Back at Shooters we had a thread going about lead pot repairs. At the time I had one pot that the element coil had quit. I had a backup pot and I kinda lost an address Beagle had given of a feller that made replacements. Lyman doesn't keep repair parts for their old 20 pounders. John, do you know if that guy still is selling them, and how much?

I made a trip into town today to see what might be available. The closest thing they had was a coffee maker element. I should replace all the wiring too, but no one sells high temp wire by the foot, and a spool of 100ft is way more than I want to spend. .....Geo

George...David's the man. He was experimenting with a couple of different clothes dryer elements a couple of years ago and had contacted an expert on heating elements. By now, I hope he has them about isolated.

Check with Orygun Mark on the high temp wire. He may have some stashed. Or, hit the junkyards and old electric stoves.

The mouldmaster I had had that nasty asbestos packed around the elements and the wire was solid wire with ceramic beads around it to prevent electrical contact.

The plug was a bastard size. I never did find one. I took some phenolic and afro engineered a plug but the phenolic wouldn't take the heat so I had to keep replacing it.

By this time, I was running it straight without a thermostat. Finally figured for safeties sake that I better buy a new pot.

Another Lyman. Just let pilgrim have that one.

I have two Pro Melts right now and a top dip Saeco. If you don't get that Lyman fixed, let me know and we'll make some kind of a deal on the Saeco as it just sits there gathering dust. I use it occasionally for melting down some odd alloy or lino or tin./beagle

Beagle,

After you emailed me that address for David, I remembered seeing it before in some of our correspondence from over a year ago. I sent a note to him last night, but it's too early to get a reply. I'll let you guys know about anything positive that I find out.

I've got a Saeco 20 pound dipper pot that the neighbor kid has borrowed. He's in love with it, and I may need a shotgun to get it back again! Naw, he's a good kid, and I'm glad I got him started casting. If every one of us took time to mentor just one other person that wants to learn how to cast his own, our hobby would stay alive with all kinds of new and exciting products.

The biggest broblem about the new lead furnaces I've seen is the nozzle's are too short. I'd hate to give up those long protruding nozzles. I've been casting with the moulds sprue hole pushed up tight against it for 95% of my casting. A lot of moulds have too high a sprue plate screw to allow this method. Once I get the mould hot, I can usually cast with out hardly any visual rejects. The weight stays constant from the begining of the session to the very last boolit....Geo

Beagle,
I've got an old Lyman 20 pounder that won't work either, and can't tell if its because the thermostat or the element. How did you bypass the thermostat? I might be interested in that just to help me with trouble shooting?

thanks,
Graycg graycg@aol.com

Thermostat is just a switch. You can jumper by unplugging the wire connections or cutting and twist and wire nut the two wires together. You can also bypass with a heavy gauge wire the connections on the stat if you don't want to cut them and they are soldered on. Gianni.

Graycg...I just bypassed the thermo. You might try pulling the knob on the adjustment. The shaft is hollow and there's an adjustment screw inside it. Try tweaking it one way or another as somethines the rheostats get worn spots on them.

Not a very safe thing to do in reality in that bypassing. I have seen one pot rigged with an auxilliary switch to turn the pot on and off when it gets too hot. Now, this raises another problem. The switch goes very quickly due to the arcing as you have a lot of current flow there.

Another problem is the lead gets too hot...maybe to the point of vaporizing some lead particles into the atmosphere which is not good. My old Mouldmaster would get red hot up the pot walls.

Finally, I figured I better replace that beast before I burned something up or electorcuted or lead poisoned myself.

Let's see what George comes up with on repairing his. GAR supposedly has the thermostats. David Whitmer was working on all the parts for the old Mouldmasters two years ago. I figure he's acheived breakthough by now. We'll let George be the guinea pig and see what happens.

Just ain't worth it all this jerry rigging./beagle

Beagle,
As of yet David hasn't replied to my query on Mouldmaster XX elements. So I did some digging and found this post by him on another cast forum. You know where I mean!! This is from last Winter....Geo


If it is a current model of furnace, GAR in NJ has replacement thermostats for
30.00.
Great people and will give a guess there will be some instructions on how to do.

If you have an old pot say a model 61 or a Moldmaster XX I had a mim order
manufactured for
me which I have offered to sell to any one in need of one.
Cost for the old style stat is 23.20 plus shipping I still have a few left.

Lyman does not have parts for the older pots and will not repair them.

The stat is easy to replace if you are some what handy with home electrical
repairs.

Can give you more info off line if you need the stat for the older pot.

At any rate I do not recommend you bypass the thermostat all together. You will
over heat
your melt and cause undue strain on the heating element.
If the stat is required to be turned all the way up to get the melt hot enough
I suggest you
replace rather than calibrate the stat.

To get you going right away there is a very small screw inside the stem on some
of the older
models of stats and on others on the back of the stat. If your stat has one of
these
arrangements you can calibrate the stat to work at a higher temp.
When you do this you should understand the spring tension is weakened and the
temperature
spread between when the stat calls for heat and when it is satisfied will be
greater due to
the weakening of the spring. You adjust for the weak spring by running the
screw in deeper
and putting more tension on the spring to adjust.

Hint for all when done with the pot for the day turn the dial down to the
lowest setting to
take the tension off the internal spring. It will stay calibrated and last much
longer. The
contacts inside this stat pit over time. If you have an old pot, may be wise to
replace the
stat to get good new contacts. This will help prolong the life of the heating
element.

From time to time I have fooled around with trying to make a replacement
heating elements for
the older pots available. At this time I have not found the demand high enough
or the cost
low enough for the replacement elements to be worth while.
I keep an open mind and hope to have a replacement element for the older pots
worked out..

David Whitmer (in Va)