JonB
Halcyon member
The Bottom connection of the valve arm assembly limits the lift. I suppose you could manufacture a longer valve arm assembly?
Question For LEE 4-20 Pot Owners!
- Thread starter seagiant1
- Start date
seagiant1
Active Member
Hi,
I can't see any connection here in this pic but maybe this is a newer production pot and LEE changed something.
I'm sure I could figure it out and make it better or more user friendly anyway.
No doubt LEE is trying to meet a price point, and if he get's too fancy there goes the cheaper price!
I can't see any connection here in this pic but maybe this is a newer production pot and LEE changed something.
I'm sure I could figure it out and make it better or more user friendly anyway.
No doubt LEE is trying to meet a price point, and if he get's too fancy there goes the cheaper price!
JonB
Halcyon member
The Valve rod is not the Valve arm assembly that I mention.
The valve arm assembly is the flat metal piece that is bend on top and bottom and slides on the shoulder bolts
seagiant1
Active Member
Hi,
Yes, I understand but was wondering if something was going on in the pot bottom, that I could not see and finally found the pic I posted.
Hard to talk R&D with nothing in front of you to look at. ( a parts schematic would be nice!)
I don't see though, why a few "tweeks" could be made to make a better mouse trap, so to speak...
Thanks for the help!!!
Last edited:
seagiant1
Active Member
Hi,
THEN, why could you not attach the knurled knob to the top of the rod...
Then it would at least get rid of having to keep up with a screwdriver in the middle of things.
Plenty of room for a little improvement but the Pot is not $350 either...
The other thing I like about it just looking is the easy access to basic parts if needed...
Admittedly if I had a problem with my RCBS, with their fantastic CS, I'm sure they would take care of me and or get me the parts I needed!
Ian
Notorious member
Threads of the knob are different from the pintle rod, but a sound concept. It would be far better to put weight directly in-line with the pintle, and a lighter, wooden knob could be used on the lifting linkage. If the steel knob were re-threaded it would work as both a weight and an aduster that could be used while wearing gloves rather than fumbling with a screwdriver.
seagiant1
Active Member
Ian
Notorious member
I've been trying for years to come up with a device which would catch the stream and dispense it like a ladle. Basically some sort of heated cup under the pot spout that the stream would hit directly and then run down and out a spout below. The purpose being to convert the high-pressure stream into a low-pressure, high-volume stream that is consistent no matter the pot level. The main issue with bottom pouring is the high-speed stream, one reason ladles almost always make better bullets. Ever notice how the Lee 4-20 makes the best bullets right at the bottom 1/4 level? Closest I've come to working out a design is stack two pots and feed the bottom one with the top and keep the level low and consistent.
Look over the available spare parts and buy what you can't make NOW. Time flies, and before you know it, they will have changed the design again and you get the snotty LEE CS attitude and NO PARTS. I"ve not often had to us their CS, but I've never been inspired by thr treatment either. This last incident was the worst, which still only puts it a level or three above what you get when dealing with so many non-gun-related entities.
There goes the warranty as well. They will offer to "upgrade" you to the new design if yours "breaks," by making you send your faulty pot TO them and then pay shipping on the replacement FROM them, but you stll have to pay "wholesale" for the new pot, which is about what people charge for them anyway. So, you pay shipping both ways to get a pot for what others already sell them at.... Now, there's a "LEE Economy" lesson. You have to pick and choose, as you can get some real value using LEE and you can also get blatant "anti-value" from LEE. You just have to decided what to pay for and what not to pay for.
Almost begs a new thread for ideas and suggestions on which LEE pot parts to buy ahead based on experiences of members here. I can't really think of a one for the two old pots I've had for thirty years though. Everything about them is still just fine, except the over-sized orifices, which I will find a way to fix when it's warmer and I'm caught up on casting for the year. No way did I see no backwards compatibility on lead pot parts, but the cost of these post have been amortized over a long, long time and lots and lots of bullets.
seagiant1
Active Member
seagiant1
Active Member
Hi,
Admittedly, I'm just now looking at this, but seems to be some basic new parts available on the Bay?
As easy as the Pot is to work on, I would just get the part and do it myself!
I went round and round with Lyman on a Lead Pot and finally threw it in the garbage and got my RCBS Pot and have not had a problem since!
Same general idea as a powder baffle in a powder-hopper. I was turning that one over in my head recently and came up with a Rube Goldberg solution (unrealized, of course - just an idea) of a two-story pot, with both valves coupled together so that the top pot fed as much into the bottom pot as you let out of the bottom pot to fill a mould. There is that silent, patient monster "creeping elegance" again, seeping into my head and quietly growing like an out of control fungus...
Then, I'd need two TCs and two PIDs,.... or maybe not... It made my head hurt so I stopped. It was starting to feel like "work."
I worked in an industry for some time where "make-up" was critical, due to splashing, evaporation, vaporization, dilution, etc. Water-soluble oil machining coolant in HUGE quantities. We actually had a really creative and reliable system sensing "level" using a bubbler-probe and a pressure switch sensing the back-pressure on a pressurized pipe submerged vertically in the nasty, dirty liquid. Eventually, we ditched the Dwyer gauges and the boss designed a board which was configurable for four levels; too low/make-up/just right/too high. That kind of stuff starts to creep into my head and I just need to make it STOP. I'm striving for SIMPLE.
seagiant1
Active Member
Hi,
This vid is interesting as the Gentleman shows how he cleans and then laps the rod and spout.
The radius on the rod looks like they used just a round nose mill cutter to make the radius at the bottom of the spout which is good info, and...
Might not be that hard to make your own rod if you wanted to change some things for the better as far as flow regulation?
This vid is interesting as the Gentleman shows how he cleans and then laps the rod and spout.
The radius on the rod looks like they used just a round nose mill cutter to make the radius at the bottom of the spout which is good info, and...
Might not be that hard to make your own rod if you wanted to change some things for the better as far as flow regulation?
Any of them should be available from LEE, Titan and Precision, I think had parts as well and prices were lower than LEE. eBay and Amazon are two places I dread going to shop, but then SOMETIMES I fins what I want there, and SOMETIMES it's cheaper than other places.
Any more, I generally shop for just about anything mass-produced for total cost. I try to support a certain vendor over time, but that doesn't seem to really make a difference to them, because I can never seem to get everything I want/need in one place and end up paying shipping to two or three places. There are a few things I've found, like knock-off 357 "speed strips" and the ammo boxes I like, are only available on eBay or are priced drastically lower than other places. I'm amazed at how much one-piece, injection-moulded items cost these days.