looking for a new smelting thermometer

[toallmy]

Getting ready to do some fall lead melting when the temperature gets cooler. This is the first time I will be cooking up some buckets of ww . Up until this now I have been using soft plumbing lead ,and have not ben concerned with zink. My old eyes are going to miss some of the zink ww I am shore so I would like to get a cheap themonter to sit in my cut off forklift propane tank . I would like to have a one foot or so themonter because of the depth of the pot.I have studded up on smelting ww and I believe if I keep my temp. Low it will not melt the zink . My propane burner has a hard time getting the temp.up to melting so this may help as well. All advice will be aprishated. I would like to just dump a 5 gal bucket in the pot bring up to melting watch temp and skim out the trash before zink melt temp then flux .Is this possible.

[toallmy]

Going to work will be back this afternoon thanks for everything I have learned from this sight all of your help and advice has been aprishated .

[bangerjim]

Just make sure your burner support will handle the weight of your pot + 5 gallon bucket of weights. That is a LOT of weight!

I never melted that much at one time back when I did WW's. Having several inches of liquid in the bottom speeds up things a lot. You just need to (MUST) make sure all your feedstock is 100% moisture-free!!!!!!

There are bi-metal thermometers out there with long stems. Do a google search for your best choice.

But pre-sorting COWW's is still the best way to insure you have minimum/zero zinc.

Remember: One or two will not ruin you entire batch!

[Lowpower]

I never melted that much at one time back when I did WW's. Having several inches of liquid in the bottom speeds up things a lot. You just need to (MUST) make sure all your feedstock is 100% moisture-free!!!!!!

Remember: One or two will not ruin you entire batch!

So you're saying, take a partial ingot of pre-melted WW and melt that in the pot until it turns to liquid then begin adding the WW to melt it down. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

Lp

[Cowboy_Dan]

Or, if you can't be sure everything is dry, then you can melt a little, let it freeze and add more to the top. Having the pot-shaped mass in the bottom allows fast melting and then gives you the liquid layer Banger is referring to while drying out everything else as it heats up.

[bangerjim]

I leave ~1" of lead in all my re-melting and casting pots. Makes start-up much faster!!!!!!! Heat transfer takes place quicker and you will be cookin' in a shorter time. My casting pots are put away at over 3/4 full all the time.


My motto: "never leave a pot empty".

Starting with lead in the bottom (cold) and the putting your new (dry) feed stock in will dry anything out that is damp and heat up the melt much faster. Do NOT dump unknown WW's in on a hot liquid melt!

Just watch out for moisture in your feed stock. VERY IMPORTANT......especially in wet climates!!!!

[Walter Laich]

If in doubt about damp WWs or whatever start with cold pot. Was visited by tinsel fairy when I poured the 'crumbs' of a 5 gallon bucket into lead pot. something was wet. Luckily the bucket blocked almost all of the explosion...sometimes it's better to be lucky than good

[toallmy]

O good the sight is back up . I have been looking for a themonter but thay all have a short stem lyman and rcbs ,robo metal. I see the digital ones with a wired probe , but it looks like the wire would melt over the gas burner. I want to leave the themonter in the pot wile it is melting to figure out how it heats up .how fast the temp.Will rise and cool wile adding more . While I watch for it to stay under zink melt temp. I'm shore a lot of you take this knowledge for granted but it's all new to me . Thanks

[Mike W1]

Make a little dodad to hold the wire. This works for me.
148280

[country gent]

Leaving an inch or 2 in the pot starting out gives a much better heat transfer with little to no air space to loose heat thru. As the amopnt of melted increases then it gets even more efficent. Find the thermometer you want you might check mcmaster carrs website. Sorting is time consuming but can remove alot before starting out. Met slow and watch temps even a short thermometer can be usefull. make a light mount to clip on side of your pot to hold it in position and moniter temps. As ww melt they feed into the melted cooling it some and maintaining a temp just above melting for awhile, then as the pot fills with melted and fewer solids ( and the solids pre heat more) this becomes a quicker cycle until the pot starts to flow in a continuous rate. Once the melt is complete and seems right flux several times then remove clips crud and unmelted objects. You might want to also flux with copper sulfate or some sulfar " just in case"

[Yodogsandman]

This has a metal wire to the probe...

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Maverick-Barbeque-Digital-Thermometer/19898362

[lightman]

I use an electrical beam clamp and a conduit strap as a thermometer holder, clamped on the side of my pot. I would send you one but they are so cheap that the postage would cost more than the clamp.

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy164/PTheodo/smelting/042.jpg (http://s788.photobucket.com/user/PTheodo/media/smelting/042.jpg.html)

Even with a thermometer I still sort wheelweights. Any zinc on the bottom can get hot enough to melt before the weights on top become molten. Like Banger said, a few won't ruin your alloy, but the fewer the better.

I have 2 thermometers. The last one came from NOE, the bullet mold guys. Tel-True is a good brand, and a favorite among casters.

[toallmy]

I see a k type (nicety dt 804) on eBay ,but not shore of the brand .Will look into (tel-true) thanks. I probably wouldn't be useing very often , but would like it to last.

[toallmy]

Got and used the tel-true , it worked like a champ.melted my first ww down without a problem.I spent some time in the stickies and got some good advice.I thank you all very much.watched the temp and just scoped out the zink then added more over and over.