Lee pot pouring.. Just thought I would share. Long

[Romeo D]

Wow.. I thought I would try the Lee pot to pour. I have been using the presto pot with a mixer, and a microwave with a pyrex. Since I am new to this "hobby", I thought I would give the lee pot a try. As a former Automotive Technician, I like having tools so purchasing the Lee pot was not a big deal, I figured I could use it to keep plastic warm if I ever decided to dip swim baits or pour one piece mold baits or multi color plastics.

I just have to say next time I will warm up the plastic in the microwave! Starting from the presto pot then using the lee pot was such a big change. It took a long time for the plastic to become pourable, and I had to turn up the thermostat all the way up, I saw the directions about starting at the lowest setting, which I did, but I soon found out with a temp gun it was not getting hot enough. I commend you guys that have been doing this for a while and have used the lee pots, my hats off to you guys. On the positve note, I like the way it pours into the open molds, as long as I did not have glitter in the mix, it did not clog. (maybe I will drill it out a bit? next search on TU first) Jig trailers poured nicely, a little hiccup when adding coloring though, I was trying to get the "flippin blue" color that I have confidence in as a jig trailer and was almost there, I thought, " maybe a few drops of white so that it will not be so translucent...." Opened the new bottle and started to pour... Uh oh... lol, friggin dropper lid was not on the bottle, I think I put a teaspoon of white in it by mistake and pretty much ended it for me... My fault as I removed the lid to get a good mix on my colors, seems there has been some settling in the bottle so I opened it up earlier and mixed it with a welding rod. I just forgot to put the darn dropper lid back on. . Hopefully you guys will get a good laugh, and the new people with take a mental note. Trying to get some stuff ready for a trip next weekend I hope. I think I am getting too excited about catching them on stuff you make.

[Pitbull Baits]

I turn the pot on before I pre mix my colors in a pyrex cup. Then I heat the plastic (12oz) in the microwave before I put the plastic in the Lee's Pot. Then its ready to pour in less then 10 min.

[bgog]

Once you get used to the Lee pots they work fine, yes it does take a little longer than a microwave, but once it is at working temperature it is all production from there. The flake issue is probably not a flake issue, more of a temperature issue, unless your using really big flake. The key to pouring with pots is temperature, keep it around 370-380 degrees and constanly stir. Air temp and humidity will also play a roll in temperature also, in other words there are other variables than just the center of the pot with a temp gun, you got to run on look and feel of the plastisol, just like a fish it will tell you alot. Just remember to stir alot, this will do a couple things for you like consistency, suspension of flake or salt and also keep the plastisol from burning. I am sure most plastisols out there have a good heat package right out of the barrel/jug. (Heat package=added heat stabilizer, standard on all plastisols).

Good luck!

[Pitbull Baits]

Once you get used to the Lee pots they work fine, yes it does take a little longer than a microwave, but once it is at working temperature it is all production from there. The flake issue is probably not a flake issue, more of a temperature issue, unless your using really big flake. The key to pouring with pots is temperature, keep it around 370-380 degrees and constanly stir. Air temp and humidity will also play a roll in temperature also, in other words there are other variables than just the center of the pot with a temp gun, you got to run on look and feel of the plastisol, just like a fish it will tell you alot. Just remember to stir alot, this will do a couple things for you like consistency, suspension of flake or salt and also keep the plastisol from burning. I am sure most plastisols out there have a good heat package right out of the barrel/jug. (Heat package=added heat stabilizer, standard on all plastisols).

Good luck!

Have you tried to use the microwave to heat it up first. You can heat up 12oz in 3 min. You just have to turn your pot on to pre warm it. I set mine on seven for about 5 min give or take. Its so much faster than waiting for the pot to heat the plastic. I only keep my plastic 340 max on dark colors. I try to keep it a 325 or a few under on light colors. I don't use any heat stabalizer I just keep my eye on the flake if it sinks its way to hot. If its floating at diferent depths its just right. I never turn it past 7 1/2 its way to hot then.

[Romeo D]

You guys can reach those temperatures with the lee pot? I just purchased my Lee pot new from a local store.. Did they change the thermostat? I could not get my plastic hotter than 260* measured with a digital thermometer and a non contact laser thermometer with dial at the highest setting.

