initial melting

[perimedik]

been looking through some threads, checking youtube.

I noticed that a lot of people melt WW or scrap in a pot or cast iron skillet on a burner of sorts. Then when it comes time to cast the actual projectile they use the furnace.

is it because the furnace is hard to clean once soiled with WW junk?
Would a 12inch cast iron skillet and coleman stove suffice to melt WW?
How long does one of the small propane tanks 16oz last?
Can it generate enough heat?

I think my wife would spaz if she sees me with a turkey frier or the likes in the backyard with a boiling cauldren of lead.

I am looking ti K.I.S.S. to start.
Thanks in advance

[imashooter2]

Lots of lead has been melted on a Coleman stove.

The small propane tanks will kill you. Get an adapter for the large tanks or find a liquid fuel stove at a yard sale.

You'd be better off with a 2 quart stainless sauce pan than the 12 inch skillet.

Bottom pour pots used for cleaning dirty WW get crud in the valve and start leaking. They're also more difficult to skim and lack capacity.

[Cowboy T]

For initial wheel weight meltdown, I use a 5qt Dutch Oven on a propane turkey fryer stove, for the reasons imashooter states. This is where you clean your lead and ladle it into ingots. I use an old steel muffin pan for my ingot mould, hence "muffin ingots". Corn bread pans are also popular.

But wait...why not just use that pot full of freshly cleaned, and still molten, lead? A lot of people do. They ladle that beautiful, silvery lead straight from the Dutch Oven into their moulds, and that's the traditional way to do it.

Well, that begs the question: why do a lot of us use a separate pot with a downpour spout? Speed of casting. I use aluminum 6-cavity moulds, and I can easily bang out 400 good boolits in 30 minutes of work. You can't go nearly that fast with the ladle method.

So, Dutch Oven for cleaning, downpour-spout pot for boolit casting. Good combination.

[imashooter2]

I dipper cast for more than twenty years with a yard sale liquid fuel Coleman and a 2 quart stainless pot...

[Cowboy T]

Yep, the dipper/ladle method has worked for many decades before most of us were born. It's time-proven.

[fredj338]

Lots of lead has been melted on a Coleman stove.

The small propane tanks will kill you. Get an adapter for the large tanks or find a liquid fuel stove at a yard sale.

You'd be better off with a 2 quart stainless sauce pan than the 12 inch skillet.

Bottom pour pots used for cleaning dirty WW get crud in the valve and start leaking. They're also more difficult to skim and lack capacity.

Exactly! I used to use a 20# open top Lyman for smelting then started accumulating more lead so bought the cast iron pot & an old E-bay turkey fryer for $25. My Lee BP pots never leaks since I stopped adding dirty alloy to them & never let them run out, just puts the crud at the bottom of the pot.

[perimedik]

OK cool, Time to hit a few yard sales this weekend.
Thanks guys, this site has been really helpful to far

[lwknight]

Wally world and tractor supply both have lodge brand cast iron dutch ovens. 5 quarts is like 30 bucks and 8 quarts is something like 40 or so.

[imashooter2]

2 quarts is about maximum on a Coleman stove. The larger pots work great on turkey fryers though.

[Ole]

@ $3/cylinder, this little gadget will pay for itself pretty quickly if your stove runs on those 16.4oz propane cylinders.

A 20# propane tank (like the one your gas grill uses) costs about $12 to fill and it will refill about 20 of those disposable cylinders.

[perimedik]

@ $3/cylinder, this little gadget will pay for itself pretty quickly if your stove runs on those 16.4oz propane cylinders. A 20# propane tank (like the one your gas grill uses) costs about $12 to fill and it will refill about 20 of those disposable cylinders.

That looks cool, however, how do you not over pressurize the small tank?
Is there a pressure gauge on it or once it equalizes it is done?

Just curious.

Anyway I got my coleman 2 burner stove today.

Gonna try a few yard sales tomorrow for the .25 cent steel pot. If not the dollar store.

[Ole]

That looks cool, however, how do you not over pressurize the small tank?
Is there a pressure gauge on it or once it equalizes it is done?

Just curious.

There is no more pressure in a 20# tank than there is in a 1# tank. It's just bigger.

Put the empty, 16.4oz tank in your freezer for an hour or so, install the adapter on your 20# tank, screw the small tank on, then turn the whole assembly upside down and open the valve. Takes less than a minute.

I use a scale to weigh the disposable cylinder before and after filling.

[evan price]

I remember back in the day when I was in Boy Scouts we used the small cylinders for our lanterns and the 20# tank for the cookstove. One of the Scoutmasters would refill them from a 20# tank before we broke down the camp, the old small tanks had a bleeder screw you'd open with a small screwdriver to let the vapor out... you held the small tank at a 45 degree angle, when liquid started coming out you closed the bleeder and stopped filling it.

[bslim]

20 # cast iron pot with a turkey fryer burner assembly works great. If I screw up a batch, I'm not looking at scrapping a lot of good material. Just keep it hot enough to melt the lead, but not hot enough to melt zinc.

[captaint]

midik - you go ahead and start with whatever you can. Good you got the Coleman stove. Listen to the guys here, they know what's up. You'll know when it's time to get something different. Have a great time... Mike