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Here is mine
http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/medium/MVC-063S1.JPG
Propane tank cut just above half
Wash tub cut out for heat shield
Cast iron pot with bottom cut out for heat funnel.
Ingot moulds and dippers and pots for bullet jackets and crud.
Got 72 ingots on first melted pot
Mike
p.s. Total today 176 ingots :)
That looks like a productive day. Here is my set-up. The dutch oven holds my tools until I get started, then it holds the clips and trash. The plywood keeps the drips and splashes off of the floor. The 2 white barrels are the pouring zone. The landing zone is a cart beside the barrels.
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/y...o/IMG_1288.jpg
This is a closer view of my homemade burner and pot. The pot will hold about 400 pounds. The burner can melt that pot of lead in about 20 minutes or so.
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/y...o/IMG_1286.jpg
This is a buddy and fellow caster pouring melted lead and me sitting behind the landing zone, dumping ingots.
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/y...o/IMG_1304.jpg
I have tried to set things up to minimize the bending and moving as much as possible. I smelt in my shop, but it has a large exhaust fan that changes the air several times per minute. This set-up has processed several tons of lead over the years.
Attachment 199246Attachment 199246
No stooping over which is what I strived for.
My back would take a long time to forgive me if I worked bent over. Heck sometimes it gets cranky from just standing at a bench of too long.
The table is metal (used as my welding bench from time to time). The wood surface is a small pallet as a riser to get enough height that I can work standing straight up.
I also use a stool (not shown) and sit at same bench for casting boolits.
Attachment 199258
I set up the side table when making ingots to stack them on for cooling.
The molds are angle iron and make bars with triangular shape that are just the right length for FRSB.
Attachment 199259
So I have a bunch of those SFRB's filled and stacked under the bench on the floor.
Attachment 199260
I sometimes drop in some angle iron to allow using a small pot.
Attachment 199261
I don't do as much scrap melting as I have in the past, more time now spent mixing up pots of alloy.
Those alloy mix ingots are for actual casting in a boolit mold. Since I use scrap I favor large batches that will give me a pile of consistent ingots.
Only down side is it is tight, kids or grandkids can't fit in there with me beside them, have to be over their shoulder or on other side.
That is a model for upcycling and efficiency, putting the heat to work on metal not the great outdoors.Quote:
Originally Posted by skeettx
Really should take a picture of mine some time, it's a real junk yard special. Got a cast iron bucket of about a gallon and a half size, that fits down into what was a section of 8" steel pipe that was split lengthwise and sections added to increase the diameter enough that the bucket just fits down inside it and is held up by the bail attachment ears. This sits on a flat plate welded to an old 15" wheel. A cast iron burner from an old hot water heater is fixed to the flat iron about 4" under the bucket. The regulator I use is from an old camp stove so it's not real high BTU, but I can melt 60-90 lbs of lead in about 20 minutes. First used the setup about 20 years ago.
It's too bad that the bucket cracked part way down the side, now I've got to start over.
I haven't smelted any alloy for a couple years, the link, with photos is 5 yrs old, but it's the same setup as I'll use again this fall.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...nc-never-again
I really expected to see more response to this, even though it gets repeated pretty often. I guess the photobucket shake up took my pictures down.