Smelting pot shield.

[spurgon]

I need to make a wind shield for my new melting setup. I'm using a dutch oven on top of a turkry fryer burner.I saw one on this web site a while back that as made of sheet metal. Will aluminum roof flashing do the job?
spurgon

[Morgan Astorbilt]

No, the aluminum will melt, you'll need sheet steel, an old ash can or large pail will work. Make sure it's raised above the ground to let air in.
Morgan

[MGySgt]

I just use a piece of Roof Flashing (the kind you get in rolls from Home Depot/Lowes).

Made it so that it would set outside the pot on the rails of the Turkey Fryer. Also put a wind screen around the bottom portion. Drilled through the ring of the turkey Fryer and used self tappers.

Makes a big difference in melt time.

FWIW

Drew

[mtgrs737]

I used a piece of scrap sheet steel I had lying around to make mine, it makes a big differnce in melt time.

[georgeld]

ahh, that's a nice pile of ingots there!

Good looking shield too.

I'd be concerned about the legs being weak when the kettle is full. Sure play hell with your feet. That stuff runs on a slab and just might scab it off from the heat too. I'd set it on dirt if possible and then scrape out a damn of enough size to catch it.

Looks like you've run a bunch thru it already though. So-----!

[mtgrs737]

I have run a lot of batches so far with no indication of over stressing the legs. The legs are made of 1/2" square steel bar. The legs continue up and form the base for the pot to sit on so they get the full heat of the burner. I was worried that they would bend under the weight of the pot which can weigh around 120 lbs. when full but so far no bending has occured. I will keep an eye on them and try to stay alert for a failure that could occur at anytime. Thanks for the heads up on a dangerous activity. :drinks:

The picture is a bit old and the height of the ingots has risen, I'm up to about 1200 lbs. and the skid is getting harder to pull around. When I get a chance I have another 3 buckets to smelt down into ingots which should add a couple of hundred pounds to the skid load. :castmine: