Thinking again...

[koehlerrk]

Been thinking again.... I know, that's dangerous.

In the last year, I've started getting old medical isotope cores for stock. It casts great as-is, and the lead is super clean.

My only issue is that I need to cut them into quarters to feed them into my Lee pot.

So, I'm thinking about building a bigger melter, one that can swallow a 5 inch diameter core whole, I'm thinking about 40 pounds capacity.

I'm looking at building a stainless steel pot, setting that inside some refractory brick for insulation.

PID controller, but I'm stuck on the heating element. I could use an electric stove burner, or I could build a custom heater coil made from kanthal wire. Has anyone done something similar? A 10 ohm length of wire would give me 1100 watts of heat.... should be plenty compared with my Lee pot, 20 lbs and 500 watts.

Should I make this a bottom-pour pot too?

Let me know what you all think,

Rick

[dbosman]

If you have the skills, go for it.
Band heaters are readily available on that big auction site. For instance, there is a 2400 watt band heater on there now, for$24.99 (buy it now)
If you have the outlet, 220/240v would probably be useful.

[bear67]

I have gotten some of these at scrap yard in the past and I used smelting pot and cast them into 1 and 2 # ingots. If you have a hydraulic log splitter or have a friend/neighbor with one, they are great at shearing lead into smaller pieces. I have sheared a sailboat keel that took a tractor loader to put on the splitter table.

You need to use a scrap board, 3/4 or 1 1/2 will do, between the wedge (moving) and the anvil (stationary). I cut up a 1600 # keel in 45 minutes or so. I can see it working on the lead cores.

[RED333]

A little know fact, NEW electric element rod can be bent into just about any shape.
The powder that keeps the heater wire insulted from the shell is still in powder form.
When you heat the element for the first time it cooks the powder into a hard form.
I work on cooking gear and have to bend elements to get them to fit on some stuff.
So find an element that has the right volts and amps you are looking for and bend it to your needs.