Iron Pony Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 The Lyman Mag 20 quit yesterday morning, wouldnt come on, no power. Worked fine on Wednesday AM but nada on Thursday. Split the thing apart and there are two wires no longer connected, one for the light and one that appeaars to be for the heating coil. It looks like there should be a lead on each end of the heating coil, one off the thermostat control and one straight from the power cord coming into the unit. The one coming straight off the powder cord is the one I THINK is off. Have not been able to find a diagram on line, nor does the pdf manual Lyman provides show anything. If you have a diagram or intimate knowledge of the internals on these things let me know. I'd hate to send it back to lyman, repairs would probably be simple but costly and I'd have to get 20lbs of lead out of the pot before shipping. Thanks for any help you can offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Morgan Rum, SASS #6859 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Pony, I believe that pot is "dead". I'll take the worthless piece of junk off your hands and won't even charge you a disposal fee! Actually, I have a Lyman 20. I'll see if I can open it up today and generate a drawing of the guts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 I just bought a Lyman Mag 20 Pot and got out my Instruction Guide to have a look see. It left something to be desired to say the least. Parts yes, schematic no. It was a combo pamphlet for multiple products, the mag 20 just one of them. Looking at the exploded parts diagram, every part or sub-assembly that had anything to do with electricity was marked with an * and below noted "For Factory Installation Only". Even the power cord. But from my simple electrical work that I have done it does seem pretty straight forward. Power cord is 3 conductor so the green (ground) is bolted to the case of the unit. The white (or common) goes to one leg of the heating coil and of the operating light. Now the black (or HOT) is the one you have to be careful with. It's the one that can burn you and cause the most damage. It goes to one post of the power switch. The other post of the power switch goes by separate wire to the temperature control. The temp control measures lead temp and will shut off at a set temp. From the temperature control you will have two outbound wires, one a bit heavier than the other. The heavy one goes to the heating coil, the lighter one goes to the indicator light. That should fix you up if I'm not mistaken. Just be sure that all connections are made with no spare brass hanging out the wire nuts and that the wire bundles are well away from the pot. Also make sure that connections to the pot and the heating coil utilize the provided wire heat shield to prevent melting of wire insulation. Of course do ALL work with the unit unplugged and don't plug something in just because it's lonely. Thermostat units are made for various installations to where some of the leads may be unnecessary in the Mag 20 application. You just want the unit to heat up and work, not blow up. Give it a peek after you read what I suggested. If it looks like too much, then you'd be better off letting Lyman get fried than you, believe me. Imagine your mag 20 sparking up with 20 lbs of molten lead to compound the problem? Just not worth it. Smithy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Pony Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 Smithy your description sounds like what Ive got going on under the hood, will print it off and take a look under strong lighting toi make sure. Capt dont rush to take yours apart, damn insulation gets in the way of everything. I'm headed over to Labouches this morning and am going to haul it along, he will probably look at it make fun of me and rebuild it with his eyes closed. Piney, Pete and Taz are all on the way over for a gunsmithing,BS and lunch at Campys session. I'd best get there early or the chairs will all be gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Pony Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share Posted July 30, 2011 OK, the pot is back on line after a real quick fix by Labouche. The connection to the lower end of the heating coil was indeed the culprit and once Robbie figured how to do a mechanical connection I stuffed the insulation back in and buttoned it up. Ran it till the pot went liquid and it appears all is well. The only thing I "need" to do is see if Lyman will sell me one of the indicator light assemblies that I can replace the old one with. Not vital as the pot is unplugged whenever I'm not using it. So its back to work Monday morning and casting for some folks, and myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted July 30, 2011 Share Posted July 30, 2011 The only thing I "need" to do is see if Lyman will sell me one of the indicator light assemblies that I can replace the old one with. Whoops, sorry but Lyman is showing that as a "factory replacement" part. You know "electrical" stuff. I'll bet if you'll take it to your local Radio Shack, they could dupe it in a quick hurry though since it's just a lamp. Give it a try. A lot quicker and easier than dealing with Lyman. Smithy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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