Uh..... I'm going to need more ingot molds!

[Mytmousemalibu]

Chief Brody says...

"You're gonna need a bigger smelter!"



So yesterday, by the good graces of Galena, I was blessed with a PILE of the silvery, castable goodness that we all know and love! What you see here is 18 large lead ingots that weigh at least 50lbs, a 25lb'er, and a couple 15-20lb plates. The large, square horseshoe shaped casting is stamped at 1300lbs! For a size comparison, you can see how large those ingots are with a little Lyman 1lb ingot sitting on top of it! As far as BNH of these items goes, not sure yet but it is pretty dang hard. I'm pretty sure this is up there with Lino in hardness if not more. Perhaps Foundry type? Its significantly harder than pure lead. The huge white block was an aircraft nose ballast weight for Challengers & CRJ's, used typically when the engines were being removed or other work that had drastic impact on weight & balance. This piece was no longer fit for service as it has cracked between the mounting points. I'm sure it has some cast-in structure that the mounts tie into or it might be through bolts with big washers underneath. I can't exactly tip it over to have a look but it is mostly lead! Oh, also a shot bag in the there too. Most of this lead was just used for ground ballast. There is lead all over the facility I work at! There is a good chance I'll be able to get more in the future! Oh and this massive pile of goodness only cost the sum total of absolutely free! Well, I did fill up my buddies fuel tanks for hauling it home for me! Not a bad deal at all! I still had quite the smile on my face when I woke up this morning and confirmed that I hadn't been dreaming and a couple thousand pounds of reality was sitting on my shop floor

[Mitch]

Great score!!!I am sure the local propain dealer is like you lol Mine give me a ticket to punch for a free fill up when the ticket is full.this is what dreams are made of now comes all the work and fun of casting bunches of boolits.so how big of pot are you going to make?

[baogongmeo]

Some people have all the luck .
How did you unload the big one?

[Mytmousemalibu]

I have had an idea for a new pot that I need to get fulfilled now, but maybe a tad bigger? I'm thinking I want it to hold about 200-300lbs of alloy, heavy duty all welded construction with an insulated jacket around the pot to get the most out of my BTU's. I have a 500,000 BTU high pressure burner already that I will be using. I'm going to run by a local scrap metal dealer Monday and see if they have the steel i'm looking for. I'd prefer to buy "scrap" instead of new stock from our materials store.

Unloading this haul was a bit of a pickle! I had access to a fork lift for getting it in my buddies truck, which has a topper on it. Got it in and slid in over the axle ok with the fork. At home I have a small John Deere 770 tractor with a bucket on it but the poor thing just can't lift that much weight. I got the pallets drug out to the end of the bed, put the bucket up to the block and used some heavy ratchet straps to pull it into the bucket and hold it there. I gave it full rated RPM and lift pressure to maintain it and backed out of the truck and brought it in to the shop. The ingots I just loaded by hand into the bucket and transferred them to the shop floor too. A bit sketchy but it worked. I'll have to get that white beast cut up to move it again. The Sawzall is going to be my friend!

[lightman]

Great Score! Get all you can, or someday you will wish that you had.

[merlin101]

Do you need a friend?

[Mytmousemalibu]

Do you need a friend?

Sure! Just like winning the lottery huh!

[merlin101]

Sure! Just like winning the lottery huh!

Kinda, but I don't get out your way very often. Speaking of lottery's you DID WIN!

[Mytmousemalibu]

Kinda, but I don't get out your way very often. Speaking of lottery's you DID WIN!

Ya, not a whole lot going on over here in the center of the country. Lottery, ya, i'll roll with that! The Lead Lotto! I'll keep buying tickets to this one!

[jsizemore]

I got 20 - 6 or 12 cavity muffin tins to pour ingots. Makes processing large quantities go quickly. I looked for the nasty used tins. I didn't pay more then a buck for each.

[Mytmousemalibu]

That is always an option! I am seriously thinking about making a couple ingot molds that will fill out to about 5lbs. Small enough to get in the pot if I need. Need to get my gas smelter built 1st. That an cut that white monster down so I can move it. Its parked right in the way of my shop door! If I cut in in two, the tractor can handle that.

[Bzcraig]

I am so stinking jealous

[Mytmousemalibu]

Well after hearing guys on here talking about 55gal drums full of wheel weights and such, I felt much jealousy! I've been on that side of the fence many times in life, its nice to stroll on the other side once in a while!

