I've never lusted after one, I'm real happy with the lee pro 20's I have, currently I have 2 with hard and soft alloys in each. I also have a third 20# lee melter that has no bottom pour, is simply a melter. Then there's the little 8# melter that I keep pure lead in for smoke-pole round balls and CB's.