New burner?

[ulav8r]

I have a turkey fryer I have used one time with a dutch oven found beside a dumpster. Don't know btu output but with a sheet metal shield from ground levet to top of dutch oven it was plenty. Started with wheel weights pile just above top of the rim. As they melted down and I started skimming clips and fluxing. The volume dropped to the point I did not have to worry about lead splashing over the side as I stirred the pot. To hasten the original melt, I poured about a pint of motor oil in the pot as soon as I saw a little melted lead in the bottom. By the time it burned off the weights were mostly melted and I started stirring in pine shavings with a dead cedar limb and got some good clean lead. The frame on the turkey fryer was reinforced so I did not worry about it collapsing.

A bigger pot such as your helium tank will allow more working room as you stir but using too small a load might make it harder to dip out lead as you start to pour molds. Another reason to look for "just the right size".

[Mal Paso]

Mal Paso if you are still following I have question for you from your post at #12. You state you have a Bayou Classic 50,000btu. Do you recall which model? I looked at a couple and they seen to come with different size regulators. One I see was all the way down to 5psig. and another was a 10psig regulator. also could you post a picture if the actual burner. I do believe I will be copying that wind screen.

https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic...5387813&sr=8-2

Comparison shop. Amazon was less than $50 when I bought, might be a better deal on the same model elsewhere.

It's 57,000 BTU but you can turn it down to simmer while you pour so you don't cook your tin.

I bent the steel wind shield on a 36" harbor freight sheet metal brake. It press fits on the outer ring but is stopped by the legs so it's secure.

[mac1911]

Don’t forget that the greater capacity for melting you have, the more ingot moulds you will need. It’s a shame to be burning a lot of propane, just to keep the lead in the pot hot, while you are waiting for your ingots in your moulds cool down and harden, so you can continue pouring. Been there done that.

When I upped my pot capacity this is where I found myself. I went from aprox 50lbs with a dutch oven to close to 100 with the LP tank. I was impatient and dumped the ignots early only to deform them or have some molten lead ooze out. i went back to the 50lb pot for now.

[mac1911]

I've used a cheap lowes turkey fryer burner for years.

About 6 months ago I decided to splurge and upgrade.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This thing flat out gets it done. I no longer waste a bunch of time on the melt. Really keeps things rolling.

200,000 BTU

This one uses the same burner as the one you listed on Amazon. I went with this one over the one you listed simply because it listed the actual capacity of the legs, 400lbs.

I couldn't find a weight rating for the other one. It will probably hold the weight...but seeing it in writing got my vote.

And I've personally had about 200lbs on it without any concerns. It's much sturdier, and larger, in person. I was very impressed when I was putting it together. Very beefy and gives a lot of confidence. Last thing I would want is the thing buckling under a molten load.

i have the same burner frame but only 80 or 100 btu ? I was going to buy a new burner and install it on my old frame. Hope to see some sales coming up or score a larger BtU burner at a yard sale.

[iomskp]

Go for a small pottery kiln burner, mine is around 200,000 BTU's, if it gets too hot you can always turn it down.

[kmw1954]

Go for a small pottery kiln burner, mine is around 200,000 BTU's, if it gets too hot you can always turn it down.

From what I am finding all those 200,000btu burners are larger than the pot I'm going to be using.

[kmw1954]

A decision has been made and the Winner is:https://www.amazon.com/GasOne-Portab...VV5C3H66N22JQK

Should be here Sunday.

[Conditor22]

A decision has been made and the Winner is:https://www.amazon.com/GasOne-Portab...VV5C3H66N22JQK

Should be here Sunday.

the burner looks good, I would be concerned about the weight capacity of those legs. Test them before you start smelting on them.

[kmw1954]

Yeup, already have plans for a pipe reinforcement and only using them at the 15" level. From some reviews I've been reading this burner has also been being used by beer brewers with huge pots of water boiling.

[Jtarm]

I see ample options for fryers/burners, but what I’m having difficulty finding is a suitable pot.

I don’t plan on an industrial operation, yet, but my supply of clean alloy is used up and I have about 200 lbs of COWW I want to smelt.

I bought a close out 8qt SS stock pot at Wally World, was thinking of doing maybe 40 lbs this weekend on a camp stove to see how it goes. Will a stock pot not take the heat? It’s pretty damn thin.

Not finding a damn thing in the D/FW thrift stores.

[Vdubman27]

You could check restaurant supply places I got a big burners with super heavy dirty frame that should hold 100lbs easy not that I will do that much in one shot also getting a cast iron Dutch oven from harbor freight have a big stainless ladle to dip in out with I’m not in a huge hurry it is hot in so cal right now but come October/November I’ll be ready to go go with what will work for you just be sure it can handle the weigh and has the power to melt the quantity you want to work with

[Jtarm]

You could check restaurant supply places I got a big burners with super heavy dirty frame that should hold 100lbs easy not that I will do that much in one shot also getting a cast iron Dutch oven from harbor freight have a big stainless ladle to dip in out with I’m not in a huge hurry it is hot in so cal right now but come October/November I’ll be ready to go go with what will work for you just be sure it can handle the weigh and has the power to melt the quantity you want to work with

I might try the HF Dutch oven.

