Lee Plastic Pot Questions

[rockslide]

i have got good pouring with a Pyrex cups! the only problem is i cant pour 3 color worms fast enough. so i started looking into getting a presto pot. the presto pots are huge way to big for me i needed something with a smaller capacity. i did a search here an found the lee pots. the smaller size seems like right one for me! but with deeper research into the lee pots i get a lot of mixed opinions. most people that don't like the lee pot point to the bad thermostat that doesn't work an burns your plastic. so that made me want to pass on the lee pot but i found a post talking about a dimmer an that seem to fix the problem with the thermostat. so i want to no if anyone is using the lee pot with a dimmer. is the dimmer the answer to the bad thermostat? should i skips the lee pot? are there other options?

[bryanmc]

I have 4 Lee pots.  I have mine wired with a light that lets me know when the element is heating.  I don't have any problem using them, but I only pour for myself.  I've also seen pots wired with a dimmer in place of the thermostat and the guys that had them swore by them.  Where did you find the post about the dimmer?

[CNC Molds N Stuff]

How about a 3 burner fondue pot? 

[rockslide]

byranmc here is the link

 

i have another question were is the heating elment on the presto pot

[Frank]

It is on the bottom and built into the pot itself. How much plastic are you using at one time now? Frank

[Painter1]

I would love to find a solution to my unusable Lee pot.  It either under cools or burns my plastic.  I would buy more of them and use for small multi-color hand pours if I had confidence in them.  

 

Any specific advice on wiring a dimmer switch?  How did you wire a light?

[carolinamike]

The dimmer switch dosen't have to be wired in, just buy the lamp, dimmer switch that is sold at lowes or home depot, plug the dimmer switch in and then plug the pot into the dimmer switch. Its that simple. Also do not bother with the small lee pots, they are too hard to clean, the larger pots has a much bigger pour spout and really are easier to use. I usually started my pots out on 4 or 5, keep in mind that this will very from pot to pot, no two are the same. It usually takes about an hour for the plastic to heat, halfway through is when you want to start adjusting the heat down, the main thing is you have to learn your pot and colors like white will not do well with lee pots.

[rockslide]

this is what i learned the lee pot will work well if you add a few things!

 

1. candy thermometer

2. dimmer

3. light bulb

 

im going to go get me a few of these!  i wanted to no what i was getting into before i spent any money. i was also told to heat the plastic in the microwave then pour it in the pot. thanks everyone for all the help

[JSC]

" i was also told to heat the plastic in the microwave then pour it in the pot."

========================

That would be my advice  ... what I did when I had a couple of them,

[Painter1]

Thanks, Mike, for that explanation.  Sorry for being dense but where does the light bulb fit into this circuit? between the dimmer and the pot?

[carolinamike]

Painter, I was going to ask bryanmc a similar question, I dont understand how the light would work. Unlike other pots the lee pot is continualy heating, it isn't made with a thermal coupling, it dosen't get up to temperature and cut off and there is no temperature setting, so what is the light letting you know? There is always power going to the heating element. The dimmer switch works by reducing the amount of electricity going to the pot. I did put a light on the pot I made thats like the one lurecraft sells which had a thermal coupling and heat setting, when it got to temperature the power went off so the light went off and it had a 3 degree differential so when the temperature dropped 3 degrees below the temperature setting the power came back on. Lee pots are just not made this way.

[FishAction]

Lee pots do not have a thermostat.  They work just like a kitchen stove eyes do -- heat is determined by the amount of electricity going to the heating element the same as cooking in a pan on the stove eye.  The more the knob is turned, the higher the heat. 

 

Think frying an egg in a pan. Too much heat, too fast, browns it quickly and the same happens to the plastic you are heating.  And stir the plastic quite often to balance the heat as it heats from the side rather than the bottom of the pot.  The heating element is coiled around pot.

 

Charlie

[carolinamike]

Charlie you're right about the coils.  I've replaced several of them.  And I know how the heat control works on the Lee pot, so what would be the reason for the light?  Like I said, if the pot is on it's always heating at some degree or another.  Even on most Lee pots, when the plastic gets down to the half way point, the heat setting will not go low enough to keep the plastic from burning.  The dimmer switch just gives you better control of the amount of electricity going to the pot.  But there's really no way a light can come on at a certain temperature without installing a thermal couple and an actual temperature control. 

[FishAction]

I see no need for a light wired into the Lee pot for heat control.  It would, however, turn off if you had bad contact inside reostat (control) as the knob is rotated. Bad internal contact could be the problem for too cool, too hot, or lack of ability to completely control the heat throughout the range.

 

Lights are the same as the heating element, enough electricity flowing the light element heats it up to give off light or heat from the heating element.  You can see this effect if a dimmer is used as the light element will go from low to bright as the electrical flow is increased then dimming as the flow is decreased.  Picture water from a hose, low pressure to high pressure as the valve is opened and then decreasing as the valve is closed.

