Help with clogged Lee Production Pot

[morehops52]

My first casting run was last week and went really well. I cast up several hundred maxis and they came out great with a low reject rate. The Lee pot ran well most of the time with the usual (from my reading here) drips and occasional minor clog. I'm using 99.9% pure lead and I get the nice color sheen on the top. I flux with wax and skim when needed.
I left about an inch of lead in the pot last time. This week things did not go well. I kept getting drips and clogs constantly. Eventually I dumped the pot to clean the rod tip and check out the pot. I gave the rod a light sanding at the tip and could see a hole at the spout. I even turned the heat up to get 800+ degrees. It didn't last long until the spout just dripped slowly and then closed over for good. My guess is that I added some old Great Plains bullets that were laying around to the pot. While i tried to brush off most of the old dried lube but there was always some left. I only added about 5-7 per pot of lead 99% but maybe there was enough crud to clog it up. I thought it would flux out and get skimmed off. My other thought is that I wasn't initially running hot enough although I used the same setting as last week.
Anyway my thoughts are 1. Turn the pot upside down and heat the out side of the spout with a propane torch and try to melt and burn out the clog.
2. drill out the spout with 1/16' drill bit. 3. open to suggestions.
I really like the speed that I can cast when it runs good and prefer not to ladle cast if I can avoid it.

 

[Togo]

Mine clogs once in awhile, I put a finish nail attached to my needle nose vicegrip, jam it up the hole while it’s hot, it will clear the blockage.

 

[bang]

I opened mine to a #40. Makes pouring large projectiles faster. Also added a spring to put pressure closed on the rod. A few drips are to be expected.
Heat the spout directly with a propane torch.

 

[morehops52]

Mine clogs once in awhile, I put a finish nail attached to my needle nose vicegrip, jam it up the hole while it’s hot, it will clear the blockage.

I did that repeatably until it wouldn't unclog anymore.

 

[nessmuk]

After putting up with the drips for 2 years, I had a friend weld the hole closed. Now I use a dipper and no problems.

 

[morehops52]

After putting up with the drips for 2 years, I had a friend weld the hole closed. Now I use a dipper and no problems.

I have to accept that dipping could be an option. Seeing how fast I could produce maxis made me a believer in bottom pour. I was casting 3-4 per minute as a newbie when things ran smoothly. I only need about 300 more and I will have a life's worth of 50 maxis. If I can burn and/or drill my way to cast that many, mission accopmlished.

 

[morehops52]

Once I get the clog out I'm only using pure lead w/ no Hornadys in it and see if the problem goes away.

 

[bubba.50]

Old lube on the Hornady bullets shouldn't be a problem. In fact, it should act as a flux more or less.

 

[morehops52]

Old lube on the Hornady bullets shouldn't be a problem. In fact, it should act as a flux more or less.

That's what I thought before I added them to the pot. I'm using "99.9%" pure lead. I would say that the impurities on top would indicate otherwise but maybe it's my inexperience. Either way I'm stumped as to what would clog it up that bad in only my second run.

 

[jdw276]

When you say 99.9% pure lead, was it in bars? I have roofing lead, shower pan lead that is great soft lead but has dirt and other stuff on it. Mine clogs as well and had a bugger of a time last time getting it open again. But it was clogged with mix of caught up lead, dirt and other stuff. If your lead is like mine, might want to melt and get the stuff out of it.

Where is the lead from?

 

[Nazgul58]

I use 4 Lee pots, have cast with one of them for 40+ years. Many thousands of bullets of every size and description. Bottom pour and dipper. They can leak occasionally. In the instructions they recommend turning the rod with a screw driver stop a drip, it works.

Spout freeze is also a problem that seems to disappear with use. One thing that helps me is to not touch the spout to the mold, leave a little space. It lets the lead flow freely and tends to keep the spout free. A clean (well fluxed) melt helps. Really don't have much trouble with freeze. I have used a small propane torch to heat the spout a little more a few times. Again, clean lead, proper temp and it should work.

I have my pot et up in a baking pan. The ones with about a 1/2 in edge. It makes it much safer if a leak develops and will hold the entire contents of the pot. Left it unattended while it heated one day, it works.

I know other pots are better, but I have less than the cost of one in the 4 I have. Guess I am just cheap.

Don

 

[morehops52]

When you say 99.9% pure lead, was it in bars? I have roofing lead, shower pan lead that is great soft lead but has dirt and other stuff on it. Mine clogs as well and had a bugger of a time last time getting it open again. But it was clogged with mix of caught up lead, dirt and other stuff. If your lead is like mine, might want to melt and get the stuff out of it.

Where is the lead from?

1st batch from Midway (5# ingots) 2nd from Rotometals (1#ingots)

 

[TreeMan]

I got tired of the clogs and the drips. Gave the pot to my best friend and bought an old cast iron pot and a dipper. I’m much more efficient casting with the dipper. I never could pour a decent minie with the bottom pour pot. I have lots of scrap lead and melted it in a separate pot to clean it before pouring the Lee pot. Even when I thought it was clean enough it still clogged up my pot.

 

[Pablo232]

The Lee Pro 4 pot has a nozzle that can be unscrewed and replaced. My older Lee pots were a bit harder to keep clear because the passage to the spout was at an angle whereas for the Pro 4 it is a straight drop.

I did find an appropriately sized drill bit with a hex shaft and have found that that really useful for giving an occasional clearing of the pot while hot

 

[mmb617]

It wasn't drips but clogs that made me give up on the bottom pour pot. It was great when it worked but wasted a lot of time when it didn't which was frequently. Now I ladle and don't think it's any slower once you get used to it.

 

[Whughett]

After putting up with the drips for 2 years, I had a friend weld the hole closed. Now I use a dipper and no problems.

Ditto. I ran two, a Lyman Mag 20 and a small Lee. Both welded shut long ago. I recently bought a Lee Production because they were on sale cheap. I’ve become so use to the dipper that I found the bottom pour slow and awkward.

 

[Packrat]

Also there is a screw driver slot on the dipper, Lee recommends if yo9u have drips to take a screwdriver and give the spout a couple twists to remove any thing stuck on the end
I have had this happen and some times it works

 

[morehops52]

Also there is a screw driver slot on the dipper, Lee recommends if yo9u have drips to take a screwdriver and give the spout a couple twists to remove any thing stuck on the end
I have had this happen and some times it works

I was very busy with the screwdriver and finishing nail attending to drips and full out clogs. Perhaps dipping is the way to go.

 

[Mogadishu Meanderer]

I was very busy with the screwdriver and finishing nail attending to drips and full out clogs. Perhaps dipping is the way to go.

…or RCBS!! I have two Lee’s for different allows and an RCBS for pure lead. Just can’t go wrong with it. I had Lyman and also dripped like Lee’s. If you are getting serious about casting and can justify the purchase, consider it. BTW, I paid almost $350 for my Lyman and ended up trading it for a TC Renegade, that’s how frustrating it was! I can live with a $50 furnace dripping but a $350 one? No way!!

 

[ZUG]

You can buy an extra steel liner for that Lee pot without the pour spout and replace that annoying drip, drip, drip. They are / were cheap - like $5.00. Lee was even giving one for free at one time if you asked for it. I like the dipping method when I cast large projectiles. This method puts a greater "head" pressure to force the lead into the mold quickly. When I was shooting NRA Bullseye matches I was casting my own .45 and .38 slugs with two 10 cavity H&G molds and you can't do that successfully with a bottom pour pot and keep up production.