Smelting Start Up

[RedRader]

After reading several others opinions, I have decided to start smelting my lead into ingots before going to my Lee pot. I have read about and looked at several peoples setup and I have been looking for equipment.

How does this look for a first timer who will only be doing moderate amounts of smelting:

Burner- Harbor Freight Cast Iron Single Burner

Pot- Harbor Freight #10 Dutch Oven

Will the dutch oven be to big for this burner or should I get a smaller pot like the 20 lb pot here- http://www.do-itmolds.com/products/accessories.php?UID=&category=melting_equipment

I am going to try and find a ladel at Walmart but I may just get the 1.5 lb one list with the 20 lb pot. I have 1 Lyman ingot mold but I need more and since muffin pans seems to be the handsdown favorite, I will get some of those as well.

I have read alot about the turkey fryers but with the amount of lead I will be smelting, I dont know if I need that much. I also havent been able to find one in my area for under $50 and I want to try to keep it all under that amount.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RR

[wills]

The larger pot looks like a plumbers pot and is probably available cheaper from a plumbing supply. The twenty pound is probably smaller than would be useful for smelting. You can probably find an adequite ladel at wal mart, or if you dont mind spending that much you might try a rowell bottom pour. http://www.advancecarmover.com/listing.php?line=Ladles

[ANeat]

I found my Turkey fryer at WalMart for $39.00. Dutch oven at a yard sale for $20.00 and made my own ingot molds from channel iron. If you are good a making stuff you can get just a burner/regulator here http://www.turkey-fryers-online.com/masterbuilt/bpcbrlo_turkey_fryer_replacement.htm and make your own stand. Just make sure it will hold up to the weight of a full pot of lead:-D

Adam

[targetshootr]

That pot looks small. Mine is from Gander Mountain about twice as big and it's just right, about $20. Easily holds 80 pound of melted lead. I use it on a outdoor gas cooker from Home Depot, $50, along with lightweight stainless ladel from Heckts, $7.

[wills]

See also
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6774

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6520

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6203

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6108

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6059

[Goatlips]

RedRaider,

That pot looks period correct but might be more tippy than a flat bottom Dutch oven. Since I'm kind of shakey I wanted my original setup to be close to the ground to avoid accidents. A propane camp stove and rusty Dutch oven, both from garage sales, worked fine for me and may well meet your needs. Here's what I ended up with after I started hoarding wheelweights:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/smelting.html

The first few times your flux ignites with a 'WHAP' might make you jump, and knock something over. :shock: Did me anyhow.

Goatlips

[454PB]

I made my own smelting pot from steel pipe and 1/4" plate.

Not to start a tussle, but I'm concerned about using these cast iron dutch ovens. Cast iron breaks like glass when struck or dropped. I would recommend stainless steel if you're going to use cookware for smelting.

[Dale53]

RedRader;
Here is a really good set up for a relatively small amount of money:
http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=33053&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults

Bass Pro "fish cooker" with 8 qt cast iron dutch oven for $55.00 plus shipping. All you have to add is a 20lb propane tank (since smelting is normally done occasionally, you can use the propane tank from your grill). Or, you can pick up a used one at a garage sale or flea market for little money. I got a nearly new one for $5.00 that way.

Don't short change your smelting pot size - it is just as easy to use a large pot and when you really get into this, large size is MUCH better (within reason, of course).

I use an 80 lb pot (60 lbs of metal is the working size) and can do a pot full in about 15-30 minutes start to finish (depending on whether the wind is blowing or not). I have done 1000 lbs of scrap lead in a day with a friend helping. Now that I am getting a bit "long in the tooth" I won't see any more 1000 lb days but I can sure do half that in half a day. The small pot just takes too dern long, doncha know...

Dale53

[Bigjohn]

RedRader;

I found a piece 12" tall (offcut) of 6" inside diameter 1/4" walled pipe and a piece of 1/4" thick flat plate about 1/4" over the outside diameter of the pipe. I asked a friend to weld the plate to the base, form a spout, and weld three chain links to the side of the 'Pot'; two at the half way points on the circumference and one at 90* down at the base plate.

The handles are 1/4" rod with a hook bent into one end and a piece of pipe for the handles. One has two hooks attached (one each end) to lift with the other has one hook to lift at the base for pouring.

This pot will handle as much material as you would want to be lifting while hot and will fill four eight inch diameter pie plates to a depth of 1 1/4" and leave some to start the next batch with.

I use a two ring single burner to heat this unit and it gets hot very quickly. The burner runs off bottled gas via a regulator and consists of a 4" diameter ring within a 6" diameter (or there abouts), each ring is controlled by it's own tap. This unit has converted many a kilo of material to ingot form over the years I have had it. It is also handy to mix up a reasonable size batch of metal for various requirements.

One Hint:- Have plenty of ingot molds handy, they will get hot and slow down the process if you don't cool them. I have two each of the RCBS and LYMAN ingot molds and I could have filled about ten of them in one load if I had them. They would retain the heat and the metal took its time to set off.

I can post photo's if you wish to see what the setup looks like.

In the future, I am considering changing to the bottom half of a 9kg (20 lb) gas cylinder for a casting pot. It may be too heavy for a smelter accept for ladel pouring.

John :castmine:

[buck1]

You will need to support the burner on bricks , but this is what I started with. I used the smaller cast Iron dutch oven. Also the dollar stores often have cheep stainless steel ladles......Buck

http://da.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do

[454PB]

Here's my home made smelting pot. It only holds 20 pounds at a time, but has worked well for me and is easy to handle.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/eddard49/HPIM0529Small.jpg

[Bigjohn]

RedRader,

I was a lovely day outside today so I did some shootin'; both the lead kind and camera.

1761

1762

1763

1764

1765

1766

These photos illustrate what I wrote in the previous entry.

John.