 

The dimmer should give more precise control of the electrical flow but a good thermometer is necessary for heat control settings.  Plus, if controlling using a dimmer, the knob on the Lee pot should set to the maximum.  If not, the electrical flow would be limited to the level the pot was set on.

 

Charlie

[carolinamike]

Charlie, the dimmers do have a light built in them that do work this way. 

 

bryanmc says he has a light that lets him know that he's heating, that's what's confusing me.  I have 6 Lee pots and I would never use one on maximum temperature, even with a dimmer switch.  I use the dimmer switch at 3 or 4 to regulate the heating.  I don't believe it would work very well with the Lee pots at maximum temperature.  Lee pots are notorious for scorching plastic. 

[bryanmc]

Mike...  Maybe I didn't explain it well.  Lee pot coils are either full on or full off.  There is a thermostat connected to the heat knob.  When it reaches a certain temp in the housing, (ever noticed that the crucible on a plastic pot touches the housing and on a lead pot it doesn't) the contacts open, stopping current to the coil, when it cools sufficently (depending on where the knob is set) to close the contacts, full power is again sent to the coils.  The light is wired in the lead between the thermostat and the element.  Using the light. I can tell if my pot is heating or not when I get to about the correct temp.  As the plastic cools, I can also turn the knob until the light just comes on (heating) instead of guessing how much to rotate the switch.  I never run the knob on max temp and the light just lets me know if I'm heating or not.

 

Another interesting think I learned from the Lee guys a while back.  The plastic pots actually use a 220v element running on 110v to keep it cool enough for plastic (along with modding the open / close temp of the t/stat)

Edited August 13, 2013 by bryanmc

[bryanmc]

Also, here's the link whereI learned about the light.

 

http://www.thebassholes.com/bassin-forums/192-plastic-pouring-how-s/24633-lee-production-pot.html

[Painter1]

This thread gives me renewed hope in the Lee Pot.  I only have the one small pot and have cursed it every time I have tried it.  My hands are also way too big to get inside and clean it.  

 

I'm willing to try again with the tips learned here. So who sells the bigger Lee Pot?  Lurecraft only shows the small one.   

[bryanmc]

I have prety big hands too, so I remove the screw on the right side of the operating lever, loosen the screw on the left side of the operating lever and pivot the lever off the vavle rod and out of the way and then remove the valve rod as well.  Gives you a lot more space.  I peel out what I can with my fingers and use WD 40 on a rag to get the small stuff.

Edited August 14, 2013 by bryanmc

[carolinamike]

Bryan, I had a very interesting but short conversation with a tech person at lee today. I asked him to explain the temperature control to me a little bit, he told me that the pot worked by the power turning on and off. When I explained to him that I had 6 Lee pots and that none would power off and that even on the very lowest setting with about a quarter of a pot full of plastic my plastic was still burning he suggested that I purchase a dimmer switch with a light in it which reduces the amount of electricity going to the pot. This statement dosen't make sense, If the pot reaches a certain temperature and then turns off then why would reducing the amount of electricity effect the pot. Being that I'm an old heating and air conditioning guy and all of my production equipment operates with thermal coupling and heat control which do turn on and off, it makes what they told me very confusing. Keep in mind that I contacted Lee around 13 years ago and asked this same question and they really couldn't help me and sure didn't mention nothing about a dimmer switch. It was the next day after I contacted lee the first time that I found the dimmer switch at Lowes and as far as I know no one was ever using the dimmer switch until I started posting about it on TU. Its funny that the company now recomends the dimmer switch but they didnt give me any info on how their heat controls actually work, he did mention that the contacts are either opened or closed but he never could tell me why they were always closed or why reducing the amount of current to the pot would effect it if its supposed to open or close. With a true thermostat or heat control and thermal coupling the amount of electricity supplied has nothing to do with the operation. It operates by reaching the desired temperature and turning off, Lee pots just do not do this or mine don't any way. Just kind of curious to your thoughts on this and also to help those out there that have lee pots or are thinking about using them fully understand their operation and function, so many people buy them and hate them but I found them to be very succesful when doing multi colored open pours.

[Painter1]

Mike,

I think you (or someone else on here) need to get into the plastic heating pot modification business. I imagine there would be a great market for a small heating pot that actually worked well right out of the box.

 

I know I would be happy to buy a few

[carolinamike]

Painter, I would consider it but one with any quality would probably cost more than what people are willing to pay.  Just the cost of a thermal coupling, heat control, and quality heat bands would be expensive enough, then you'd have to figure out an adequate valve system that wouldn't have freeze off. 

[bryanmc]

Mike..  I'll have to keep this brief because I had carpal tunnel surger yesterday and it's still a little too sore to type a bunch.  Using the dimmer won't cause the stat to work better, (in my conversations with Lee and others) it was recommended to wire the dimmer (wall switch type) in place of the  "thermostat", or if using the plug in type you mentioned to run the stat on the pot on the highest setting.  The temp is then controlled by reducing the power to the coil using the dimmer, causing it to not get as hot.