As a DO cooker, the prospect of using a perfectly good one for lead just...oh, nvm, it’s Harbor Freight.

[Mal Paso]

Restaurant Supplies have steam table inserts that are heavy gauge stainless steel. I used that before the propane tank. I would take thin stainless steel over cast iron I wasn't absolutely sure of. Cast iron can fracture.

[kmw1954]

Great day for me! My Amazon order arrived a day early and this morning bright and early I was able to get to the range before they opened and work the berm for about 1.5hrs. Haven't weighed it yet but I'm guessing I got 150+ lbs. and that was again with just a small sifter and from and area about 4" diameter and no digging.

[Jtarm]

Restaurant Supplies have steam table inserts that are heavy gauge stainless steel. I used that before the propane tank. I would take thin stainless steel over cast iron I wasn't absolutely sure of. Cast iron can fracture.

Something like this?


https://www.amazon.com/Benchmark-567...707522&sr=8-16

[Mal Paso]

Something like this?


https://www.amazon.com/Benchmark-567...707522&sr=8-16

Yes. The ones I found are NSF approved and the heavy gauge is part of the specification.

[Three44s]

My first stand alone smelting set up was a Farm disc blade (outside cutting edge faced down) with a short piece of Well casing centered and tacked on top of it.

I cut hole in the side of the well casing down where it joined the disc blade large enough for a weed burner head to slide in and turn up vertical.

At the top of my well casing stand I cut a steel plate to fit a cast iron lead pot I already had, a rather large one.

The way I cut it was so that the pot nested down into the plate but not enough so that it slipped through.

The weed burner head was unscrewed from the torch handle and a 90 degree black iron pipe elbow was screwed onto the handle and the torch head was screwed into the “90” but with a short black iron pipe nipple added to make the connection.

My old burner head is 1/4” NPT so it is very standard stuff.

I have all the heat in the world but can size my plate to any size pot that will fit in my well casing stand. I can feather my flame to what ever my needs are.

But member Shaggybull out did himself.

We have not used it yet but he hauled off .... well hauled IN a smelting pot to just about “take the cake”!

I have to move his contraption with a front end loader as it came loaded with solid lead re-solidified!

It is a heavy cast iron brake drum off a full size diesel truck with the lug nut bolt face plated off so that it is “lead tight”.

There are three pipe legs on it but their narrow stance gives me pause as to its stability and a shelf under it for a burner. I am planning on modifying the leg situation to a safer condition and add larger feet.

SB thinks he scored about three hundred pounds of lead with include smelting pot for his $25 investment, I am thinkin’ he is a might lite on the poundage as this drum is ball park 17 or 18” ID and 5” deep!

It has its work cut out though! A few months before he scored a 3800# counter balance off a scrapped forklift for a classified amount of green. There is a steel jacket that likely weighs around 400# or less to cut off the rest which is solid lead.

We are going to have to suspend that counter balance and place a twosome or threesome of torches under it to drip the lead on to a steel plate, then fetch the just melted lead out and smelt it into SB’s Souped Up Super Smelter (brake drum).

Kind of makes my yet to be smelted 1000# of WW’s and 500# of plumbers and roofers lead sort of look kind of peuny don’t it?

Something tells me my Lyman and Lee ingot molds are just ain’t up to the challenge!!

Well I got angle iron, I got acy torches and cut off wheels, a welder and even a “hammer” or three .....

Three44s

[GregLaROCHE]

For those following, that are considering melting lead scrap, a dutch oven is a great way to start. A sheet metal ring around the burner and pot really makes a difference.

[44magLeo]

For a Dutch oven my local Wal Mart has one, I think it was 5 or 5.5 qts for $17.99. Look in the sporting goods camping section.
My burner works but it never has burned clean, The flame was always very yellow no matter where I adjusted the air do hickey. Sooted up the cooking pots.
I removed the air adjuster do hickey and drilled extra holes for air. Burns cleaner but if I turn it up very high it tends to blow itself out.
Once the leads gets melted it holds temp ok but slow to get the lead melted unless I help it with the weed burner. Not sure of BUT's but has a 3000* flame. It throws a lot of heat.
After reading this thread and doing some research on burners I have ordered a new burner. Not a complete one, just the burner. I'll put it on my frame. It's the GasOne 6" banjo with the 20 psi. regulator and hose. Rated at 110,000 BTU's.
Using what I had left on my Amazon Gift card, $5.21 I got the burner for $22.86 shipped. It should be in the end of the week or early next week.
I think it's the same burner that's in kmw1954's new rig. This should get things going better.
I'll fiund out shortly.
Leo

[kmw1954]

44magLeo, I truly believe you are going to be impressed with that burner. It's the same one that is on my new one and it cranks. With my 9.5" cut off pot I can't even turn it all the way up or the flame will overwhelm the pot and I'd just be wasting gas.