Thrift store score - Be On the Lookout

[RogerDat]

I found a 1000 watt hot plate at the local salvation army. Open coil design 6 inch diameter burner. Have wanted one of these for awhile.

Most hot plates are only 650 - 800 watts. Not enough heat for melting say plain lead at 750* in a cold or cool garage.

Hot plates available new that have a "solid surface" burner are great for pre-heating molds, spoons, ladles etc. But the heat transfer and way the control heat isn't that great for a pot of lead.

Solid surface burners unlike the older coil burners seem to all use a cycle thermostatic heat control. It cycles on and off trying to maintain a temperature. The older coil style the temperature control was more likely to be set up to control the amount of current flow to a set value to control the temperature. Which means if you turn the old style ones temperature dial to high the current flow stays on high, instead of cycling on and off more frequently. Huge difference when melting a pot of lead.

So if you happen to see one of those coil burners in a garage sale of thrift store it is worth turning it over to locate the power label where it will specify the voltage and wattage of the device. Any coil burner is likely to work better due to not going through on & off cycles, along with the potential for a higher wattage burner.

[kevin c]

Good find.

The SA's and Goodwills out my way don't seem to carry much in the way of flat, open element hot plates. You want a waffle iron, or slow cooking crock pot, or a George Foreman grill, no problem, but no hot plates.

[dimaprok]

I bought mine on Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/GAU-80305-Ele...gateway&sr=8-4 I think originally I paid $15 but I've seen it in local walmart later exact burner for 10.99 under different brand. I believe I melted some lead in it but not really suitable for that, the weight and all, it's not exactly heavy duty. I use it mostly to preheat my molds but stopped doing that also. The reason is that I noticed it takes longer to heat the lead pot. I could be imagining but I started just using my home original cooking stove to preheat, it runs on 240V line anyway and not far from my casting place.

P.S. I also bought induction cooktop in thrift store for $20, it's 1800 watt but it's limited to something like 450 degrees. I think I'll take it apart and wrap the litz wire coil to make induction melter for Zinc melting and casting.

[RogerDat]

This is the kind we find at our local Walmart stores. Great as a mold heater but just doesn't do the job for melting.
https://www.amazon.com/Elite-Cuisine...CNCNRZ5V7WR29X

I'm not too worried about weight, this is mostly for small batch stuff, mixing 20 or 30 lbs. of alloy. Maybe melting a few pounds of scrap pewter. The lower wattage ones would get a rim of solidus around the surface edges if the garage was too cool or cold.

Yeah what is it with the George Foreman grills? Just based on what I have seen flow through the local Salvation Army he must have made about a gazillion dollars of those things.

I did get a couple of "Little Dipper" crock pots that I can use to melt bees wax & crisco in to dip Minnie bullets for the muzzle loader. Or use as a heated water bath to soften home brewed tumble lube which always stiffens up, and is never welcome in the kitchen microwave.

[kevin c]

Nah, not a gazillion. If you believe Wikipedia, the grill only made George $200 million or so...

[Bookworm]

Nah, not a gazillion. If you believe Wikipedia, the grill only made George $200 million or so...

Sounds like there's more money in kitchen gadgets than there is in getting punched in the face.

Sure wish I'd known that back in my bar- fighting days.....

[6bg6ga]

I just threw away my old hot plate that had been sitting for years.

[vagrantviking]

Years ago started my casting career with an open element hot plate like you describe. It worked well but had a couple drawbacks.

The biggest was spilling a little lead on the elements would cause the element to break. Then you would have to grab the end and stretch it across the gap carefully so as not to break off more. This was a pretty ancient device so maybe a newer one would take the abuse better.
If I were to get another one I would try to keep the elements covered by a steel plate or a pot large enough to cover them entirely.

[Walks]

I bought mine new at Target, 3yrs ago (1000watt) when I started casting again. Old one was dead, and it was OLD. Had a fabric wrapped cord.
New one will melt lead on high, so I hafta turn it down for warming ingots after I pull off the molds and start casting.
Put a cast iron diffuser plate on mine. Line ingots up over hanging the edge for easier "grabbing"

No GW or SA near me that have anything worthwhile in years.

[smoked turkey]

Good Find on your open element hot plate. I am on the hunt for one too. I plan on putting a small square piece of something like 1/8th to 3/16th steel plate on top of it to aid in heat transfer to my mould prior to casting. I currently use a small one that really is more of a coffee warmer than a heater. It gets some heat on the mould, but not enough for hotter mould heating and better boolits sooner in the casting process. Am I right in assuming the preheated mould needs to be on the order of 550° prior to casting?

[lightman]

My $10-$12 Walmart unit works well for preheating my molds. I never though about using it to melt lead. I have a piece of 1/8th or 3/16th steel plate over mine and the last time I was preheating ingots while casting I forgot about them and a few of them melted!

You can find a bargain at thrift stores sometimes, for sure. I'm looking for a good quality stainless steel stock pot, something in the 4 to 8 quart range to melt solder or pewter in. Have not found one yet.

Just for curiosities sake I guess I should look at the label on mine. I don't know how many watts it pulls. Idle minds.............

