Propane grill?

[Acorn]

Is a propane grill capable of melting 50lb of lead?

[Delkal]

Is a propane grill capable of melting 50lb of lead?

No. And you will trash your grill. Propane turkey fryers will work and are great for alloying and preliminary melting but they are difficult to control the temp to cast with.

[CastingFool]

I use the side burner on my propane grill to render my lead, but I don't do 50 lbs at a time. My pot is a 30 lb. helium tank, cut in half.

[MrWolf]

Get yourself a turkey fryer and go to your local hardware/propane tank refilling place. They probably charge folks to leave tanks with the older style fill hookups. I got several of them for free from my local place back when and just emptied them and cut with a Sawzall. Cut it real easy. Can hold at least 150lbs of lead. Good luck.
Ron

[country gent]

Look at a propane weed burner and heavy pot on a turkey frier stand.Mine will melt 120 lbs in about 20 mins with out pushing it to hard.

[Bluefink4895]

I use the side burner on my propane grill to render my lead, but I don't do 50 lbs at a time. My pot is a 30 lb. helium tank, cut in half.

A friend of mine tried that...but got carried away with the weight. Flipped the grill over and almost set deck on fire. He had a hard time explaining that one to his wife.

[Rapier]

Propane is hotter than natural gas, first off. It also is, in a raw state, at a much higher pressure than natural gas is normally available at. For proper use you need a very heavy grill frame, to support the heavy cast iron pot and its contents. I use an early 1900s cast iron plumbers pot that holds 100 pounds of molten alloy, the single fish fryer burner melts alloy with ease. My cast iron pot itself weighs 20 pounds. The fish fryer frame is made of 3/4" welded solid steel rod.
The heat itself is not the trick, propane is plenty hot, the frame strength to hold the full pot is 100% of the deal. You must have the strength when red hot to hold the weight of the full pot, including the weight of the pot itself.

[lightman]

I"m going to say probably not. The thermometer on my gas grill only gets to about 500º. Plus the weight needs to be a consideration. Buy a turkey fryer and a cast iron dutch oven from Harbor Freight.And a few ingot molds from Lakehouse.

[country gent]

Going the weed burner and frier stand you need to be prepared to move lead. Your lyman or lee ingot mould at 1 lb ingots is going to slow you down
You will want longer handled tools to stay back from the heat. a bigger ladle, bigger ingot moulds and more of them.
I made my strainer scraper from a small shovel. cut some slits with a 4" grinder and reshaped the end.
the ladle was a 4" weld on pipe cap.
The ingot moulds were 1 1/2" angle iron. 4 ingots to a mould.
all the tools handles were 4' long 3/4" pipe.

The ingot moulds were 10" long.

Cut the angle 10* on each end 10" longI spaced mine 1/4" apart but they could be tight together.
A piece of 1/4" x 2" as long as the mould is wide makes one end a piece of 1 1/2" angle as long as the mould makes the other this gives a tab to get a hold of to dump them. Weld on the outside edges. the angle iron and angled ends allow the ingots to drop easily. These will stand on end in most pots. I made 4 of these and when all were filled the first was just about ready to dump.

The recommendation is while warm stamp each ingot with an ID it will drive in deeper when still warm and years from now you will know what it is. Do this while still in the mould holds the ingots solid and makes it easier.

Each of these ingots will weigh roughly 3 lbs. this will speed up the process a lot.

[gc45]

For many years I melted lead over propane. My setup was a 5 gallon tank with a single burner attachment that fit the nozzle and ordered from the co-op store. By placing an alumimum cooking pot on there I cast my bullets at the edge of our old barn with no issues and never used a thermomiter, just watched the melt turning down the tank volumne handle as needed. When your way out on the farm you improvise best you can.

[gns4me]

I just started smelting again. Using an older Coleman camp stove with liquid fuel (gasoline) and it works great. Only problem have is not overload the 8 qt SS sauce pan I smelt in The cover grate is starting to bow under to much weight (20 + #)

[Skipper]

Acorn, I use one of these:



Amazon carries them...probably Harbor Freight, too.

[Jack Russel]

I use the same as Skipper. Works good,but I only do about 50# at a time.

[dverna]

Another vote for what Skipper posted. Lead is heavy.

One question for those with experience...Will a cement floor survive 100 lbs of molten lead dumped on it?

[Skipper]

Another vote for what Skipper posted. Lead is heavy.

One question for those with experience...Will a cement floor survive 100 lbs of molten lead dumped on it?

God help you if the floor is wet.

[DocSavage]

I use a cast iron pot that will do 25 lbs of lead and my stove is a 2 burner camp stove by Fire Chef. Can be used on a bench but has attachable legs for a stand alone set up. Fuel is a 20 lb propane tank. With the ingot molds I have I can melt 50 lbs of lead in 2 hours or less. I've seen the stove at Dick's Sporting for around $100 and each burner is 30,000 btu.

[Txcowboy52]

I use a propane fish cooker and it works great. Never weighed what I put in the cast iron pot I use but I would say it’s at least 50 pounds.

[GhostHawk]

I like the jet type fryer I bought for dripping lead shot. Have been planning on doing a big smelt on it for 4 years now. Just has not happened yet. I suspect the jet type puts out more BTU's than the round burner type. Something to think about as your comparing options.

[Froogal]

I use an electric hot plate with a 6" cast iron skillet. I never have more than a 3 pound coffee can of range scrap and the hot plate and skillet work quite well.

[max it]

No. And you will trash your grill. Propane turkey fryers will work and are great for alloying and preliminary melting but they are difficult to control the temp to cast with.

Roger that.
And keep lead far from food or cooking. I have a Bayou Gas Burner for lead, outdoors.
Much obliged, Max