New bottom pour smelting pot!

[captaint]

shadowcaster - Come on, man....That's a little TOO nice, isn't it?? Wanna make me one?? Nice job, really. enjoy Mike

[Budmen]

I was planning one of those sweet hoods you made what may I ask Did you use for a blower? and on the end outside? By the way great setup all the way!!!!

[Moonman]

That's a really serious deal you've built yourself. Good smelting and shooting.

[shadowcaster]

Hammerlane,
While smelting with a dutch oven and ladle, I got to thinking there should be some way to do this with a bottom pour pot. Larger capacity, cleaner lead on the bottom of the pot, and an indoor setup. I had to do some real brainstorming on how to close the spout. Most valves that you buy have plastic or teflon in them. I figured I could open and close the hole by raising the shaft up or down, and I needed to have control of the flow. That's when the threaded section came to light. Also, the hole is a tiny bit smaller than the shaft and the bottom of the shaft is tapered to a point, so that if I need to close it quickly it will always line up with the hole. The shaft has the threads removed where it comes in contact with the lead.

Shad

[shadowcaster]

Budmen,
I am using a 500 cfm inline blower in the ducting and it sits about half way, but the run of pipe to the outside is short. (only about 4 feet) I may upgrade to a squirrel cage blower if I find that the smokier stuff like radiator drippings is too much for the blower to keep up.

Shad

[shadowcaster]

captaint,

shadowcaster - Come on, man....That's a little TOO nice, isn't it?? Wanna make me one?? Nice job, really. enjoy Mike

How much do you want to spend?

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

What are you using for the actual burner? That looks like it needs a lot of BTU's to heat up.

Rich

[shadowcaster]

Idaho Sharpshooter,
It's a Kamp Kitchen high pressure cooker (58,000 btu's) basically a turkey fryer. Because the base of the pot is larger that the square of the burner, it heats up quickly and there is very little heat loss. There is a 3 inch chunk cut from the front of the burner to allow for direct heat to the spout. It's really quite efficient!

Shad

[shadowcaster]

Thanks to all.. for the great comments and questions!!

Shad

[Dale53]

shadowcaster;
I am seldom (if ever) envious of other people or their things. Bling means little to me. I do not envy the rich. I am basically a person genuinely happy with himself and his lot in life.

However, and I say HOWEVER, I AM envious of your smelter!

I daresay that there would be a market for that melter if it could be fabricated for a reasonable cost (of course, shipping could present certain problems). Something for you to think about...

Dale53

[ssnow]

It looks really nice. Congrats on a job well done.

[kbstenberg]

Shadow I hope you don't mind my copying your spout setup? Easy an simple.

[pistolwhipped]

nice work pops, i really can appreciate the plunger control valve. thats brilliant thinkn. now for a few mopar projects attention...

[fullofdays]

GROUPBUY! I'm in

[CollinLeon]

Is the hole in the bottom plate of the pot tapered on the sides or did you just drill it straight through with a drill bit?

I've seen ones where it appeared that the builder took a 45 degree or so countersink to widen the mouth of the hole...

Apparently, they are using something like this:

[shadowcaster]

Is the hole in the bottom plate of the pot tapered on the sides or did you just drill it straight through with a drill bit?

I've seen ones where it appeared that the builder took a 45 degree or so countersink to widen the mouth of the hole...

The hole in the bottom plate is drilled straight through. The shaft is larger in diameter than the hole, and it's the shaft that is tapered to a point so that it lines up with the hole every time it's screwed down to close the valve. I have never had it leak after making a pour, and it's easy to control the flow.

Shad

[CollinLeon]

The hole in the bottom plate is drilled straight through. The shaft is larger in diameter than the hole, and it's the shaft that is tapered to a point so that it lines up with the hole every time it's screwed down to close the valve. I have never had it leak after making a pour, and it's easy to control the flow.

Thanks... A couple more questions...

What diameter hole did you use?
What is the widest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft?
What it the smallest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft?
How long is the tapered section?
What did you use to perform the tapering? Lathe? Drill press? Hand drill?

[shadowcaster]

Originally Posted by shadowcaster View Post
The hole in the bottom plate is drilled straight through. The shaft is larger in diameter than the hole, and it's the shaft that is tapered to a point so that it lines up with the hole every time it's screwed down to close the valve. I have never had it leak after making a pour, and it's easy to control the flow.

Thanks... A couple more questions...

What diameter hole did you use?
What is the widest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft?
What it the smallest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft?
How long is the tapered section?
What did you use to perform the tapering? Lathe? Drill press? Hand drill?

The diameter of the hole in the bottom plate is 7/16 inch.
The widest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft is 1/2 inch.
The smallest diameter of the tapered section of the threaded shaft is 1/8 inch.
The tapered section is 3/8 inch long.

My brother has a small lathe that I performed the tapering of the shaft. This could also be accomplished with a grinder and a 45 degree jig, then put in a drill or drill press and finished up with a file and sand paper. I started with a piece of 5/8 inch all thread, turned the lower section down to 1/2 inch to remove the threads, then finished with the taper.

Shad

[jlala504]

I really need to talk my roommate into welding me up something like this. Thanks for posting picture and descriptions.

[smokinthelast1]

Thanks for sharing Shad thats Awesome work!