A disasterous casting session with my new NOE mould. Arggh

[Alpha1]

I have recently purchased some of NOE moulds using there group buy thingy. I have been waiting for a clear day with nothing else to do but cast boolits. Well to day was the day. I have not done ay casting for a age. The reason why soon came back to me I use a Lee bottom pour lead pot. Only it does not bottom pour well sometimes it does but then you can not stop the damn thing pouring it just empties its contents on the deck. Other times it wont pour at all or just drips. I gave up in the end Iv emptied the pot and Ill have a look at it when it cools down. But I guess I need a new lead pot any suggestions. (Definitely not Lee) They are prone to this problem I believe. The NOE moulds look the business by the way Im disappointed I could not get a few knocked out to try. But never mind such is life.

[dromia]

I use a gas ring, cast iron pot and a dipper.

NOE moulds respond well to dipping.

If you must have a bottom pour then I would heartily recommend the RCBS 22lb Pro Melt, three times the cost of the Lee 17lber but infinitely superior, I have two.

If you want to gild the Pro Melt lilly then I would also recommend the Harlow lid, shelf and guide fence upgrades but the Pro Melt works flawlessly without these.

Still the majority of my bullets are dipped with the Pro Melts only being fired up when I am after some serious production.

[saddler]

I use the Lyman Big Dipper lead pot & the matching Lyman ladle.
Would not give a dribbly Lee Pot house room....the bottom pour seems to be a flaw in the design as it's prone to blockages....

Still kick myself that I passed up a big RCBS furnace at one of the Bisley shows.

[Doz]

My Lee pot was prone to that (I think they all are!), I used to keep a bent paperclip to hand to poke up the hole when it stuck. Great fun when molten lead's pouring out, but it usually worked.

Since then I've just unbolted the lever and plunger-thingy and chucked it out, blocked the bottom pour hole with a small countersunk machine screw and use a small ladle to pour the lead. Saves the cost of a new pot and isn't really any more hassle than the original flaky mechanism.

[dromia]

Life is too short for fettling lee kit.

[FredB]

my lee bottom pour pot is 10 years old and trouble free, EXCEPT, I have some moulds that just don't want to cast good bullets with a bottom pour. I only use the Lee pot for large---over 300 grn---bullets these day. Steel painters tins from DIY stores are ideal for use with the ladle and I have several with different mixes and metal in them.
Fred

[Meaty]

I used to suffer from the dreaded 'dribbly bottom syndrome' . The quick remedy is to remove the lifting mechanism and plunger and stuff a tight fitting self tapping screw up the spout from the bottom. Much easier to stir, flux and skim the contents of the pot now. Used in conjunction with a Lyman dipper.
Used this method with a new NOE mold last weekend-285 boolits and only 6 rejects!

[bigfathairybiker]

My Lee pot is fine. Paperclip wiggling every so often keeps it working. I've upgraded the temp controller so it keeps the temp correct. I also let some lead flow to warm up the nozzle every so often.

Mark

[Triffid]

My Lee bottom-pour also works fine as long as I only put cleaned-up lead in it and keep the bottom of the pot clean.

I've worked out that if I put reclaimed lead such as roofing sheets straight in, there's a load of cr@p that melts out, falls to the bottom and block the spout. Now everything's melted over a gas ring, fluxed and then cast into clean ingots. I also try to run the pot to empty at the end of each casting session, then clean it out before the next.

Triffid

[Alpha1]

Because I don't have any other way to smelt lead I emptied the pot and dismantled it. I gave it a good clean and put it back together I refilled it with clean wheel weight ingots. It still drips. I tried casting with the NOE four gang mould I gave up after fifty boolits they are pap out of the fifty I might just use two the rest will go back in. I switched to a single cavity mould and that was fine. By this time there was more lead on the bench top than in the pot. I gave up after casting 30 boolits with the single cavity mould. The single cavity boolits are OK to use. The NOE four ganger is not getting hot enough I spent that much time faffing with the leaking pot it was a waste of time. The four gang mould is not filling out properly some of the boolit cavities are not filling completely. I give up on the Lee pot the casting will have to wait until I get a proper set up. its a shame because I really wanted to try this particular boolit I had to wait till All at NOE did a rerun to get my hands on it.

No I don't know what NOE stands for except that its the name of the Company that makes boolit moulds .