Close but no cigar?

[WestKentucky]

I got a bunch of stuff in that I have recently ordered so today I decided to try to make my first few ingots as I did some other stuff in the garage. I put some scrap lead in my Dutch oven, hot plate on high and let it go for about 20 minutes. The lead was wheelweight alloy and damaged fishing weights that had been melted by a friend years ago and cast into swift water fishing weights. It’s essentially a V shaped copper wire in wheelweight alloy anywhere from 2 to 5 inches long. About 10 pounds of it, not a bunch but enough to learn a bit on... or so I thought. I couldn’t get it to actually melt on my hot plate. The hot plate is a 1000w 115v unit off of Amazon with it cranked to max the lead started to break down like it was melting but it more crumbled than it did anything, and would not actually melt. I put a propane torch on it and within about 30 seconds the whole pot was liquid. I’m thinking my hot plate just won’t get hot enough. I could hear a thermostat kicking in and out as it heated so I believe I got full temperature. The other thing I’m concerned with is that it may be a load of zinc in the pot. I have dealt with zinc in an industrial setting and what I saw looked a lot like molten zinc, but I haven’t ever seen molten lead to compare. The one thing that really stood out to me was the visible grain of the material as it got to max temp. It got shiny like it was melted but it looked like grains about like sand. It could be stirred but it even stirred like wet sand. So with that said, what’s the next move? Return the hot plate and spend some money on a Big Dipper or Lee pot? Get known alloy and try again? Is there a good way to determine how much zinc is in the alloy?

[lightman]

I would keep the hot plate. Many of us use them to pre heat our bullet molds. Buy a turkey fryer burner and melt your lead, stir it and flux it good and cast it into ingots. Then you can check them for zinc by using acid. The grainy stuff you are seeing is possibly antimony, a metal used in wheelweights. If it is zinc contaminated store it away and use it later. When you get another batch of lead you can slip a little of your contaminated lead into the good stuff. You can cast good bullets with a small % of zinc.

[imashooter2]

If you wish to melt Dutch oven quantities, you need a heat source adequate to the task. Your hot plate will not do the job. A turkey fryer or banjo burner is the typical choice.

ETA, your alloy is probably fine.

[Conditor22]

try flame next time ie: camp stove (minimum) or turkey fryer

[gbrown]

I use a propane burner that has served me for years, same as turkey fryer, just sits flat on a piece of plywood. Burner on a stand (turkey fryer?) works as well. Key is to have a thermometer, keep track of the heat. I try to keep my temp around 750. One is a clip on, one is an NOE. One has a clip to hold it to the pot.

[Whole Bunches]

Hot plate designed for cooking, not lead melting. The clicking is it cycling on and off to not get too hot. I had the same problem. Electrician friend opened the hot plate and told me he clipped one wire. It now does not cycle on and off, but runs full power no matter what the setting and melts my scrap lead just fine.

[fredj338]

Yeah the hot plate is useful for warming molds & ingots to add to the pot but pretty useless for meting scrap. Propane is your friend.

[oley55]

funny things those hot plates and melting lead. As you found the hot plate doesn't quite have enough raw heat output. They won't melt lead when you want, but will when you don't. I struggled (and still am) to come up with the right hotplate setup to heat my mold and preheat ingots. I can't seem to get the mold (a Lyman 4 cavity) hot enough (only about 400 degrees) before my ingots start melting sitting beside it. I've created a slight dead air space for under the lead ingots, but still a work in progress.

Just whining I guess because it just doesn't seem like it should be this difficult.

[FISH4BUGS]

Years ago I bought a Buffalo Arms propane burner....something like 75,000 btu's. With a cast iron pot on top and a wind breaker around the fire, this thing can easily melt 100 lbs of ww's at a time. I did a bunch of smelting sessions a 10 years back and loaded a bunch of 5 gallon buckets with ingots. They are getting down so I may have to to another session.
You need the heat source to be more than you think you need. The 1000w simply isn't going to do it.
The Lee 4-20 is not for smelting. Casting yes, smelting no.
Something like this would work and last you the rest of your life.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Martin-65...Hose/675371706