presenting the "star wars imperial walker smelting pot"

[mozeppa]

i built this outta junk.

holds about 500 pounds of heavy metal.

bottom pour with a flow control grip.

all i gotta do is slide my turkey burner under it and grip it & rip it!


( i know over kill)

and then there's....

"why did you build that?...why i've been smeltin lead by holdin a match under a spoon full of lead"
"i been doing it thata way for 40 years, & i never needed any new fangled contraption like that!"
"harummmph"

i built it cuz i could.

[Landshark9025]

Think the corners will catch junk? I'm always scraping stuff off the sides of my smelting pot and it is a round Freon tank that is ready to stir.

Just curious.

[GoBig]

Looks awesome! I totally get the "I built it cuz I could" thing, too. How is the flow rate from the bottom pour, low enough to cast bullets with if you wanted to, or just good for ingots?

[pworley1]

That is great work.

[ascast]

500 pound of melt, on those legs ?? I'm thinking boots and chainsaw chaps minimally.

I like it though

[Hardcast416taylor]

Afraid I`ve gotta agree on the strength of those legs. They need more diameter size and cross bracing if I were to do anything near 500 lb. in that tank.Robert

[big bore 99]

Looks like a serious bottom pour. Nice fabrication job.

[mozeppa]

the legs are 1" black pipe 14" long ... i think i'll mount the burner on its under side and cross brace it.

sits 14" from the floor, so it would be uncomfortable to cast boolits from ...but if i want i could thread the pour hole and put in different sizes of hole plugs with a smaller hole in it for casting.

made it to get the cleanest ingots i could. i make 10 pound ingots and they are so clean the lead looks white and you can see the pattern
that the lead crystals make when they are cool.

[mozeppa]

Think the corners will catch junk? I'm always scraping stuff off the sides of my smelting pot and it is a round Freon tank that is ready to stir.

Just curious.

the corners are rounded at a inside 1" radius....and are very smooth (much smoother than my cast iron pot.) i have a spoon on a handle
that fits in those corners perfectly for the scraping job.
if it gets really dirty, i have a air die grinder with a end brush in it ....it makes short work of burned on crud.

[Walter Laich]

The Force is strong in that one

[LenH]

Just out of curiosity, what size HSS did you use? I'm guessing at least 18 x 18 x 1/2, maybe a 5/8 wall.

I like the concept, but you may want to beef up the legs.

[Hardcast416taylor]

As long as YOU believe those legs to be sturdy enough, then I guess they are strong enough.Robert

[Artful]

excellent project - once you fire up and fill it all questions will be answered.

[Mk42gunner]

I can see a bit of concern with the legs, but they can be strengthened if it proves necessary.

My first negative thought was "I wonder how long the handle return spring will retain its temper?" If it doesn't last long, you could replace it with a tension spring from close to the handgrip down to the lower leg.

How long will it take to melt 500 pounds of lead?

Robert

[Blammer]

looks good. I'd put a cross brace of some sort on the legs. Not worried about the pipe bending, it's the side force where the pipe is connected.

I'd load it up with lead ingots (for practice, use cold ones) and then see how sturdy it is under a load before I got it hot.

[lightman]

Nice looking job! Post up some pics when you fire it up. I need to build something like that, but I'm probably closer to the end of my smelting career than the beginning.

[EKE]

Would love to see a youtube video if you can. Awesome build.

[mozeppa]

cross braced the legs ...better safe than "i told ya so!"

mounted the burner under it.

fired that mother up!

in 10 minutes it had 40 pounds liquid...so now i have over 250 pounds in it, and its cooking as i type.
the pan in the photos that i use for ingots holds 10+ pounds if filled to the top.
i leave about a quarter inch from the top so i can get the pan moved with pliers.

there was some concern by a forum member about the dross sticking to the inside...so far as i can tell
it doesn't want to stick to steel.

i copied the drip-o-matic example of magna pots company ...and it drips ...and i can live with that.

[mozeppa]

its 7:40 and i've been done for an hour.

since my last post at 3: something

i've melted and cleaned 400+ pounds of alloy....thought it would hold 500 pounds ....it'll hold 400 easy tho.
each ingot weight 10.5 to 11.5 each.
there's 37 ingots out there ...times 11lbs. each = 407 pounds in ingots. not bad.

this was its maiden voyage and we've sprung a leak...not bad a dripper of minor consequence ....it'll weld up easy tho.

here's some pix....enjoy!

[frankenfab]

The leg material is more than adequate, but even the smallest of cross braces between them would strengthen the assembly considerably.

Outstanding job of using what was available. Your skill as a Fabricator is evident. I love it!

[Mk42gunner]

I have two ideas for possible improvements.

1. Add a piece of steel to the end of the spout to redirect the flow down into the ingot mold. For some reason seeing a stream of molten lead shooting horizontally makes me nervous.

2. Build a sturdy table for the ingot molds to slide/ rest on as you fill them. It doesn't have to be real big, just enough to have room for them to solidify.

Other than that, it looks good to me. I wish I had enough WW to use it two or three times....

Robert

[mozeppa]

mk42gunner....yeah that was a bit of a problem ...getting the 11 pound ingot pans moved to an area to solidify with out sloshing it around.

had to stand up (no easy task with my knees) grab 2 pair of pliers and grip the pans rolled edges ,lift an transport...get a empty , sit down and repeat.

still have 600 pounds to do.

[Wayne Smith]

600 lbs to do - yeah, well worth investing in building a work table for the molds. One big enough to hold all your molds if you are doing this alone. Then you just slide one aside and another one under.

I assume this will not be your last 600lbs, either!

[Landshark9025]

Well done and thanks for the reply on stuff sticking in the corners. 400lbs of ingots that fast....that's good production!

[Mk42gunner]

had to stand up (no easy task with my knees) grab 2 pair of pliers and grip the pans rolled edges ,lift an transport...get a empty , sit down and repeat.

All the more reason for a sturdy table, I understand about creaky knees. Or maybe use a piece of tubing or pipe to extend the nozzle to floor level.

Robert

[country gent]

A couple little carts (Die carts) on wheels. set ingot molds in a line down side and fill pull out of way and bring second cart up. Saves lifting the moulds while molten and makes moving them much easier.

[Garyshome]

Is that a commercial or residential smelter?

[mozeppa]

Is that a commercial or residential smelter?

hee hee! lol! its residential.

for the private stock.:lol:

[Taylor]

I like it!!:drinks:

[mongoose33]

Very nice! I like that you added the cross braces.

I'd love to see the burner assembly underneath it.

This is just a thought, because this is so excellent a job of thinking it through and fabricating that I don't want it to be seen as critical: What about a shroud around it to channel waste heat from below up the sides? That would recover some btus that would go into the melt instead of the air.

Alternatively you could add some fiberglas insulation to the outside to help hold the heat.

Anyway, outstanding job. How much to make one for me? :)

[Geezer in NH]

500 pound of melt, on those legs ?? I'm thinking boots and chainsaw chaps minimally.

I like it thoughProximity suit to start:kidding:

[mozeppa]

Proximity suit to start:kidding:

not that bad!

loaded to nearly the top it was very solid.

and i built the one ...so it shall remain unique...i'm not taking orders.!:D

[montana_charlie]

cross braced the legs ...better safe than "i told ya so!"
You tied the legs together at floor level, but you did not "cross brace" the legs.

