Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike / Tx
The finishing nail works great to clean out the spout, and as mentioned just hold it with a pair of needle nose pliers. It won't drip much when you shove it in, just be sure to hole a light touch of downward pressure on the handle so it shuts off when you pull it out.
Once you have it up to temp and flowing good, go ahead and empty it. Then wearing a good thick pair of gloves, pick it up and pour out what ever is left inside into a small pan or ingot mold. Then unplug it. While it is cooling down take a small wire brush and clean off the sides and bottom really well taking care not to breath up the dust that will rise up. It's best to have a small fan blowing the dust away from you when you do this.
Once you have it cooled down and all cleaned out, then use some fine lapping compound on the needle valve and seat. Polish it up really good so that you can see a good wide area on the bottom of the stem. Once you have it polished up, use some brake cleaner to remove any of the oil that might be left behind from the compound, then wipe it out really good.
As mentioned do not smelt anything at all in this pot, it will only give you grief later on. If you keep your alloy clean going in, it will stay that way for quite a while. About every half dozen or so casting sessions or so repeat the pot cleaning thing. You will know when it is getting close as you will start to see a build up of crud on the sides as you empty the pot.
Hope this helps.
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What do you lap with? I've never lapped anything and just googled it all I found was engine valve lapping and you just put some compound onto the part and slide the part around as it normally would.