pressure pot

[Rich Lj]

Hi all,
I'm shopping for an affordable pressure pot that I can convert for casting. I won't be using it that often so spending several hundred dollars seems like a waste. I gave up on the HF pot. Has anyone tried this one from VEVOR? Thanks Rich.

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[Kenny Durrant]

When you said "Gave up on HF" did you mean give up on getting one or trying to make one work?

 

[Rich Lj]

When you said "Gave up on HF" did you mean give up on getting one or trying to make one work?

Trying to make the one I have work. I know that many folks are successfully using them. I just couldn't get mine to work. I tried vasiline, silicone grease, replacing the gasket with one users recommended on Amazon. Even tried forming one from silicone. Today one of the hold downs froze up solid. I couldn't turn it with a wrench. (And I never used too much pressure them.) I had mine too long to return it. Harbor Freight is great about returns but this is too long. I considered buying another HF pot but this VEVOR looks pretty good for $40.00 more.

 

[MRDucks2]

woodcraft now carries a nice 3 gallon pressure pot already converted for casting at $199. You will spend a bit on fittings converting the paint pot you show to get it ready for casting. May be worth looking into the Woodcraft one.

 

[jttheclockman]

woodcraft now carries a nice 3 gallon pressure pot already converted for casting at $199. You will spend a bit on fittings converting the paint pot you show to get it ready for casting. May be worth looking into the Woodcraft one.

I often wondered why these pen vendors that sell casting materials do not offer a pot with the fittings. Maybe a liability thing not sure but they know what we do with the pressure pots because they sell casting stuff and would be informed. They maybe could hook up with a company. Maybe Woodcraft has gone down that route and sees a value there. Just thinking out loud.

 

[PatrickR]

woodcraft now carries a nice 3 gallon pressure pot already converted for casting at $199. You will spend a bit on fittings converting the paint pot you show to get it ready for casting. May be worth looking into the Woodcraft one.

Add to this. Woodcraft will have 15% off 11th-13th.

 

[MRDucks2]

I often wondered why these pen vendors that sell casting materials do not offer a pot with the fittings. Maybe a liability thing not sure but they know what we do with the pressure pots because they sell casting stuff and would be informed. They maybe could hook up with a company. Maybe Woodcraft has gone down that route and sees a value there. Just thinking out loud.

WoodCraft Cal Air Tools Press Pot
Interesting that is shows for $249 online. I just saw it in Louisville WoodCraft for $199 2 weeks ago. It is the same pot I bought for $200, then stripped it down and added nearly $100 in fittings to.

 

[Dehn0045]

I wouldn't be surprised if all the pots like this are all manufactured at the same factory with slightly different specs and tolerances. In addition to the Vevor, the TCP global and California Air Tools (they have a version that is branded for casting) have a similar version. Since casters probably don't care about the quality of the components, it makes the most sense to me to buy the cheapest one matching the design style - the Vevor off of eBay seems to be the one.

I'd expect it to be about $40 better than the HF pot. Probably still have to deal with re-taping fittings and hit-and-miss quality.

Just my 2 cents

 

[MRDucks2]

I misspoke, the pot I bought is a 5 Gallon as is the WoodCraft unit. My vacuum chamber is 3 gallon.

That being said, the Woodcraft pot already prepped for casting makes more sense than when I first looked it up.

 

[Larryreitz]

After reading this thread I made a trip to Woodcraft and picked up the 5 gal pressure pot they sell. I have not cast anything yet, maybe later today. I did set it up and pressure test it. IMHO it is light years better than the Harbor Freight pot I have used in the past. It can be hand tightened and has a nice flat bottom to set the mold on. I followed their instructions to pressurize it and it did not budge from the set pressure (ca 45 psi) overnight. It's more expensive than the Harbor Freight pot I have but the aggravation it will save more than offsets the price as far as I'm concerned.
Larry

 

[Rich Lj]

I often wondered why these pen vendors that sell casting materials do not offer a pot with the fittings. Maybe a liability thing not sure but they know what we do with the pressure pots because they sell casting stuff and would be informed. They maybe could hook up with a company. Maybe Woodcraft has gone down that route and sees a value there. Just thinking out loud.

I looked into the Woodcraft pot; But the only one I see is a 5 gallon for $250.00. A bit pricey and large for my small garage shop and the small pens, stoppers and such that I'll be casting. But after all the frustration I've had trying to convert the HF pot I think might just do it. Thanks all for your input.

 

[Sixten]

I started off with the hf pit, fittings from home depot. I bought silicone grease and used a meat tenderizer to beat the silicone grease all up into the gasket while using a heat gun to stretch it out a bit. Worked great as it could, I lost 5lb of pressure over 12 hours, which is fine really.

Something that really helped me is tightening in a criss cross pattern with a wingnut tightener, which is just a scrap of hardwood with a slot for the wingnut, and a hole to insert a pipe for turning.

I also have the large cal air pot from woodcraft and that thing is a tank, used it about 4 times so far, held 35lb for over a week when I forgot a casting in it. No wrenches, no extra parts, works right out of the box.