Ive been casting for 4 years now and I recently got a second Lee pro 4-20 pot from a friend, where the spout was clogged and had lots of crud stuck on the sides and bottom of the pot. For the most part, it was empty of alloy, except for the spout and some stuck on the sides as well as the valve rod, so it couldnt be disassembled without heating it up. So I thought Id post how I cleaned it up, without chemicals or a wire brush on a drill. First, I filled it with clean WW alloy and plugged it in, then fluxed with pine sawdust and a tiny bit of candle wax, did that a couple times while scrapping the pot sides and bottom with a charred wooden stick..as well as a large slotted screwdriver. Oh yeah, this makes for lots of smoke, do this outside. Then I used a small right angle allen wrench to clean the spout (while hot) to get it to run. I ran all the alloy out the bottom, I had to re-clean the spout with the allen wrench a couple times. It seemed to have a small stream, no doubt there was still some crud that was well adhered in there. I decided drill out the spout after it cooled down. I started with a bit thatd fit the hole to clean out any lead or crud. Then I went one size larger, and then the next size larger...that third drill removed a tiny bit of steel, that was my goal, so I stopped. I then filled the pot with water, then plugged in the power, til near boiling, then unplugged the power...to get the remaining crud out of the pot. There was a yellow chalky stuff stuck on the wall, that I brushed off with a hand held steel brush, while it was half full of hot water...so as to NOT make any dust to breathe in. I repeated this process a few times with fresh water, til the pot was clean. So, then I filled the pot up again with clean WW alloy, the stream is larger and it worked well, but I dont think the stream is much larger than the Lee pot Ive used for the last four years, that I bought new in 2010. But if it is, it shouldnt matter as it is adjustable... so I am able to adjust the stream smaller with the adjustment...which would be necessary for small cavity molds like 22 cal and such. ANYWAY, just thought Id share my results. I didnt take a before photo...here it is after cleaning.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 14:40:36 +0000
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