[Mitch]

2 to 300lb smelting pot all sound great till you have to ladle all the ingots.but who said you jave to fill it up.just thinking you might want a break a bit sooner than 300lbs unless you have plenty of help.i to use muffin tins they fit into the pot just fine.i have always thought of making a ingot mold for about 4 lbd ingot that I could just stand up in the casting pot.good luck with the white monster that is going to take a bit of work to get down to size

[country gent]

Smelting large batches of lead is much easier with big tools. A 300lb pot with a solid heat source can do melt alot of lead in a day. having the approprite ladles, srapers and "spoons" is also important. Several (5-6) ingot molds that cast 4-5 3lb ingots speeds things up considerably, a ladle big enough to pour one of these full in one pass speeds things up even more. a big scraper and strainer make things easier still. I have been there having alloyed 5000 lb batch of range lead years ago. I used the propane pot some truck rims it set in to. I had 3 truck rims cut centers out of 2 so pot sit down inside well and solid. Stoker coal for heat. a few inches in bottom and then the pot with more coal around sides. I got this fired and used a shop vac blowing as a blower. 400lbs would be molten in 1 hour or so. Fluxed a couple times, skimmed jackets and any crud off and fluxed again. My ingot mould made 5 3 lb ingots the ladle was made from a 4" weld on pipe cap with a 4 ft handle this allowed both hands and arms to muscle it. I could pour 3-4 ingots with a ladle full. Went pretty quick like that. Ingot moulds I made were 1 1/2" angle iron cut 5* angle both ends and 2" angle iron ends. 5 of these made one ingot mould For 15 lbs each one. Ladle was a 4" weld on pipe cap with 3/4" pipe handle 4' long but I wished I had used a 6" cap instead. Strainer was a small garden spade with slots cut in it.and a 4" X3/4" handle. Big sessions require big tools.

[Mytmousemalibu]

You bring up a very valid point, i'm going to need to upgrade my smelting tools too, just as you said. I'm thinking about the new smelter having an oversized version of the RCBS bottom pour setup on it but as a side spigot with a shelf to rest the ingot mold on for filling. That or a threaded T-handle into a bottom tap, unscrew to pour type of thing. I have a 100lb propane cylinder to feed a 500,000 BTU high pressure jet burner, it should make short work of the melting dutys. My previous setup was a forced air charcoal burner that did about 75lbs. Coal would have been better if I have easy availability to it. Tired of cinders & sparks. Propane is fairly cheap and easy. I'm going to try to make an insulating jacket to keep as much heat as possible rejecting to the pot. It would probably be a good idea to make me a large ladle along with scraper's & skimmers. Like I said above, good chance I'll be able to get more in the future so I want a solid heavy duty smelter that will stand the test of time. I'm not opposed to using stainless steel if I can get it done without spending an arm and a leg. I'm going to try to go visit the scrap metal yard Monday and see what I can find.

[2ridgebacks]

A big part of doing this efficiently is firebricking around whatever pot you come up with. We were melting huge batches, probably 500lbs plus, faster with a firebricked pot than we were in our small 40lb or so pot. A pot with thick walls to hold heat, a thick bottom to keep from warping and burning out, and firebrick. You will be amazed at how fast the process goes. We have 13, 14lb ingots. It isn't enough with a bottom pour melter.

[RogerDat]

Been some nice jumbo bottom pours on the site. Made from a piece of heavy steel pipe with a flat plate welded to the bottom. Bottom pour was achieved by using threaded rod with a tapered end going into a pipe elbow threaded into the bottom plate. Threaded rod was going through flat stock welded across top of pot. The flat stock had threaded hole for the threaded rod. This provided the threads to move the rod up or down when turned.

Turn handle on top of threaded rod it backed the tapered end out of the pipe elbow, lead flowed out the pipe into mold, turning handle back tightened rod back down so it stuck into the pipe spigot.

Worked well as I recall with decent sized molds made from channel. Molds might have been around 4 or 5 lbs. with maybe 3 channels per mold. That would have been about 12 of 15 lbs. each fill of the mold. 50 - 60 lbs. at a shot with 4 of those 3 channel molds.

I like garage sale and thrift store bread loaf pans. Few inches into one of those (4 of my large ladle) is about 12 lbs. in a nice stacking slab.

I know envy is one of the 7 deadly sins but I wondered if lead envy was some sort of exception as being perfectly reasonable response to someone else's great lead haul.

[Mytmousemalibu]

Well unfortunately I didn't have time to make it to the scrap dealer to scrounge materials. Ill try to get there asap as i'm anxious to get this thing built! For insulation im planning on a stainless steel heat jacket that has a high temperature ceramic insulation inside that is used for kilns. All the heat & flame shall impinge on the bottom of the pot and be forced up the sides of the pot by the heat jacket. It will be affixed to the smelter but removable. I have no doubts that it could probably melt aluminum when done. I still haven't decided on the pour method, a threaded rod or overbuilt RCBS style tap. I appreciate all the ideas and the admirationof the haul guys!

[Nose Dive]

Yup, honey bunch...you gonna need yourself some cupcake tins for sure!!

Found about 15 'used' in a 'liquidator' shop once for 10 cents a pop. Greasy...nasty...just what the smelt pot contents was looking for.
Yes...yes...yes... Lead 'cupcakes' come out a bit 'bubbly' and stained,,,(residual oil left in pans)...but drop soooo nicely in cast pot....

WalMart has'em too.

"BYPASS THE ARGUMENT"... go to WalMart FIRST,,,get some new ones,,,,then raid the wife's cabinet.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.