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DeanoBeanCounter
11-04-2007, 10:36 PM
I'm getting closer to casting a boolet. I've got three double molds, a pot, a burner, some lead. I was cleaning up the back yard and found this old white gas stove my dad had. It's been sitting out there in the weather for years. All I had to do was buy a O ring and replace a couple of missing bolts. The pot is one that SWMBO put out. It's got a glass lid and heavy bottom. I figure the the lid might not last but I'll use it until it breaks.
Here is where I started to melt.
Then here's the stove.
Then the pot after it cooled.
Yes there's lead in there, you can see a dot of it where I scraped back the drose. I need to flux it yet, I've got plenty of dry leafs and used motor oil and candle wax. I just wanted to if I could melt the lead first. It's strange to see rocks float. My next job is to make some ingot moulds out of some old bed frames.
Here I thought I had less then 50 pounds of lead at the most. I weighed the pot when it cooled and it came to 93.5 pounds. That'll last for a shooting session or two. Any comments, suggestions, and warnings are welcome.
Deano

454PB
11-04-2007, 10:46 PM
That looks like a fairly modern plumbers pot melter you have....a nice piece of equipment. I'd recommend you forget about using that glass lid. If you really think you need a lid, find a metal one.

You have a nice set up for smelting, but it's a bit much for actual boolit casting unless you plan to use several 6 cavity moulds at once. A smaller pot would be much easier to work with, and a Lee pro-4-20 would be ideal.

crabo
11-05-2007, 12:10 AM
If you will make a metal shield to go around the burner and bottom of the pot, you will use less fuel and utilize your heat better. You are making a windbreak that keeps the heat going up and not out. You can get sheetmetal from lot of places. You are doing a great job of scrounging, excuse me, recycling.