Howdy Y'all,
I was at a yard sale,and picked up a old Lee lead
furnace(cheap.....$10)that is really rusty,and full
of what looks like a block of wheel weight clips,and lead??.
Where do I start to get this thing cleaned up,and operational.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
God Bless,and take care.
D.P.Reynolds

Plug it in and see if it heat up and loosens what in it and get whats in it out.

When it cools clean up the rust to your satisfation and use it.

Thanks P dog,
I was going to do just that.I just thought there might be a little more work other than that.
Thanks again..........
D.P.Reynolds

I have two lee pots both well over 20 years old they sit 1/4 full until the next time I cast.

I do no other care plug them in cast bullets unplug put on shelf.

If it heats up and you can clean it out you will find out why most Lee bottom pours are nicknamed by their owener "old dripy". Don't be surprised as a lot of the new ones drip. Most of the time it will help to clean off the the crud that builds up were the plunger cantacts the top of drain hole and hang a small weight on the lifter.

quote:

Originally posted by D.P.Reynolds:
Thanks P dog,
I was going to do just that.I just thought there might be a little more work other than that.
Thanks again..........
D.P.Reynolds

Oh there is plenty of work.
You can melt the crap out but a lot will stay behind and it will be some of the nastiess and most persistent stuff you will run across.

I cleaned one up by melting every thing out and scraping with paint stirring sticks and spoons. Then I heated some soapy water and poured it in it. (never do this with it plugged in)
Then scrub with an old tooth brush.

That will at least let you see how corroded the cup is. After that clean out the spout and get it dry bfore you use it.
You might plug it in and check the spout hot to be sure it does not leak a lead river before you fill it.

Something new to you, this is how I'd clean it up-

Plug it in outside and set the temp halfway, let it heat up and stir the lead. If it needs more heat turn it up some more. Drop a small piece of wax in there, it will smoke a bit but stir it some more, an old restaurant style of butterknife is good to get the sides, either stir quickly or wear a glove. All the crap will float to the top, skim it off with an old spoon. Hold a stick or paint stirrer against the nozzle from below and lift & wiggle the valve rod to free any debris that might be caught there. Use a pair of pliers to hold and jiggle the rod. If you have leaks (seems they all leak on occasion) you are supposed to use a screwdriver in the slot to get it to seal but if there is debris there it helps to lift that rod first.

Personally, after it is all melted and scraped I'd unplug it and let an inch or so run out though the spout, then wearing gloves pour the rest out into a pan so you are certain all the junk is out.

Anyway, they are nice pots and congrats on as good find!

One of the best fluxes for cleaning up alloy and getting separated alloys to blend is slightly oiled sawdust, preferably pine. Contrary to belief fluxes such as wax, bullet lubes, candles, etc. really don't "blend" the separated alloys. Hard to beat good old sawdust.

quote:

Contrary to belief fluxes such as wax, bullet lubes, candles, etc. really don't "blend" the separated alloys.

And just where did you get this information from? I have used wax for years and invariably I get the dirt to float to the top and all the other metal is just as shiny as silver. All the lead oxide goes right back into the melt.

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:

quote:

Contrary to belief fluxes such as wax, bullet lubes, candles, etc. really don't "blend" the separated alloys.

And just where did you get this information from? I have used wax for years and invariably I get the dirt to float to the top and all the other metal is just as shiny as silver. All the lead oxide goes right back into the melt.

Castboolit Forum The waxes, etc., on do part of the job, the sawdust will actually take some of the oxides in the dross and return them respectfully to their alloys. Geargnasher can explain it much better them me.

Doubless here is a post from geargnasher:

Wow, so much misinformation!

If you want to know the real truth about fluxing agents and reducing agents, do youreself a favor and really, go back to post #22 and follow the link CBRick gave to Glen Fryxell's article. It explains everything in plain english.

As for fresh coffee grounds, it stinks to buggary, absolutely acrid and awful. It does work as a sacrificial reducant and seems to absorb impurities, but there is better stuff from the operator's standpoint.

Any sawdust containing MDF, plywood, OSB, or treated lumber should be avoided at all costs. This eliminates most of the stuff generated by Home Depot/Lowes etc, so beware.

