WiTackleGuy

Yep. I noticed. The colored handles are from when they used the colors for pricing amd style versus now. Wherupon every handle is black regardless of price. I don't know when they changed over but I definitely notice a difference in quality from that era to recent molds.

That'll just make TTI/Blakemore's day. I can already imagine their PR department crafting up a hot-air press release about using only 'genuine Roadrunner heads', and their legal department getting bulk rate postage on all of the 'cease & desist' letters...

The nipple or spout cannot be removed by itself. It is one solid piece with the pot liner. Do be careful when cleaning the spout. The first time I cleaned my pot I accidentally widened the spout. The plunger still sealed it. But lead poured out at a strange angle and, did so really fast that it made pouring difficult.

Straighter is not a problem. I have the sag in the line because I just hung it for the picture. No. I'm not moving the range hood closer to the "WINDOW" not "hole in the wall" as I want some sort of separation and a little angle to act as a moisture trap to keep from having any outside moisture find its way down the exhaust. Your calculations for required cfm puzzle me. I searched online and 500cfm is enough to vent vapors from a mid-size kitchen provided the source of the fumes is on the other side of the room from the vent. It's not a requirement to change the air in the entire room every few minutes. The source of the fumes is directly under the fan. The vapors will not have a chance to infiltrate the rest of the room as there is constant upward airflow. Furthermore while it is true that lead particles are heavier than plastic particles, you might want to be aware of a couple things. Melting lead does vaporize to a gaseous state, but nowhere near the temperatures that we normally cast at. So there is no particle vaporization taking place. Second any particles that do occur generally are a result of the lead being handled in its solid state not the liquid or gas state. These particles are heavy enough that even a much more powerful fan will not vent them away. That is why it is advised to physically sweep the area and clean with a detergent. Pouring outside doesn't eliminate these particles either. It doesn't matter how much ventilation is used. Where some of the danger does lie is in some of the trace elements that occur in most alloys of lead. Some of these can gas off completely when heated. Most of these are quite toxic. However since they are soluble in air, a good airflow over the immediate area (or strong enough to vent smoke sideways from an extinguished candle, if you've done your reading) is enough to carry them away. Plus proper fluxing mitigates the effect of these elements as well.

Just finished my setup for pouring lead indoors. The fan pulls 160 cfm on high. Should be enough to get the vapors out of the house. Now I can pour year-round. A big plus here in the frozen tundra. My only gripe was that the range hood didn't put out enough light. I could have gone to a fancier model with 2 bulbs instead of one, but a couple clip lights do the job nicely.

Ventilation, Ventilation, Ventilation. I'm getting set up to pour in the basement. Rigged up a range hood that pulls between120-160 cfm. Have it mounted less than a couple feet from the top of the pot. Running the exhaust out a dryer vent to the outside. No way in heck I'd smelt in the house. But pour...sure why not? With proper ventilation and permission from the boss...

Tungsten gives a very hard return with electronics. This is helpful in ice-fishing for those who target fish at specific depths by watching their flasher or graph.

Here is a link to an old Component Systems Paint catalog. It details how to go about doing a large scale vinyl operation in there: http://web.archive.org/web/20060311174718/http://www.csipaint.com/csipaint_catalog.pdf I built something similar back when I was doing lots of vinyl. I built my dip trays out of roof flashing and JB-Weld. I also tweaked other bits of the design but the overall operation was pretty much the same.

I've used files over the years and found it to be tedious and time consuming. I think what I used most was something like a fine/med cut flat needle file and a file card to clean it when needed. Also used to use the back of a pocketknife as well. Last season I came up with something pretty slick. I used my dremel with their finishing/abrasive buffs. What I did was fasten the dremel down to a board with some velcro and went at it like it was a mini bench grinder. Depending on how you have the dremel situated the dust either flies up in the air (not cool) or is flung down towards the table. I put some damp paper towel under the thing to catch some of the dust, plus I'm wearing a respirator just to be sure. Both hands are free to safely hold the jig and the buffing wheel does a great job smoothing out the sprue.

I too built a rack. I was originally going to use angle brackets and mending plates to hold the threaded rods but thought better of it because I recall reading somewhere that heating galvanized products is not a good idea. So after thinking about it for a bit I came up with a cheaper and easier solution: I took some threaded rod and shoved it through a disposable aluminum baking pan. They are cheap and flimsy until you get a couple rods in it. Then it's nice and sturdy and it costs almost nothing. I put a nut and washer on either side of the pan to "lock" the rod in place. Haven't tried it yet but I see no reason why it shouldn't work just fine.

I received my return sticker in the latter half of July and had a replacement unit within 4 days of shipping the recalled heatgun out. Unfortunately the one they sent out was damaged. It took several attempts over the last couple weeks to get through again on a customer service line. When I finally did and explained the situation they took my info and said they would ship a new unit out immediately and to not worry about sending the damaged one back. That one arrived safely earlier this week. So yeah they are hard to get a hold of . But once you do get in touch things usually move fairly smoothly. I had thoughts of taking mine back to Menards as well. I wondered if they would take it back since I purchased back in December, and if the exchange would have been from the same faulty run. Only thing with the replacements are that you get 2 nozzles with the thing and it's Stanley yellow instead of black. No big deal and the 2 tips may come in handy.

Got the recall pickup in Mondays mail. So if anyone hasn't received the notice by now it should be arriving shortly.

Anyone had any trouble getting through on the toll free line? I've tried a few times and had to give up after spending about 25 minutes on hold each time.

Kool-Aid....No Kidding.... Dying Buck Tail Dyeing Protein Fibers with Kool-Aid: Basic Howto

Ditto that. If Hagens is too steep then you will most likely not like the prices from most anywhere.