Propane heated RCBS Lead Melter

[Scrounger]

http://photos.gunloads.com/images/Scrounger/7e9ccebc3eea6fe4ef92674acc8ffec0.jpg I never saw one of these before, or even heard of it!
http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displayitem.cfm?itemnum=6822988

[grumble]

I've never seen one of those either. Unless, that is, you count the old thin steel pot I once used. <G>

Looks to me as if the RCBS engineers should have added some sort of shroud around the pot to hold the heat in a bit longer. Looks like a pretty inefficient heating system to me.

[felix]

You got that right! The big MOAS is probably the most inefficient smelter on the planet, taking two, three turkey burners at least 4 hours to melt 1500-2000 pounds. Because we don't do this often, we don't usually care about the cost, but the time it takes does tend to get into the way of things. The best shroud, according to our builder of the pot, is to spray a thick coating of concrete (gunnite) around the pot first, and then coat with fiberglass. If we did that, then the pot would be too heavy for the tractor to lift it into place from its holding shed. We don't want the pot to be entirely empty of lead, and that plus the concrete would kill the project. So, we are left to maybe one or two melts per year at most. ... felix

[9.3X62AL]

Smelting casting metal ranks right up there with case trimming, writing traffic tickets, and root canals as things I enjoy the least in life. If I'm going to deal with the stink of valve stems, dog excreta, cig butts, and all the other foreign materials that work their way into "free casting metal", I want to do it only once a year and in sufficient volume to supply most of Inland F&G Club with enough metal to keep the folks shooting for at least the next year.

Maybe Buckshot and I could rent out the old Kaiser Steel foundry works for a couple days each spring. All electric. Just rent a couple dump trucks, hold up some high volume tire shops, and get busy with the proceeds. And on a weekend, so the air pollution wonks aren't around to make trouble.

That smelter is a fine idea that didn't survive in the marketplace of ideas. Felix's MOAS is more the tone I'd set in that venue.

[HTRN]

You know, I look at the MOAS and see room for improvement...http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/cwm/3dlil/eek13.gif

No, think about it. You have to use three burners and it takes forever to heat up.

I came up with a couple of ideas.

Make up a quick mold and pour some Hi temp, lightweight refractory to keep the heat in.

Forget the current improvised burner setup - turkey cookers only go to ten psi, twenty tops. I have a couple of "fuel gas" regulators in my basement that go to 50PSI, make a new burner setup - Brownells sells the airmixers, just add black iron pipe with appropriate sized holes. if you use multiple mixers and use elbows and such, you can have a really dense, high BTU flame pattern covering the bottom of the pot. Can you say a million BTU's?

All of this means a 20lb tank isn't going to vaporize the propane fast enough - a 100lb tank will be needed.

I betcha I can get that 3 hour melt time down to under an hour.


HTRN

[Leftoverdj]

Brownell's air mixers are way overpriced. Make your own from pipe caps. #11 percussion nipple is perfect for the injector.

[Goatlips]

My WW's always appreciate the extra BTU's I add from the top with a propane weed burner. Wonder what it's like to need 2000 pounds of lead (sigh)....

Goatlips

[felix]

Yes, we will use a weed burner also, but only if we want to hang around that kind of heat for an hour or two. Best to go inside and wait it out. Please, show us how to make a 1M BTU outfit. Please, be very explicit, step by step. ... felix

[Buckshot]

............Probably losing a lot of heat off the bottom. Maybe welding on some 1/8x1.5" 'fins' across the bottom would absorb more heat. Possibly also cut 4 two inch OD holes in the bottom and then weld on 2" pipe of a suitable height to act as firetubes. You'd have some flame turbulance across the bottom, plus heat up through the center of the melt.

..............Buckshot