Ways to speed up smelting?

[John Boy]

Cast iron pot and ...
http://www.harborfreight.com/propane-torch-91033.html

Heats-up to over 3000° F

[dRok]

I hate the idea of melting zincies tho. Gas didnt seem to get hot enough to melt anything, but close, to the point they were getting soft. Anyone know what temperature different fuels like gas, diesel and engine oil will burn at?

[mold maker]

The only thing I recommend is a wind screen that surrounds the flame, keeping it against the pot, and a lid. If you use all the heat your burner makes and contain it in the pot, you'll need less propane, and speed up the process at the same time.
The trash in the WWs will do the fluxing, and you'll have a bright melt as soon as the clips and dross are removed.
I really believe in the KISS method.

[lwknight]

Blasting on top of the ore with a weed burner speeds things up exponentially.
I love my weed burner. I melted a 150 pound weight in a short time with it.
I put the pot under it and blasted away till it was small enough to fit into a pot.

[geargnasher]

Good Lord...Adding gasoline or diesel to a pot of lead to melt is just dangerous and is also adding hydrocarbons and fuel additive chemicals to the lead mix.
Haven't any of you guys heard of a pot lid ? It melts the lead faster and safer...

Gasoline is too volatile to be safe for such things, I read of someone pouring gas on a pile of lead and then lighting it and I can't believe they're not in the ER. Diesel or heavier oils don't evaporate as quickly and fill the surrounding airspace with a stochiometric combination of fuel/air just waiting to go "WHOOSH!" in a ball of fire the instant an ignition source is introduced. Gas does this at room temp, the oils have to be pretty hot before they produce explosive vapors. This kinda reminds me of Blitz being sued out of business because five different people thought it was a great idea to pour gas straight on a fire from the cans, or tried to light BBQ tender with it.

Gear

[zxcvbob]

An old tire burns with a lot of heat. Just sayin'...

[gwpercle]

An old tire burns with a lot of heat. Just sayin'...

And a whole lot of smoke and stink too. We set an old tractor tire on fire that was lying in a ditch when we were kids. That thing burned/smoked for three days. We got a butt whipping I still remember and that was 50 years ago.
I don't burn tires no more.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have always wanted to figure out my propane usage per 100 pounds of ingots, and I never really have. I get so into it, that I never take pictures or do anything but get into the zone when I am rendering. I do the very scientific 'lug' test and I figure I use about 1 gallon of fuel per 100 pound of ingots.

Great question: This is fresh in my mind because
I recently smelted lead in a four day marathon.
I use a Gasoline camp stove and stainless steel pot.
I don't use the Very expensive "coleman fuel",
I use the fairly expensive "non-oxygenated" premuim gas offered in MN.
I smelt in batches of about 30 to 35 lbs.
I get about 3 batches per tank.
a tank holds about a quart.
today non-oxy is $3.80 a gallon.

So, I'm somewhere near $1 worth of fuel for 100 lbs of alloy.

Also, as a double check, I used most of a full 2.5 gallon can.
total smelt was
500+ lbs of WW
200 lbs lino
250+ lbs of battery terms
50+lbs of mystery alloy...probably near pure
6 lbs of 60sn/40pb solder
OH, and my first ZINC comtaminated batch of WW about 15 lbs
Jon

[Longwood]

Only the fumes of gasoline burn.
I doubt fumes burning above a pot of weights would add much heat where it is needed.
I may try used motor oil next smelt.
It burns much differently.
I suspect the heat will be a lot deeper in the pot.

[largom]

Don't understand why everyone is in such a hurry. Life is short and I like smelting, casting, and handloading. I don't need to rush the things I enjoy doing.

Larry

[Longwood]

Looking at an old BBQ, I noticed that the fold-down side-burner would pop off of the unit with a small prying device.
A flat blade screw driver, a small adjustable wrench (5/8) to remove the hose from the main burner and I now have a very nice unit that will be very easy to use.
The Phizo lighter popped out with a quarter turn so I took it also..
The grill in the main unit was heavy duty so I snagged it to use to make a larger, heavier duty, pot support.

Total time to grab it,,,, less than five minutes.
Cost,,, zilch.

The safety gizmo in the new hoses can be gotten around a couple of ways,,, buying a bottle gauge from walmart, being about the simplest.

[michiganvet]

As a retired pipefitter I use a plumbers furnace.

[H.Callahan]

As a retired pipefitter I use a plumbers furnace.

As the son of a now deceased plumber of ~50 years, me too!