Smelter efficiency

I myself have only smelted one batch of lead, but if i wasnt moving and I actually had a steady source of range scrap I would improve on my setup. I have heard many suggestions on this forum that heat up the process and save propane. I was actually going to build a type of rocket stove smelter that burned whatever you threw in the bottom like dried yard clippings branches, grass, plants etc.
For the turkey fryer setup ive heard putting a lid on yer pot and putting a water heater shell around it improves efficiency.

Please recommend another way or ways to improve effeciency, describe your setup and say what you use to flux and your pot's capacity and how much time it takes to process a full pot from cold start.

Hey James,I'm fairly new to casting also.I've casted a few sinkers.Getting into boolit casting seems like a good hobby to go with reloading.I use cedar pet bedding for flux and it works well.I'm going to make some kind of wind screen for my smelting setup and high pressure regulator on the fryer helps too.I dont have a lid for mine yet so I may try some sort of screen to hold off that tinsle fairy.http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imag...e83524e3a6.jpghttp://castboolits.gunloads.com/imag...e83521cea7.jpg

James, Here is a link to my setup. I have about 80 dollars invested in my custom self made smelting pot and another 50 dollars in the turkey fryer. I do my casting/smelting in my shop so I don't have to worry about the wind, rain, or anything else mother nature decides to throw my way. My pot is 17 inches in diameter and 4 1/2 inches deep. It will hold several hundred pounds of molten lead and takes about 30 minutes on initial fire up to get hot. I leave some lead in the bottom and use a lid. This helps a lot!

I have found that pine shavings/pet bedding from walmart works as an excellent flux and use paint sticks to stir with. The sticks are free and the shavings are about a $1.50 per bag.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.. take a look and see what you think.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=146065

Shad

My plain old turkey fryer is running me about $1 per hundred pounds of ww to ingotize them. I start from a cold pot and run maybe 35 lbs at a time in a stainless stock pot.

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/im...NjLYIUGGOLaJw_

One of these square frame turkey fryers with the cast iron burner. I only have a 10psi regulator but it melts aluminum the way I set it up.
I use some cement garden edging blocks to build an enclosure around the sides of the legs of the frame. I leave a slot big enough for the hose to go in and let some air get into the burner mixer. Then you just put a lid on the pot. I use a 3-gallon stainless steel stockpot and get 75# batches.
Really keeps the wind back, holds the heat in, melts twice as fast as before.

Those tripod frames and thin spindly wire leg things scare the **** out of me. I would not use one.

thin leg tripod turkey fryer for heat.
cast iron dutch oven for wheel weight.
run it at a medium heat so it doesn't melt zinc WWs.
when the stuff at the bottom starts to turn to mush, I stir with a wire dipper. to even out the melting.
I scoop out the clips and zinc/steel WWs.
Turn the gas off to make ingots.

I don't add more wheel weights until the lead in the pot turns back to mush and gets stiff. Avoid a visit from the tinsel fairy this way in case a WW is wet.

I use a cast iron corn muffin pan for ingots and a kitchen dipper to scoop out the lead.

I smelt in the garage with doors open.
Usual session takes a couple of hours for a hundred pounds of ww or so.
I do other things in the garage while it is heating.

I have not fluxed yet.

My boolits look fine and shoot good.

With the horrendous wind storm we got last fourth of july, firewood is abundant.
Smelter is not finished however we have already used it...

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I use the bottom half of an old 12lb propane tank for my "smelter" pot. Unscrewed the valve out of the tank and filled it full of water and flushed out the goo that was inside. Used a metal cut off saw to cut the top of the tank off just above the middle weld. Holds well over a hundred lbs. of lead and works well on a turkey fryer burner. Others have used the 20lb. tanks, but I did not want that much weight on my burner. I just enclose the burner the best that I can with some lightweight sheet metal to direct more of the heat to the tank.

I place hands full of sawdust in the pot for flux along with the lead to be melted, as I drop it in the pot so that all the sawdust will be reduced to carbon and ash by the time all is melted. Use plenty of the sawdust as it works great as a flux to get the scrud out of the alloy as well as leaving a clean pot.

Lid on pot makes a HUGE difference !!!

Wind screen (I have used heavy duty aluminum foil) helps also. Wrap around burner and pot.

I've been using a 20 Lb propane bottle that I cut in half. I try not to over fill it and usually run it about half full. Very inexpensive and works very well.

My setup
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...g/d338abe7.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...g/0dcc18ac.jpg

I flux with both gulf wax and sawdust. The turkey fryer is a loaner and is going to be replaced with a square one. I just received a modulating gas valve so I'm going to hook up a PID to control the temp better for dealing with wheel weights. This setup goes from cold to fully melted in as little as 10 minutes. Just depends on how much I crank it up. I melt wheel weights slower. But isotope cores get full throttle heat. New turkey fryer may get a wind screen. I really don't have any issues, even on windy days, so I may not build one.

Almost forgot. I fill the dutch oven up with about 70 pounds at a time. This is maybe 2/3 full at most. It's enough to fill up the two mini loaf pans I use. After that I add more lead and do it all over again.


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Here is my set up. Use natural gas with an old water heater burner and a home made stand of welded angle iron. My wind screen is a metal 5 gal bucket cut off at the right height to contact the bottom of the big stainless salad bowl and cover the stand and burner. When smelting I cover the bowl with a piece of sheet metal. I can melt around 30 lbs at a time.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/l...1/IMG_0001.jpg

Propane turkey fryer , cast iron pot with a lid , insulating shell ,I made mine from a old SS stock pot , a wind break around the fryers base , keep pot no less than 1/4 to 1/3 full at all times it reduces heating time when adding new alloy i usually pour about 25 1 lb ingots every 15 to 20 minutes and then add more metal to the pot. and a thermoter to keep temp below 650 degrees , I drilled a small hole in the pots lid to insert a turkey fryers thermoter stem