[jaysouth]

Now that I am fully retarded (that's how we pronounce "retired" in TN) I spend a lot of time trolling flea markets, thrift stores and yard sales.

I have an open coil hot plate that I paid $2 for at a yard sales. I have an 8X8" piece of 1/2# steel plate to put on top. At low temp it heats molds and on medium it will cure powder coated bullets standing up on their end. Over the years I have acquired pots, ladles, and measuring spoons for making MML+ lube and around the casting pot. I like cheap, but free is better. Show up at a yard sale at the exact hour it ends. Lots of folks will give stuff away rather than carry it back to the attic.

[kevin c]

Good Find on your open element hot plate. I am on the hunt for one too...Am I right in assuming the preheated mould needs to be on the order of 550° prior to casting?

My local Ace carries both the solid plate and coil type hot plates, with one or two burners. Of course, you won't be paying five bucks.

For mold preheating, I've read suggestions here of 350 to 450 degrees. For me, I set my eight cav aluminum molds on the red hot burner for a couple or three minutes and then start casting. The first couple fills drop heavily frosted and undersized boolits that go straight into the sprue pan. After that if I keep the right cadence I get the even satin surfaced boolits that are keepers.

[kevin c]

...I'm looking for a good quality stainless steel stock pot, something in the 4 to 8 quart range to melt solder or pewter in...

You know, lightman, I had been thinking along the same line, and actually got the pots in that size and a bit larger (I have a LOT of pewter, some of which is 12" or more in at least one dimension), figuring to use the hot plate as a more controllable heat source than my propane turkey fryer (so I could keep the melt just above tin liquidus and fish out any zinc parts that I've been told can be present in pewter items). But then my casting mentor (and rogerdat also) mentioned a potential problem - the hot plate may not produce enough heat to melt pewter and maintain all of it in a liquid state if it's in a big pot that can lose a lot of heat from the sides. He pointed out that the element is only 6" diameter or so, and will only heat the part of the bottom of my pot that actually touches it. The rest of the pot's bottom and sidewalls will conduct heat from the area in contact but also lose it by radiation and conduction to the air, with more loss the further away from the element. At some distance the loss will bring the temp below liquidus of the pewter, and will refreeze the metal in the pot. I could end up with a small puddle of molten pewter in the middle of the pot surrounded by frozen half melted pewter. The bigger the pot, the smaller the element, the lower the wattage, the worse the problem. A flame, he said, is different in that the heat is in the air and can flow and heat whatever it flows over or around, which includes the sides of the pot. Casting pots are different because the element is wrapped around the sides of the pot.

I haven't melted my pewter yet, so I don't know if this will really happen. I do see the logic, though. Just something to consider.

[skeettx]

ALWAYS good to have a warming place for molds and ingots
Especially the H&G 10 cavity molds !

[RogerDat]

I just used the hot plate to do some pewter and it worked very well. I'm kicking myself for not having bought one sooner. It just flat out gets hot. Picked up a 6 inch diameter pot at a garage sale to go with it. Steel riveted handle and all metal lid. Was hoping for plain metal inside but this one had non-stick surface. Had being the significant point. One pot of molten lead later not so much. But burning that off is a bit smelly. If I do it again I'm doing it outside on the fire pit.

Going to take some getting used to. The old solid surface hot plate I would just go to med to heat molds, spoons, ladles etc. and high could on a warm day keep pewter liquid after I melted in larger pot on turkey fryer. This one can actually melt pewter and darn fast, don't need to be on high to do it either. Need to find the point on the dial where I'm melting pewter, casting alloy, plain lead so I don't have it so hot zinc will melt.

Never thought of using a metal plate on an electric burner to PC bullets, I can see that working. So many good ideas floating around here. I have heard of people using an old saw blade as a burner plate. Seems like that would work pretty well. I'm looking forward to being able to drop sprues in and have them re-melt for dumping back in the pot. My solid surface one just couldn't melt them fast enough to have them liquid when it was time to pour them back in the Lee pot.

[kevin c]

Good to hear that the six inch pot worked. When I get my to do list down to a reasonable level I'll try my bigger pots on my coil hot plate (the burner is rated at 1000 watts).

[Jackpine]

My first smelting setup was a ten dollar hot plate from Walmart. Smelted MANY hundred of pounds of wheel weights on it using a cast iron pot that perfectly covered the elements. Always left a half inch of lead in the bottom of the pot for the next time. Warm up and melting of the WW was much faster that way. Also, did not ill it much past half full, as efficiency dropped off, due to heat loss. Still use it every time I cast to pre melt ingots to feed my PID controlled Pro Melt, so recovery time, even when casting 500 grain bullets, is almost nil. Bought a second on a year or so ago, and altho it is also rated at 1000 watts, don't think it has as much heat output.

[bishopgrandpa]

Put a circular saw blade on the open element to spread the heat.

[john.k]

With a coil element ,a heavy bottom pot is best......I made mine from pipe with a 1/2 thick steel base that covers the hotplate........and use a coffee tin over the outside to keep cold wind off......Dunno how many have warned me about using light gage tins to melt lead.......only trouble is mine is an old stove,and I cant sit down to cast.......so i am on the lookout for a hotplate.