Rcbs pro melt

[Roger Allen]

Well I think I’m going to jump into bottom pour again for my smaller bullets. Bad experience w the Lee bottoms so I went chasing for a rcbs.

I found a pro melt 1 not 2 on a site and I think I’m going to attempt to buy.

The whole built in pid on the 2 scared me away from buying a newer version so I’m going dirty w turn knob temp control.

Oh how I hope I get it. Anything you guys want to add about promelts would greatly be appreciated (think of it like we are drinking coffee and you want to ramble about your casting equip)

 

[USSR]

Not to discourage you from the RCBS, but I've had the Lyman Mag 25 for about a year now and am really pleased with it. Much cheaper than the RCBS.

Don

 

[Rick]

Just out of curiosity why not the new RCBS PID? A PID is a great tool and casting aid.

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

1 plus ^^^.

 

[Winelover]

Maybe cause it's not yet available........that's why I recently bought the Lyman Mag 25.

 

[Cherokee]

The two pro-melts (pre PID) I have work great.

 

[Winelover]

My older Pro-Melt is 220V, as such, I can only run it in or near my garage. I bought the Lyman Mag 25 for the PID, as well as, it operates on 110V.........so I can have more options as to where I can use it.

 

[Roger Allen]

I don’t know why I’m so skeptic of the pid being built into the furnace, maybe I’m just trying to caution myself when it goes out it’s built in. I could just jumper it out to a external pid but I know if that temp knob control goes out I can get one and it would look ok instead of a 3rd world country switch gear

 

[Winelover]

If I was little younger........I would bite the bullet and opt for the Magma with the PID, as Brad did.

 

[KeithB]

I have a pro melt. I built an external PID to control it. It would be great to have an integrated PID but a lot of the problems with the early implementations seemed to be related to the heat affecting the electronics. If they have that solved - and that may well be the reason why it took Lyman and now apparently RCBS some time to release a reliable unit - then great.

My non PID unit works fine, and the convenience of being able to use the PID to control other devices is nice. But for the folks that don't want to mess with building one, or don't want separate units that have to be hooked up to work right an integrated unit seems like the right answer.

 

[Roger Allen]

I’m more of a fan for a external unit.

 

[Winelover]

Never used a PID, let alone a thermometer, in over 40 years of casting. I can get along just by feel and rote. Wouldn't miss one and never felt the need to add one to the pro-Melt. I use a hot plate for heating moulds, now. Always used a propane torch and still do for final pre-heating.

 

[KeithB]

I think this is one of those subjects that has no best/worst right/wrong answer. I'm tickled to have so many choices available now for bullet casting. So many great mold makers, quality gear at entry level to high end prices, more choices than most of us can even keep up with.

A lot of folks revere the past, and yes a lot of good craftsmanship existed 100 years ago. But back in 1917 what choices did you have in guns and gear? Certainly not as many as we have now.

Internal or external PID? I want one of each!

 

[Dale53]

I have two RCBS Pro-Melts (before the PID version). I have cast, literally tens of thousands of bullets with them both. I have, on occasion, used a lead thermometer to check melt temp. I bought one of them new, so long ago that I really can't remember HOW long. I bought the second one at a match from an estate sale. It was a really good price and I thought I would use it for a back up. Well, my first one has never failed but the second one has become quite useful to have it full of a different alloy.

At any rate, RCBS has an advantage over other brands and that is their service policies. They are about as good as Dillon's NBS warranty and that is saying a LOT! Both companies have my total confidence as they "put their money where their mouth is"...

The only change I have made to my pots is that I use a small Chinese knock off pair of vise grips clipped to the bar that operates the metal drop. It adds a needed bit of weight to keep the pots from dripping. It was never a serious problem, now it is no problem at all.

FWIW
Dale53

 

[USSR]

Never used a PID, let alone a thermometer, in over 40 years of casting. I can get along just by feel and rote. Wouldn't miss one and never felt the need to add one to the pro-Melt. I use a hot plate for heating moulds, now. Always used a propane torch and still do for final pre-heating.

+1. Except I use my wood stove for heating moulds. Might be why I do all my casting in the winter. ;o)

Don

 

[fiver]

I would be plenty happy with the rcbs-1.
I don't know where I would put it exactly, but I would find a spot.
I have a paint marker, a thermometer, and a pair of eyeballs to make adjustments to the temperature with.

 

[pokute]

I inherited two pre-pid Pro-Melts from my shooting partner. They've been used and abused, and keep on working. The numbers on the dial are purely decorative.

 

[Mike W1]

Some of these threads force me to remember me. Back when I was splicing copper telephone cables we had a fine little machine to join those pairs of wires. I liked it just fine and then one day the boss gave me a new machine that was on the same order but different to try. I carried the dang thing in my truck for a couple months and then tried it against my "better judgement". I never used the original again!
My delayed point being the old way might work fine but there just might be a better way.
1. A dial on a pot doesn't really necessarily mean you know the temperature.
2. A dial thermometer is a big help.
3. A digital thermometer responds even better.
4. A PID control is even better at maintaining a constant temperature and being repeatable.
My thought on a built in PID would only be that it would be a little more of a pain to diagnose a problem if one arose and maybe harder to obtain the parts they used at the factory than a stand alone PID unit. Also if you built your own unit you tend to learn a bit more of the hows and whys of them. I suspect both RCBS & Lyman have worked out the potential temperature problems on their built in units though.

 

[Roger Allen]

The only time I felt that way about work was when we gave up hand pumped squeeze tools for hydraulic ones. I’ll try not to be as backwards. I’m thinking maybe stand alone pid not a built in one

 

[Walter Laich]

built a PID for my Pro-Melt 1 mostly to see if I could do it.

Hardest part was finding a box to put it in what wasn't the size of an Igloo cooler

if I don't add sprues and such during the casting it will hold within 1° throughout the session

My PM is elevated about 4" over the casting table and the PID has its own little 'garage' in the rizer