Speeding Up Smelting Process?

[Jon]

I have a turkey fryer burner from Cabelas and a cast iron Dutch oven. With it running full blast, it still seems to take a couple hours of "cooking" time to get everything to dry and melt out. Any suggestions for knocking the cook time down a bit? Would a weed burner help?

I'm smelting range scrap, so it has a fair bit of plywood pieces as well as jackets and rocks in the mix.

Thanks

[Sensai]

Do you have a wind break around it? If not that would be the easiest and quickest way to speed it up. A simple sheet metal tube is all it takes. Just leave enough room for the combustion air to come in from the bottom and flames/hot air to escape around and over the Dutch oven. You'll be suprised what the chimney effect has on heat-up time. Best wishes, Gary

[Horace]

A sheet metal shield around your pot/burner from the ground up to the top of the pot would help.

Horace

[John Boy]

Would a weed burner help? Yes - that's all I use and it melts the lead very quickly - no heat up time!

[el34]

What has to "dry out"?

[Sensai]

As I understand it, he's melting range scrap with a lot of jackets and debris. He's probably doing the right thing by heating it all from scratch rather than trying to add any later. The jackets and debris could very well be retaining enough moisture to invite the Tinsel Fairy to visit if it isn't dried.

[Mk42gunner]

Put the lid on the pot. You will be surprised at how much heat is lost from the top of an open pot.

Robert

[Jailer]

A little rolled roof flashing and some pop rivets works for me. Sorry for the poor pic, it's the only one I have of it.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/Jailer/posting%20pics/shroud_zps1ace42b0.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Jailer/media/posting%20pics/shroud_zps1ace42b0.jpg.html)

[mold maker]

I cut the bottom of a 5 gal metal bucket to reach from the base of the burner, to 1/2" above the support grid. Cut slits in the top edge for the support grid. Put the burner inside the bottom of the cut off bucket, and add holes to the bottom for air. Then cut the remaining top piece of the 5 gal bucket to fit almost to the top of the dutch oven. The slits cut in the bottom will allow you to nest and fasten the top and bottom together.
This addition and a lid will cut time and gas used in half.
If you still have trouble, you might have a regulator that is too restrictive.

[Jon]

As I understand it, he's melting range scrap with a lot of jackets and debris. He's probably doing the right thing by heating it all from scratch rather than trying to add any later. The jackets and debris could very well be retaining enough moisture to invite the Tinsel Fairy to visit if it isn't dried.

Yes, it's range scrap, and has moisture. I fill the pot with the "ore" and leave the cover open a crack so that the steam can escape. It cooks for a few hours until everything is dry and the lead is melted out. I then use a slotted spoon to fish out the jackets, and other debris floating on the top. The dirt gets fished out with a solid spoon, and the melt fluxed. Then, it's ladelled out into ingot molds. The whole thing is cooled off before adding any more ore. The tinsel fairy isn't welcome around here :-)

I don't have a wind screen on it, but it seems easy enough to make something.

[btroj]

I can melt a pot of range scrap, scoop the jackets, and pour I gots at a rate of 3 pots an hour. Each pot gives 25 to 30 pounds of ingots. I am using a turkey fryer, no clue on burner output.

Mine is pretty dry as it gets stored in buckets in the garage for a few months before smelting.

If it is taking that long then something is really wrong. A few hours to heat?

[dragon813gt]

Something is wrong w/ your burner. Any moisture is going to dry up long before the lead starts to melt. What color is the regulator you're using. It seems like you have a very low BTU output from the burner.

[Lloyd Smale]

if i want to speed up my turkey cooker i use another tank of propane and a weed burner.

[725]

Another one for the wind screen and a propane torch to get the top of the pile moving.

[Sasquatch-1]

I have found that it takes a while to heat up the jackets and debris in the pot. A lot longer then when melting WW's. Try stirring the scrap a bit, after it has heated for a while, to get the stuff on top closer to the heat.

[Pb Burner]

I have found that it takes a while to heat up the jackets and debris in the pot. A lot longer then when melting WW's. Try stirring the scrap a bit, after it has heated for a while, to get the stuff on top closer to the heat.

+1 The more debris in the scrap the longer it seems to take to melt. Try "cleaning" up your scrap better. The more rocks and dirt your heating the longer it takes.

[Jon]

Other than trying to float out the plywood pieces, it's mostly sifted jackets with some rocks. I suppose I could try sifting a second time before putting it into the dutch oven.

[mdi]

Sum Ding Wong! A "couple hours"? I can do better than that with my single burner Coleman stove. Check the burner, and regulator, and hoses. A normal turkey fryer should do better than that...:mrgreen:

[jethunter]

Something is wrong if it takes two hours. Good suggestions so far - make a windbreak, use a lid, check the regulator, etc. I use a similar setup and it takes about 10 minutes of heat to get the first bit of lead to melt and after that another 10-15 minutes to liquify the rest of the pot.

[shoot-n-lead]

Put the lid on the pot. You will be surprised at how much heat is lost from the top of an open pot.

Robert

X 2

This will probably make as much difference as any single thing that you can do.

[snuffy]

I go from this;

84286

To this;

84287

Time-- about 30 minutes. That's range scrap from an inside range, sand trap from an angled steel deflector plate. There's a bit of sand and about 30% jackets with some wood and paper.

Even though there's no water-rain inside, the containers had to sit outside waiting for processing. Covered but not dry, the scrap was never dumped into molten metal. Allowed to cool from the previous melt, to allow the remaining lead in the bottom to harden, the scrap was dumped on top of the warm lead. No visits from the tinsel fairy!

84289

That's a turkey fryer I bought at Fleet Farm, don't remember the make. Pot is cast iron from a buddy that used it to make fishing jigs, 10 or 12 quarts, it holds about 100 pounds full.

[RoGrrr]

Jon
Not sure how much you've read here on the forum but here is a long thread that will give you a good idea of how to gather, clean and smelt your ore.
I always wash my ore (some recommend NOT to wash it but it works for me) and sometimes it's still damp when I start the smelt operation. There are pro's and cons on that one but I wouldn't recommend smelting damp ore.
As mentioned, you should have a chimney around your flame and pot to direct the heat and keep it from being blown away and a lid on the pot to hold in the heat. I smelt just inside my garage usually with the door open, primarily to stay out of the wind and I haven't smelted during the winter. Yet....

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?174512-Range-diving-186lbs&highlight=186lbs