Hot Plates for Ladle Pour

[Gut2Fish]

I got to thinking about the ladle pour again. Hadn't thought on that since casting 265 grain .45 slugs few years ago. It's time I upgrade by going retro. My question is, and this is likely only for Wayne, not seeing many ladle casters here- How accurate does a hotplate maintain temp? I've a cast iron pot I used when making ingots that must hold 20 lbs.

I'm done with my 10lbs Lee bottom pour pot. Both it and myself are a menace. I've important things to do while it's melting lead like brew coffee. To come back and find half the pot emptied into the ingot pan under it and onto the plywood board is dangerous. That it's happened to me multiple times is proof I won't learn nor do I have the patience to sit for twenty minutes watching a cold pot heat up. It's slow to pour too. need near full to have pressure enough to cast larger cavities smooth. Compensating with high heat not worthy. I'm done.

Looked into the Lyman big dipper pot and many reviews said the temp control was poor. Reading in castboolit forums some say hotplate maintains +/- 10 degrees. My other question is are they doing that by constantly fidgeting with control and keeping one eye on thermometer?

I know I'm going to a ladle. That's a given. Just need to find the most constant temp device that suits my frugal inclination.

[KnifeMaker]

I don't know of an electric hot plate thqat will maintain hot enough temmps. many ofus use them to bring the molds up to temp.


There is a BIG reason the Lee's are called theDrip O'Matics. LOL!!!  I have had eh same issues with them. I drilled a hole thru a divers weight and hunt it on the screw that holds the pour handle and it stoped the dumps. but it stil drips far too much.


O purchaced a RCBS Pro Melt, and such things are history.


RC, gave me a propane hot plate and fittings to get me started years ago. It was nice, but my wife was constantly reminding me of the dangers of propane. And I canst indoors. GRRRRR!


A shame the Pro-Melt is now Phazed out of production. It has been a favourite of serious casters for many decades. I love mine.


Mike 

[Back_Roads]

I bought one of the 30-40 dollar pots for ladle casting, it is enough for the ladle to sit in the pot and absorb heat and I let it fill through the pour hole. Have cast up to 50 cal. with it.

[Wayne52]

Garrett I don't use a hot plate at all.  I just lean or place both the ladle and the mold on the pot when the pre smelted lead is heating up which only takes about 20 minutes.  I use a really old Lee Bullet Caster which is a small one with single heat, it's 275 watt and about the same size as the small one that they sell today except the one they sell today is adjustable up to 500 watts. Once the lead is melted good and I don't hear the caster making the noise they make when warming up I just start casting.   It does take a little getting use to to pour direct, I think that Roachcreek pours direct in the same manner that I do but I could be wrong.

[Gut2Fish]

Huh, boolitcaster forum had fellas say a 1000 watt open coil (not the fancy covered ones) work just fine.

I can pick up a propane single burner hotplate for the same price. My turkey fryer is a bit much and only used that to smelt in a huge cast iron pot.

The other option was try the Lee 20lbs mangum furnace for ladle. Think I'll try the propane burner, that's heat control you can see. This will do-



Thanks guys. The bottom pour just isn't cutting it. By the time you get it hot enough to stop wrinkles you start to frost and need to cool down the mold and the wait time on sprue cut is ridiculous at those temps.











 

[Insanity]

I do beleave I have read some people removed the bottom pour bits and plugged the spout and use a ladle.

[maraudinglizard]

Thanks guys. The bottom pour just isn't cutting it. By the time you get it hot enough to stop wrinkles you start to frost and need to cool down the mold and the wait time on sprue cut is ridiculous at those temps.

I use a bottom pour Lee pot and never had a fill issue with my molds. I have a thermometer to put in the lead to see where the pot is temp wise. A Lee pot can be aggravating at times, fussy temps and dripping. Casting takes some finesse, patience, and a lot of practice. I am the opposite of you, I can't cast worth a hill of beans with a ladle. Good Luck.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=563_22

[Gut2Fish]

Found a better single burner, 8k btu instead of 7.4k, and was only $20. That and the deal on Lyman ladle came to $41 with tax. Amazon says I'll get them the 20th so can cast up those 140 grain boat tails perfect. So happy.

I may keep the Lee IV as it does do well with the pellet mold. Bottom pour is nice if you don't walk away and burn the garage down.

[Lani52]

Garret,
 I have been casting for between 40 and 50 years.  My kids always wanted to play with the statutes My many bottom pour Lee pots produced.

I started ladle casting about 20 years ago when I discovered the 45/70, not that it was lost of course.

First forget the hot plate, it will not work for a myriad of reasons...

I used first a camp stove, then went to a cast iron stove that you can buy for around 50 -60 dollars off eBay, I still have a new one stashed way in case the eietricity quits, those  stoves and a Old heavy cast iron plumbers pot that holds 20 lbs are far better than the lightweight cheap pots Lee and others sell.

These days I use a Lee production pot that is a 20lb pot, I removed the bottom pour system and plugged the bottom por with a screw, it works fine, I was on the cheap when I bought it, but I see Lee offers a brand new 20 lb pot, I would get that one if I was going to use a ladje and buy new.

If you are just casting pellets a 10 lb pot will work, but you will have a lot of wait time if useing a 10 lb pot as the lead needs replacing often. 

To me the gas fired cast iron stove and plumbers pot is king, I used to cast 100 lbs a year fior years with mine, but a 20 lb Lee takes up less room on your bench.

Roachcreek

[Gut2Fish]

They say 8,000 BTU propane will work for up to 20lbs pot. I've got a hose attachment so can set it up to the extra grill tank, no need to fiddle with disposable tank unless I'm actually camping.

Checked my cast iron sauce pan capacity just now and it's quart. 8/4*11=22 lbs. That's far more full then I'd do with lead. As long as the burner isn't too flimsy to hold up the pot it should be a perfect upgrade to retro. Will find out in a couple of days. It's basically the single burner Coleman for $5 less.

This is my cast iron sauce pot with lid-Coffee cup for size ref.

[Gut2Fish]

Now you know the volume of coffee I drink 

[Lani52]

Looks good Garret, doing it on the cheap can yield fine results.  I have taken 5 of my 51 elk casting on the cheap and won a few Oregon 1000 yard and black powder catagory SASS  State titles, not to memtion doing the first 500-550 -615 yard cola can airguns hits, all on the cheap.

In my trophy room in my old mountain place I had a spike rack that I was most proud of, it was done with a used bottom pour Lee pot and a cheap Lee 500 grain bullet that I recovered that I cast with solar panneos, I called it my solar bullet, cheap and Yankee ingenuity is always great.

Roachcreek

[Gut2Fish]

Word of caution on purchasing single burner gas camp stoves. Some are butane....yup, I'd looked at so many different ones when I finally purchased was only looking at price and BTU's.

Two downers on butane- first is you need to purchase butane canisters and that's far more than price of propane. I bit the bullet an picked up a few cans at Walmart for 2.90 each. The second downer is if you let the can get cold it doesn't work properly, unlike propane.

I will get to finally cast again in next day or two so show results. Had some time early this morning but when I went back out into the garage to check the melting of lead saw the flame was really low. Took can out to find it really cold. Checked ambient temp and it was 38 F. Too cold for the butane to function properly. My bad. Cans are inside house for next chance I get to gast up.

The BTU output was plenty to melt lead though. Saturday night when I got home with butane cranked up the stove to melt a box full of sprue buds in the cast iron sauce pan. Worked flawlessly. The problem was leaving cans in garage overnight to attempt casting this morning.