HF Electric Burner for smelting?

[prickett]

Last weekend, as I was casting, I placed some ingots on my $10 Harbor Freight electric burner to preheat them. Imagine my surprise when I looked down and the lead was half melted.

I was unaware the burners got that hot. But it got me thinking... could I put a cast iron pot on the burner and melt my wheel weights? I've not heard anyone doing that, so I'm thinking it can't be done. But using a $10 burner and not having to buy propane seems like a pretty good way to cast ingots.

What am I missing?

[oregonshooter]

You are missing wattage. :)

[Buckshot]

.............If you're 'casting ingots' and by this I assume you're smelting down scrap into ingots I doubt it'd work. I don't know how to explain it intelligently other then to say the electric element may not produce a sufficient quantity of heat to quickly and efficiently melt a large batch. Ingots laid directly on the element is one thing, but a container full of WW and other scrap may not be so impressive.

.............Buckshot

[chris in va]

I use a $10 hotplate bought from BigLots. Works decently enough for my purposes. I've melted about 200# of WW with it so far.

[smokemjoe]

The brew houses sell a BIG burner used in making beer, they may work.

[HeavyMetal]

Wattage is the key here!

Small 10 and 20 pound "lots" are not going to be a problem for a hot plate with a 1500 to 2000 watt range but they will pull some "juice" that's a fact.

One of the reasons you haven't heard of guys using electric to smelt with is most, myself included, do batchs in the 100 to 200 pound range per pot full.

Propane is still easier, at least for me, to deal with. 10 buck turkey fryer, tank from my Bar-B-Q an old cast iron dutch oven that I got frm Good Will for 2 bucks and I'm good to go!

Electric may be cheaper, very long term, but I think a hot plate to melt the amount of ww I cook at one time might have a price tag that would scare me.

This is not the use I would put a 10 buck hot plate to work on!

Hope this answers the question.

[Jal5]

Where do you guys find a turkey fryer for $10? I would love to find one that cheap for smelting.

Joe

[HORNET]

Jal5, it can be done but you've got to look around a bit. I had somebody offer me a gas BBQ grill with 1 tank if I'd haul it off at a garage sale last year. Didn't have anyplace to store it...dang!!

[454PB]

Electric melters are slow, however, they can be used for limited smelting. Something as small as a 1000 to 1500 watts works well for small amounts and/or casting, but if you're willing to do a little scavenging and have a 240 volt outlet available, you can do this:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=10127

[montana_charlie]

The guys who have Lee pots can verify this, but I think they are rated at something less than 1000 watts...maybe 700.
Once you get 'enough' wattage to reach lead melting temperature, the next thing to wonder about (with any hotplate) is the thermostat.
Since hotplates are sold as supplemental cooking gear, they are often limited to food cooking temperatures...namely, a maximum of about 500 degrees.

Some alloys will melt at 500 degrees, many won't.

If the thermostat allows a hotplate to reach (say) 800 degrees, you can probably smelt w/w and similar alloys in 'sizeable' batches. A heat shield that encircles the pot will add to the size of the potful you can melt.

All things considered, a 700 watt element will get as hot as a 1000 watt element, but will take longer to get there, and will not keep as large a load of alloy molten.

When I first started casting (round balls in small batches) I did everything...smelting for ingots and casting bullets...on an electric hotplate. That was done with pure lead, which requires more heat than any alloy.
It can be done...if the thermostat doesn't interfere.

CM

[3006guns]

I saw an interesting thread once......perhaps on this forum.....where the caster got a used surface element from a junk electric stove, cut an ordinary coffee can to make a stable base and then wired it with a cord. Can't remember if it was 110 or 220 though. There was no control wired into it so it was on full bore all the time. It worked well, although an OSHA inspector probably would have had a coronary.

[chris in va]

I saw an interesting thread once

See post #9.

[RKJ]

I've smelted about 200 lbs with this http://www.walgreens.com/store/catalog/Appliances/Single-Buffet-Range/ID=prod6000168&navCount=2&navAction=push-product I don't know what it costs in electricity but it works well and at $10.00 I can replace it if necessary.

