Handling Large Ingots

I recently bought some roughly 35 pound ingots of 3-4% antimony lead and someone asked how I was going to get it into the casting pot. 3 such ingots fit safely in a standard 5 gal propane cylinder with the top cut off. The burner is a $50 Bayou Classic 50K BTU. I tried tipping it before I fired it and it was solid. I still need a windscreen around the pot. After the alloy was melted I stirred in 1.1 pounds of Tin, for the 110 lbs of Alloy, with a wood stick. I used a stainless ladle to pour 4+ pound ingots. Oh and guess what makes a nice lid for a propane tank pot between sessions.

The Rotometals Alloy was really clean.

I like a large pot for smelting. It make for less work when you have odd size chunks of scrap or bigger ingots. It looks like you have a nice batch of alloy in the works.

That looks great! How’s that ProMelt working for you?

I peeled the outer sheet metal off a hot water heater. Knocked the top and bottom off and they're my lids. Holes from piping in the lid is where I stick the thermometer so I don't have to keep peeking to see what's going on. I cut the sheet metal jacket where the thermostat covers are and use those as the entrance for the cooker gas line. Vice grips hold it together when cooking lead and keeps it from blowing away when wrapped around a tree for storage. How's that for recycling? Now your eco friendly.

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Originally Posted by jsizemore

I peeled the outer sheet metal off a hot water heater. Knocked the top and bottom off and they're my lids. Holes from piping in the lid is where I stick the thermometer so I don't have to keep peeking to see what's going on. I cut the sheet metal jacket where the thermostat covers are and use those as the entrance for the cooker gas line. Vice grips hold it together when cooking lead and keeps it from blowing away when wrapped around a tree for storage. How's that for recycling? Now your eco friendly.

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I love it! It's weird not having a scrap of flashing but fire got my spare parts 2 years ago. I do have a water heater in the dump trailer at my camp and will grab the sheet metal next trip. Those Ingot Molds burned too and I spent 2 hours busting the scale off the top sides so I wouldn't get flakes of steel stuck to the ingots.

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Originally Posted by RichardF

That looks great! How’s that ProMelt working for you?

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The Bottom of a Casting Pot should be White or Silver certainly NOT GREEN. If you can't see how are you going to pour top quality boolits?
I had a tiny LED spotlight aimed at the bottom of my Lee 4-20 and will have to do the same to the Pro Melt 2.

The only other weak point I found in the PM2 is sloppy holes in the valve linkage which was an easy fix. I ran the pot 4 hours last night, not even a tiny drip. The reports of drips may have been due to loose linkage not fully closing the valve. (I drilled new holes 1/4" to the right of the existing holes with a "number" drill a thousandth over the screw size.)

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Originally Posted by lightman

I like a large pot for smelting. It make for less work when you have odd size chunks of scrap or bigger ingots. It looks like you have a nice batch of alloy in the works.

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There is so much to do it's nice to have the casting alloy covered. The Pro Melt 2 is sitting on the end of the toolchest and I didn't get 1 decent Boolit out of my new MP HP Mold last night. I think the temperature was fine, I just couldn't see the sprue hole. I'll get a light rigged today but it's time to build a new casting bench …… and a shop to put it in. LOL

Mal Paso was the name of Clint Eastwood's production company. Just a FYI
Good casting
Leadmelter
MI

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Originally Posted by Leadmelter

Mal Paso was the name of Clint Eastwood's production company. Just a FYI
Good casting
Leadmelter
MI

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It's also a the name of a creek/canyon halfway between his houses and mine. We stole it from the same place. A rugby team stole my original moniker. I was driving over Mal Paso Bridge and thought BAD is a Great First Name!

Like you lid. I think I will steal your idea and save me making one out of metal, thanks.

I can't discern what the lid is. Can someone enlighten me?

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Originally Posted by dondiego

I can't discern what the lid is. Can someone enlighten me?

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It's a standard 5 gal plastic bucket lid. I suspect metal 5 gal pail lids would fit too.

OK, I saw the plastic bucket lid but I thought that you were referring to a lid used on your smelting set up.

Actually, the plastic lid from a painter's bucket would go on the smelting pot to keep out water and other things during storage. When I am smelting I don't feel the need for a lid as I am continually jabbing or stirring the mix to separate the debris from the molten lead.