CM

[Springfield]

Nice pot, but using my 8 years of smelting about 3000 lbs a year, I will add these thoughts. This pot is too big. It will take longer to melt a full pot, 250 would be better, using a turkey fryer as heat. Especially if you are melting something that is dirty, like wheelweights or sheet lead with glue or sheetrock on the back. Lead doesn't clean up very well until it is about 700 degrees, in my experience, so you will have to wait until the whole pot is up to temp. I see you are melting 40 lb ingots, and then putting them back into 40 lb ingots. Do these fit you casting pot? What is wrong with the original ingots? I have a local guy who scraps out sailboat keels and he sells the lead in 40 lb ingots, and then I have to melt them all down to a usable size. Makes for a lot of extra work but the price is right. Me, I have 2 turkey fryers with pots that hold about 200 lbs each. Get them both going and I can clean up at about 200 lbs and hour, more if I work at it. They key is to have enough ingot moulds so there is no waiting. I ladle from the top. I have a sturdy table set up at waist lever for the ingot molds, makes for less stooping.

[mozeppa]

Nice pot, but using my 8 years of smelting about 3000 lbs a year, I will add these thoughts. This pot is too big. It will take longer to melt a full pot, 250 would be better, using a turkey fryer as heat. Especially if you are melting something that is dirty, like wheelweights or sheet lead with glue or sheetrock on the back. Lead doesn't clean up very well until it is about 700 degrees, in my experience, so you will have to wait until the whole pot is up to temp. I see you are melting 40 lb ingots, and then putting them back into 40 lb ingots. Do these fit you casting pot? What is wrong with the original ingots? I have a local guy who scraps out sailboat keels and he sells the lead in 40 lb ingots, and then I have to melt them all down to a usable size. Makes for a lot of extra work but the price is right. Me, I have 2 turkey fryers with pots that hold about 200 lbs each. Get them both going and I can clean up at about 200 lbs and hour, more if I work at it. They key is to have enough ingot moulds so there is no waiting. I ladle from the top. I have a sturdy table set up at waist lever for the ingot molds, makes for less stooping.

springfield .....you musta miss-understood reading what i wrote.

regardless of how long you've smelted lead, my pot in NOT too big ....its perfect in every way!
i had 40 pounds liquid in 10 minutes.....
in 40 minutes i had 250 pounds way over 700 degrees and the lead was boiling...(with my turkey fryer burner)

you SAW wrong....my ingots were and are 10 pounders not 40 .

those in the picture are pure lead with lino and tin added to the pot by weight to get my brinnell up to the 13 - 14 range *note the smaller ingots in the picture... there was nothing WRONG with them ....just needed to be mixed with some lino and tin.


i have a magma inc. casting pot that holds 90 pounds of alloy at one time. with it cold i can easily put 5 of the 10 pound ingots in the pot.
fire it up and it will be ready to cast in 15 minutes.

a little longer to heat?......i got nothing but time ....i can wait.

my little pans which hold 10+ pounds of alloy at one time are perfect for my use ....i'm not a commercial caster....
and i can go to store that's called "bed bath and beyond" and pick up more pans for $1.99 each. i'll be buying more "key" pans in the future.

i don't want to build a "sturdy table" i like any thing exceeding 700 degrees to be as close to ground zero as possible....(i'll adapt.)

i do NOT like "ladling from the top" too much chance of spilling hot lead everywhere....plus all the **** floats on the top ...too easy to get ****
in my 10 pounders.

clean lead comes out the bottom.

i just wanted to show off my pot.
other things are in the works ...time a $ are playing a factor in how fast i get to them....one will be a spout high roller table table to move the freshly filled pans away from the spout area with out having to lift them immediately.

my "maiden voyage" was to cram it full to see what the heat up time is ...and to see if it'll hold up with that much in it.

it does.

i'll probably only do 200 pounds at a time when i want to.

so in conclusion...using my 40 years of fabricating things.....and several years of melting lead.


its perfect.....your mileage may vary.

[ogre]

Gosh that's a nice looking set up. Lead boiling? I thought lead boiled at 3182 degrees F. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/boiling-temperature-metals-d_1267.html

[mozeppa]

well ...maybe not exactly boiling but very hot.

my therm went over 800 when i took it out ...figured it was hot enuf.

[tazman]

Really excellent work. And thank you for taking the time and effort to post this.