[JSC]

It has been well documented that the Lee Pot Temp Controls will vary among them ... Have worked with 2 and found this out. Search the Forum for info and I think there is a Sticky ... The info you want is adding a rehostat to the set up ... I would read every thing You can find on Lees Plastic Pouring Pots ... for detail work they aree great .... Use them as a pouring device ... Cook your Plastisol in the Micro Wave ... Flakes are the hardest as they must be constantly stirred and they can restrict the flow.

My

JSC

[bgog]

Have you tried to use the microwave to heat it up first. You can heat up 12oz in 3 min. You just have to turn your pot on to pre warm it. I set mine on seven for about 5 min give or take. Its so much faster than waiting for the pot to heat the plastic. I only keep my plastic 340 max on dark colors. I try to keep it a 325 or a few under on light colors. I don't use any heat stabalizer I just keep my eye on the flake if it sinks its way to hot. If its floating at diferent depths its just right. I never turn it past 7 1/2 its way to hot then.

Hey Pit,

No I have not tried the micro as of yet, I have more of a layed back approach to this thing we love doing. Fill the pots, work it until it heats up, knock back a couple cold ones , jam out to some good tunes:whistle: and once the plastic is ready I just start pouring, life is good ain't it! I am going to have to try the microwave though, I could cook on the tailgate of my truck at the boat ramp (built in power inverter) so I could match the hatch.

[bassman843]

I have 2 lee pots that use done some modifications to then to do what I like the temp controllers are junk I turn them all the way up and plug them into a switch that I wired with a dimmer switch works much better I thought about just bypassing the control on the lee pot all together to get a consistancy between pots I want to make a presto pot I had an old french fryer that I made into a pourer but that thing get way to hot had a bunch of bad pours that I used to try it out and it wasn't good burned up pretty quick

[carolinamike]

Guys I used Lee pots for 8 years and I think I made the first post about the dimmer switch. Everyone is right, I had to come up with the dimmer switch idea because I had one Lee pot that no matter how low you set it, it still would overheat. As far as getting the pot to heat up more, I don't think the dimmer switch is going to do any good but it will stop overheating. Off hand I can tell you for sure the small Lee pots aren't worth a plug nickel, unless you're trying to do a very small tail. I have 1 of the small ones left but I don't use any of my Lee pots anymore. The larger Lee pots (20 oz) I find do work very well, once you get used to each individual pot. No matter what you do if you start out with raw plastic, your heat up time is going to be an hour. I conquered the heat up time problem with 4 large pots. When one was ready to pour, I would turn the other one on and just made sure that I had enough molds that it took about an hour to pour the first one out. That way the second one was ready to go when I finished the first pour. You do have to stir often, like right before you make every pour. Using this method I poured massive amounts of plastic. 10 and 12 hour pours and had very good results. Flake and salt distribution was always even as long as I remembered to stir. The aggravating part is learning where to set your pot once it reaches the pour temperature. And when the plastic is half way down you must adjust the heat down or your last half will discolor from overheating. I think if I had it to do over I would have went with a Presto pot, but back when I started it was the Fry Daddy's that everyone was trying to convert. And from what I understood they had their own set of problems. If you're just wanting to play around with your own stuff, then I would suggest a Lee pot if you're not going to do that much. But if you're thinking of doing larger pours, then I'd definitely get in touch with Bear and consider a Presto Pot. And if you need 90 worms every minute and a half, then I'd call Mike at Carolina Baits.

[Romeo D]

I did not think the Dimmer switch would help increase the temp of the lee pot. Maybe if I bypass the thermostat control and use the dimmer to control the heating element. I made some changes to the pot and will see how it pours next time need to do detail open pours. (I have gotten used to the microwave/pyrex and the presto pot.) What I did was bend the rod in the back to get more height on rod. I also inverted the rod to the other side of the bar so that it will be easy to remove and clean the pot after each use. I will have to think of something to keep the bar from accidentally coming off the rod like a wire strap around it. It seems like it should pour a lot better now. I can seel the hole when I raise the rod, not like before.

Thanks for all the tips, this sure is fun.