Just dropped $350 on a new infrared thermometer and it's already paid for itself

I was getting so many cold shuts on our gray iron pours, especially with the bigger molds. The old stick-on temp strips were basically a guess, and we'd either pour too cold and scrap the piece or overheat and waste fuel. My boss kept saying it was just part of the job, but I got fed up. I bought the Raytek MT4 online after a guy at the regional foundry meet mentioned his. First pour with it, I saw our metal was actually about 75 degrees cooler than we thought at the spout. Adjusted the furnace, and the next three pours went smooth as butter with perfect fill. That's three big castings that would have been scrap. Has anyone else made a switch like that? What tool saved you the most headache?

4 comments

4 Comments

thomas_sanchez2mo agoMost Upvoted

My old gun died too. @the_piper is right, you need a check.

kevin9743mo ago

Wait, isn't that just overthinking it? I've seen guys pour iron for years with just the old eye test and maybe a strip. Sometimes a cold shut is just a bad mold or a draft. You really think a fancy gun fixes everything? I've had tools break on me after a week in that heat. Seems like a lot of money for something that might just tell you what you already know after a few good pours.

diana_kim663mo ago

Honestly, my first infrared gun gave up after three pours like it was scared of the heat. Tbh I still trust a good strip and a hunch more than a blinking screen.

the_piper2mo ago

Yeah, but what about when the hunch is wrong and you get a whole batch of scrap? I mean, @kevin974 has a point about tools breaking, but that sounds like you just got a really bad gun. The good ones are built for the shop floor. My question is, how do you even know your 'good strip' is reading right if you never check it against something else? Maybe the blinking screen is just confirming your guess, but isn't that better than guessing alone?