Nothing is forever on this earth.

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
About a year ago, I found a decent deal on a 20 lb. Lee Ladle melting pot .
I ordered it and upon arrival , it sat ( in the box ) on a shelf in my reloading / casting area in my basement.

This morning I plugged up my old stand by 13 yr. old 20 lb. Lee Casting Lead Pot in preparation to cast a few bullets. I'd put a heating element in it about 5 yrs. ago, however this morning, it was dead as a hammer.

After an appropriate ceremony for the deceased $50 pot that has helped me cast MANY , MANY thousands of cast bullets during the past 13 years , I plugged up the new one that you see in the photo below. I have zero complaints about the service that I got from the 13 yr. old Lee Melter .

Always good to have a " back up spare " on the shelf for a day
like today. ( Notice that I put a couple of 2" long torx head screws through the base to guarantee that the melter cannot tip over )



Ben

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L Ross

Well-Known Member
I found a decent deal on a 20 lb. Lee Ladle pour pot about a yr. ago.
I ordered it and it sat ( in the box ) on the shelf ever since.

This morning I plugged up my old stand by 20 lb. Lee.
It was 13 yrs. old.
I'd put a heating element in it about 5 yrs. ago.
Well, it died this morning.
After an appropriate ceremony for the deceased , I plugged up the new one that you see in the photo below.
Always good to have a " back up " on the shelf for a day
like today.



Ben

Tragically, I put 3 old well loved Pendleton shirts in the trash today. Both elbows blown out on all of them. Of course they all came from thrift shops, but they are getting harder to find. Nothing lasts forever.
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
What, you don't patch the elbows?
Laughing here. One of my hunting buddies has a lucky shirt. I think there is more patch materiel than original on the damned thing. We laugh at him when it has another blowout and he sits with needle and thread and pieces of cloth he cut from a perfectly good t-shirt to mend it.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
What, you don't patch the elbows?
Laughing here. One of my hunting buddies has a lucky shirt. I think there is more patch materiel than original on the damned thing. We laugh at him when it has another blowout and he sits with needle and thread and pieces of cloth he cut from a perfectly good t-shirt to mend it.
The Duchess of Thorn Hollow offered to patch the elbows until she held them up to the light and saw the diaphanous nature of the rest of the sleeves.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
Shirley not a new Lee pot ! :)
Couldn't help it !

About 15 years ago I dumped a bunch of tee shirts I'd been wearing for years . Just plain white 50/50 polyester/cotton shirts . They would just disappear if they got wet at all , I'd get sun burned through them even when they were dry . The polyester just didn't wear out but all the cotton was long gone in most of them .

Things just don't last like they used to .
 

Ian

Notorious member
That is pretty much the way I saw this 13 yr. old pot.
Looked like it has served its purpose well and was time
for an appropriate ceremony for the deceased.

Ben


I'm waiting for the Lee haters to come along with suggestions regarding how that ceremony would best commence. I'd put $10 worth of parts in it and set it back for a spare 'cuz you'll need it again in 13 years.
 

Cadillac Jeff

Well-Known Member
OK I have a 30 gal. Rubbermaid trashcan with a lid out it the polebarn full of old shirts of all size & shape to make rags from. :headscratch:


My Kids are gona flip when I'm gone some of the stuf there gona find!

Jeff
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i was gonna say it's probably just the points need cleaned... that saved mine the last go round.
the time before that i had to re-wire/solder one of the wires to the heating element.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i have a set of point files from back in the olden days.
they have a little feeler gauge wire on the end of them so you check the gap file smooth and check to take the arc build up off them.
then hook the meter up and re-set the dwell to get things perfect.

different times back then, 10 minutes 3 dollars and off they went.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
i have a set of point files from back in the olden days.
they have a little feeler gauge wire on the end of them so you check the gap file smooth and check to take the arc build up off them.
then hook the meter up and re-set the dwell to get things perfect.
So do I! try to find a set of points for a 1959 English Ford Anglia in 1965 in Ohio. Lucas points only lasted 7 days each cleaning.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
yeah.. there was a debate years back that if there was a one time use time machine, whether killing hitler or the designer of english cars electrical systems would have been a greater service to mankind.
Between electrical issues and oil leaks I always wondered how they built serviceable aircraft in WWII.
 

Missionary

Well-Known Member
Had a 1971 750 Norton Commando. A fine, quick, fast, road marking, oil dripper if I ever owned one. But oil was cheep at the motor pool.
Adjust the points weekly and the valves monthly. What else does a tank crewman have to do at Ft. Hood.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Between electrical issues and oil leaks I always wondered how they built serviceable aircraft in WWII.
Don't know about oil leaks, per se, but during my Air Force stint, flightlines and aircraft were liberally patterned with hydraulic fluid stains. I think it comes down to the cost of, and simplicity of, replacing the lost fluid versus the cost of the man-hours to locate and repair the leak, all in the effort to keep an aircraft in service. Two sorties per day doesn't leave much down time for other than turn-around maintenance.