[RU shooter]

If you want to electric your gotta go 220V !!!! Yes I still use a 110V hotplate and a S.S. dog bowl for casting when I go to camp , but at home 220 V is the way to go .What I did was found a used 4 burner range top someone was junking. I added a base and a pigtail and was ready to roll. I use the bigger burners with a big cast pot for smelting and the smaller burners for casting . Cruise Craigslist or the papers for a range top or even the whole stove. then you have your temp control, burners and stand all in one

[Shiloh]

If you want to electric your gotta go 220V !!!! Yes I still use a 110V hotplate and a S.S. dog bowl for casting when I go to camp , but at home 220 V is the way to go .What I did was found a used 4 burner range top someone was junking. I added a base and a pigtail and was ready to roll. I use the bigger burners with a big cast pot for smelting and the smaller burners for casting . Cruise Craigslist or the papers for a range top or even the whole stove. then you have your temp control, burners and stand all in one

220 is a lot more efficient and will probably have the oomph to smelt lead. sure will be easier on circuits as well.

110 burners pull a lot of juice and really work a circuit if left on a long time. 220 is made for this type of thing

Shiloh

[deerslayer]

220 is a lot more efficient and will probably have the oomph to smelt lead. sure will be easier on circuits as well.

110 burners pull a lot of juice and really work a circuit if left on a long time. 220 is made for this type of thing

Shiloh

I believe propane is made for smelting.

[ItZaLLgooD]

I've smelted about 200 lbs with this http://www.walgreens.com/store/catal...n=push-product I don't know what it costs in electricity but it works well and at $10.00 I can replace it if necessary.

I use one of these for casting. Works well for about 10-12 lbs. I did take it apart and remove the stop on the thermostat.

[geargnasher]

1000 watts gets 8-12 lbs of alloy to 600* or so, the hotplate will work if you make a heat shield and are patient.

Propane, or a good, hot, hardwood fire with plenty of coals and a little help from an air source would be much better.

Some folks have made waste-oil fired smelters, an excellent idea for free fuel.

Gear

[JIMinPHX]

I use a 10 pound cast iron pot on a 750 watt burner from Walmart to do my small quantity rough melting. With a little sheet metal wrapped around it, to keep the heat in, I can get it up to about 900 degrees. If I fill that little pot with shot, it takes about 15 or 20 minutes to melt & about another 5 or 10 minutes to get up to 900 degrees.

[S.R.Custom]

What you're looking at here is the SuperMag Deluxe lead smelting unit. It consists of a coffe can filled with rocks (for stability) and the large element from a junk stove secured to the top of the can with bailing wire. There is no control to the unit, it simply plugs into a 220V source. (I unplug it when the lead is melted.) As someone has mentioned before, wattage is everything. This element is rated at 2600 watts. Because you're dealing with 220V, the wattage carrying capacity of your common extension chord is doubled; what you see in the photo wired to the element is a 16 gauge chord with a 220V plug on the other end.

You'll note the uncanny similarity (pardon the pun) to Ed's unit, featured at the link in his post. While at first it may appear that I owe him some royalties, I can assure you that we came to our designs independently. Anyway...

The cast iron pot holds somewhere between 30 and 40 pounds of lead. It's not the speediest rig in the world --30 to 40 lbs of wheelweights takes about 15 minutes to reach ingot pouring temperature-- but around here the per-BTU cost of electricity is much less than that of propane. And as you can see, I can do it right there at my casting bench. (There is a window and exhaust fan directly behind the bench.)

[454PB]

To give some idea of electric heat capability, 1000 watts is equal to 3415 BTUs. So, an electric stove element like I use (3000 watts) puts out a theoretical 10,240 BTU, or roughly 1/3 of the output of the typical turkey fryer.

On the other hand, electricity is about 11 cents per kilowatt hour where I live, is always there, requires no refilling or fuel storage, and no carbon monoxide if you want to use it indoors.