Ok I'm here, cooking metal today

[Willbird]

I cooked up 125 lbs of 60/40 solder and oh I guess about 300 lbs of WW, it is a balmy 55 degrees in ohio today, I also raked the stones out of the yard from snow plowing this winter.

Bill

[45nut]

I'd guess you have some nice smelting equipment to use. I have a 30# electric plumbers pot I render ww's down in,takes a long while to smelt a 5 gal bucket.

[Willbird]

Morebeer.com has a 120,000 btu burner and an adj gas regulator, add a freon bottle with the top cut out and weld up a stand and your in there.

Bill

[Willbird]

I also forgot to add that it seems decently efficient, I cooked over 500 lbs of metal with one 20 lb bottle of LP.

one can work a full 5 gallon bucket of weights into the cooker if he skims off the clips from the first charge and adds more weights.


Bill

[C1PNR]

I also forgot to add that it seems decently efficient, I cooked over 500 lbs of metal with one 20 lb bottle of LP.

one can work a full 5 gallon bucket of weights into the cooker if he skims off the clips from the first charge and adds more weights.


Bill
Do you have a picture of your stand, etc.? Wonder if that burner could be adapted to Natural Gas. I have that piped out to the driveway, right where I'll be smelting the raw materials.

[Willbird]

I could show you a pic hehe, it is on the crude size, to describe it I would say a steel ring about 3/4 the dia of the freon bottle, with tripod legs extending from the ring, some crosspieces between the legs. I keep forgetting it is 170,000 btu not 120,000

http://www.morebeer.com/browse.html?category_id=2076&keyword=&x=1&y=1

They show natural gas burners as well, you would not need a regulator then I assume so you wouldnt have as much in it as I did with buying the regulator and the burner.

I run it wide open when melting, then back it way off once the melt is liquid and I am skimming clips etc.

I am making a larger cooker, I am going to use an old LP bottle for a crucible, there are many of them around for the asking since the govt made everybody buy new ones. I want to be able to get a whole 5 gallon pail of WW in the cooker in one dump.

Bill

[NVcurmudgeon]

Thanks to Iamur, I made it here. I think I'll celebrate by casting some Lyman 356402s from BruceB's new mould. Now there's a pal. Keep your fingers crossed I don't drop it! curmudgeon

Welcome :D

[C1PNR]

Willbird,

I've got the freon (empty) bottle. May just get an old style LP. Man, I junked 2 of the 5 gallon and 2 or 3 10 gallon (I think) size before leaving PDRK! :x If I'd only known. :(

I need to find a welder that likes beer and a challenge! Have him make me a burner stand and some BruceB Ingot moulds! :D

[Willbird]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4362651500

Those are the second best ingot moulds I have found, the first best that I snapped up are these.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4364786253&ssPage Name=STRK:MEWN:IT

The freon bottle will hold probably 80 lbs of alloy easily just make sure you have it welded to the stand so you don't end up with lead shoes :-)

Bill

[wheezengeezer]

i have been using a turkey frier burner,and a cut down 30 lb freon bottle.cut the bottle about 4" above the weld seam located in the middle of the bottle.cut the bottle again just above the weld seam making a 4" wide ring.place the ring on the burner and set the pot on the ring.this thing will hold an entire 5 gal bucket of melted ww.

[BD]

I use a turkey fryer I bought at Sams club for $39. It has a very stout steel stand and a 125,000 BTU burner. For a pot I welded a piece of 1/2" plate onto the bottom of about 12 inches of 8" well casing. This holds two five gallon buckets of WW once it's melted, (I only fill my pails two thirds full, if I fill them to the top the handles pull off when ya lift them). I greatly increased the efficiency of this rig by wrapping the pot with 1" rock wool and putiing on a lid, with a hole drilled through for the thermometer. IMHO the more vertical shape of the well casing seems to speed up the fluxing/cleaning process. If I stir and flux for 20 minutes at 650, I get real nice clean alloy with very little fluxing needed in the pouring pot, (using litter on top). I have a variety of iron muffin pan ingot molds, but I now use some steel, teflon coated muffin pans I got for $5 as they cool much faster. I've got smeltin' on the mind. If only it would quit snowing. BD

[wheezengeezer]

i can see you now.standing in the snow,in your shorts,skimming clips,flux sending flames 10 feet into the air......

[Longwood]

I used a free burner that I got out of an old stove. They were free so I took two. I noticed the little sheetmetal air valve flap that regulates the air was closing off about half of the opening so I drilled out a bunch of the holes a few at a time till I had a huge blue flame when the sheet metal air valve was wide open. I figured if I messed the first one up I could use the other one. Don't ask, my friend beat ya to it.
I don't know what the BTU is but it roars like a small jet engine.
A little welding from scrap I got at the recycler (the same place I have found several 10 1/2" X 6 1/2" and 12 1/2" X 6 1/2" and 12 1/2" square heavy duty, flat bottomed, stainless restaurant pans that stack together real nice and come in several depths) and now have about $24 in it because I was in a hurry to give back the turkey fryer I had borrowed and had to make a new hose for it from a $15 one I bought at Walmart.
Seems None of my old hoses or fittings fit the latest bottles because of a safety valve in the tank valve and the new ends on the hoses. I am thinking of drilling out my old fittings and pressing in a small piece of machined brass, or even aluminum, tube for a special tip to open the safety valve. I did notice if you spend another $12+ at Walmart for one of their gauges, it will allow the use of older hoses and fittings. Is it just another way of scamming us?
PS,
I am a fan of Chineese food and very carefully did my kitchen stove the same way years ago and the sucker cranks for stir frying with the Wok.

[swheeler]

Thanks to Iamur, I made it here. I think I'll celebrate by casting some Lyman 356402s from BruceB's new mould. Now there's a pal. Keep your fingers crossed I don't drop it! curmudgeon

Doomed! Your going to drop it, your going to drop it.

[bigjake]

I too use a turkey fryer burner. For a pot I welded together some square peices of 14 ga. sheet metal to make a 6"x 6"x 6" square pot.for a handle I just used some of that heavy wire that is used for the posterboard style election signs, I bent it in half and welded it where it was most comfortable. It doesnt need to be really heavy steel, and you dont have to use a ladle, you just pour the alloy out of the corner into your moulds.

[D Crockett]

I use the bottom 1/2 of a 20lb propain tank to melt my ww in and for ingot moulds I have abotu 30 single cavity and 4 -3 cavity ingot moulds that I made out of angle I have a bunch ot the other kind but I would rather use the ones that I made they dump the ingot right out with out hanging up I also have a magnet with a T handle wielded to it to get the ww clips out with I have a few extra if any one want some D Crockett