Feeler: Would anyone be interested in heavy duty Stainless Steel smelting pots?

[Mytmousemalibu]

So I've expressed in another thread that i will be building myself a nice heavy duty smelting pot to process the large quantity of lead i recently acquired and for any future operations. I am definitely the "go overkill" type of person and I would love to make the actual pot itself of stainless steel. We all have seen what happens to the majority of ferrous metals, they turn rust & crusty to some degree. Stainless is Resistant to about any fluxes or garbage in the melt. So a stainless pot would avoid any corrosion and be more resilient to heat and long term use. I have a line on a length of stainless pipe, i believe to be 304SS and choice of 8" to 12" diameter and around 3/8" wall thickness. Im planning on a flat bottom of equal thickness and fully welded. The hight of the pot is open to some choice. It will hold quite a large amount of lead. I could add lifting tabs, etc.

The trick is, i would have to buy quite a large length of pipe and the material cost alone is up there but if enough members are interested in buying some pots it would be worth it to do. Probably looking at $75+shipping (not sure if tthere's a flat rate box that will work?) cover the materials, welding, argon, etc. I'd probably need to have about 10 people interested to make it worth it.

[Mytmousemalibu]

These would be a ladle pot as produced but you could modify to your taste, i could potentially see about making them with an RCBS style bottom pour in addition to...

[rodsvet]

When, or if you make a prototype, post some pics. Rod

[Mytmousemalibu]

Absolutely, if I can get ahold of a piece of material to get one made I would be happy to post pictures!

[Mk42gunner]

I built my smelting pot from an eight inch section of 8" schedule 80 pipe, and it will hold over 90 ponds of melted alloy. I wouldn't build one much taller than that, due to the difficulty of dipping the last bit of lead out. Of course with the larger diameter pipe, the angles would be different, but I think equal height and diameter makes sense.

Robert

[Mytmousemalibu]

Yeah, i don't think having a deep pot to be that good of an idea. I was think square or shorter. Leaning towards 10x10 or 12x12. Now i could certainly adjust the as built hight per individual customer request.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Many casters use steel pots for smelting and steel homemade ingot molds. Yes they rust, rust is no big deal.
That's my 2¢

[rollmyown]

12" diameter, 8" or 9" deep sounds good.

[Big Boomer]

I took an old propane tank (after making sure that it was EMPTY - that is an absolute necessity) and used a hand-held electric grinder to cut most of the top off above the mid-seam except for leaving a tall handle on either side. Measured and marked then the grinder cut through pretty fast. Best arrangement I've seen so far outside the very big, sophisticated pots that some have. I use this arrangement strictly for smelting and when finished, take it inside. I use a couple of Lee large and small drip-o-matics for casting. Big Boomer

[BNE]

Any stainless you buy will be expensive. You might have some luck at a local scrap yard.

Be aware that stainless, will rust if it is exposed to fluxxes and heat. Not as much as if it were an iron pot, but some fluxxes are pretty nasty.

The project sounds fun, post pictures when you get it done. Good luck.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I'm hoping to make it back by the scrap metal yard tomorrow so i will have the time to dig around and measure stuff and report back. Again if i can bring this idea to fruition it would certainly be a premium pot that will outlast us! I would really like to get a prototype done so you guys have a tangible object to see.

[ericp]

I like this idea quite a bit. Another vote for photos of the prototype.


Eric

[40-82 hiker]

Just thought I'd throw in with this thought: SS is a very poor conductor of heat, and 3/8" SS will waste a considerable amount of heat while smelting. Thinner SS, while still a poor conductor of heat, wastes less, and weighs less as well. In fact, though not SS, propane tanks are used widely, as they are cheap, light (sic, thin), and very strong, often smelting upwards of 150 pounds at a time safely.

SS does have some admirable traits that would make it a good steel to use, but I would think the 3/8" would be way over the top due to the rather poor heat transfer issue. I was a professional welder, and I have seen some rather amazing examples of this characteristic of SS.

JMHO.

[Teddy (punchie)]

Sounds little thick at 3/8". I used old steel bucket the last time I did range lead. Sure was heavy with 2.5 to 3 gallons of lead in it.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I too would prefer a bit thinner material, it would be better in this application and just easier to work with but kinda stuck with what I can find and pipe of this size is invariably pretty thick stuff.

[rking22]

I am just using a wallyworld stock pot, stainless and 8$.I run about 50 to 75# at a time on a turkey frier burner. Just don't put more in cause I haven't strengthened the burner frame. Havent seen any issues but I flux with oiled sawdust and store things out of the weather.