I was casting with a fellow member a while back, working the bugs out of a mould, and he had a nice setup outside in an iron pot on a fish fryer burner, good consistent temp and lots of room to work with a ladle. He had pine trees all around, and for flux/reducant a handfull of pine needles/leaves/bark/whatever was on the ground worked as well as anything. He looked at me funny when I grabbed a handfull and threw it in instead of using some of the candle wax chunks he had handy, but I explained that there's a lot more to cleaning lead than just "reducing" oxides back to elements.

Corn cob media, if it has no abrasives and hasn't been used to clean brass and soak up primer residue, should be fine. I don't want grit in my pot, neither do I want complex lead compounds in dust form going up with the smoke, so I'd avoid used stuff. Sawdust is the best thing there is, some sawdust/shavings are better than others. There is no real mystery here when you understand the chemical principles of fluxing, cleaning, and reducing an alloy. Again, read the article!

Gear

Here's that link in post #22 he is talking about:

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf

So an internet forum is now the all-knowing authority, contradicting metallurgists?

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
So an internet forum is now the all-knowing authority, contradicting metallurgists?

No it's where it was recently discussed. Read that PDF file and you want to go to page 37 which is on fluxing. When I said lightly oiled sawdust I didn't mean with used motor oil. He will tell you in that PDF file what is exactly the matter with used motor oil besides the smoke and stink.

I think you might do well to look at a chemistry book long and hard. Two of the more active elements are carbon and hydrogen.
I worked on a process to sinter ASTM F75 cobalt chrome alloy to the 6AL4V titanium alloy. One of the ingredients to aid the diffusion bonding process was camphor which has the formula
C10 H16 O. Note this formula has a lot of carbon hydrogen and one oxygen - and nothing else.

Maybe you two birds should give pine sawdust a try.

If you are referring to me, Mr. Know It All, maybe I don't need to fix what isn't broken...

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
If you are referring to me, Mr. Know It All, maybe I don't need to fix what isn't broken...

Apparently you don't like me being civil because you have been pushing my buttons lately and I haven't responded and now call me a name so now you can kiss my ass. What happen to me being on your ignore list? Compelled to read what I post?? hmmmm??

Did it ever enter your mind to wonder why sawdust works?
Did it ever enter your mind that I might have used saw dust before?

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinJ:
Maybe you two birds should give pine sawdust a try.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:
Did it ever enter your mind to wonder why sawdust works?
Did it ever enter your mind that I might have used saw dust before?

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinJ:
Maybe you two birds should give pine sawdust a try.

What's the big fuss from you two? For suggesting to use sawdust?

quote:

Contrary to belief fluxes such as wax, bullet lubes, candles, etc. really don't "blend" the separated alloys.

This pretty insinuating statement is good for a start... Because I know better. In a thread in the PF forum, you completely change your tune and tell me the wax works because my alloy is clean to start with.

So which way is it? I submit that you don't really know; that you repeat what someone else says because it sounds good to you and serves to start conjecture, which then boils up into an argument.

I really think you like to argue. And fwiw, I don't, although if the gauntlet is thrown down I will gladly pick it up. Especially when I know better than what is being espoused as fact.

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:

quote:

Contrary to belief fluxes such as wax, bullet lubes, candles, etc. really don't "blend" the separated alloys.

This pretty insinuating statement is good for a start... Because I know better. In a thread in the PF forum, you completely change your tune and tell me the wax works because my alloy is clean to start with.

So which way is it? I submit that you don't really know; that you repeat what someone else says because it sounds good to you and serves to start conjecture, which then boils up into an argument.

I really think you like to argue. And fwiw, I don't, although if the gauntlet is thrown down I will gladly pick it up. Especially when I know better than what is being espoused as fact.

There you go, insinuating I don't know. Just like SR4759 saying I'm uneducated. How would he know what my education is? To tell you the truth your clean alloy doesn't need much fluxing. Are you a caster, that while casting, fluxes continuously throughout the whole casting section until you refill your pot? I've tried lots of different fluxes. Hell even tried Marvelux for a short time. I've come to find waxes, in whatever form, and pine sawdust to be the best fluxes FOR ME. I thought I'd suggest the sawdust. That procedure, for really dirty alloy such as found when you're smelting dirty stock, was the best to clean it up and get it blended. Why didn't you just say you tried it and what you thought of it or that you would give it a shot?

Believe it or not I don't like to argue either and I've made an effort here not to name call, etc, until you started on me.