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Thread: One home smelting production setup

  1. #41
    Boolit Master




    Old Ironsights's Avatar
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    Partsproduction: I like the looks of that setup. Very clean. What are you using as the pot/valve?

    Here's my current setup... I have to haul it out of the basement every time I want to smelt. PITA actually... makes it so I can only get about 2 buckets (about 250#) done a day...]




    The 12qt steel stock pot will hold (almost to the brim) 2 full 5gl buckets of melted WWs (weighed in at 260#).

    I pulled 8qt (20#) of clips & 4 floaters off the melt.

    Ended up with 105 2#+ (about 2-1/12# av) ingots for not qiote 220# total.

    Total loss to Clips, Dirt & burnoff = 40#.
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  2. #42
    Boolit Bub
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    Wink Thanks

    Thanks for the plans for the bottom pour design. It is much quicker then my soup ladle.

  3. #43
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    Great setups! I have and idea to just tap the bottom of a dutch oven for 1/8" pipe thread instead of using a nut, that way the nipple will stay flush or below the bottom it I'm careful not to run the tap in too far. Now, just need a large quantity of something to smelt so as to have an excuse to make one!

  4. #44
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by geargnasher View Post
    Great setups! I have and idea to just tap the bottom of a dutch oven for 1/8" pipe thread instead of using a nut, that way the nipple will stay flush or below the bottom it I'm careful not to run the tap in too far. Now, just need a large quantity of something to smelt so as to have an excuse to make one!
    Not much thread engagement there. I think that joint would be very fragile.

  5. #45
    Boolit Buddy Cheshire Dave's Avatar
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    Well I'm a little embaressed. I went the low tech route. Propane is too damn expensive and I'm lucky to find ww at all so I made up a simple wood fired set up. I was able to smelt 120 lbs. in 3 hours or so. I had done a much bigger batch using a propane burner but got some zinc in the batch and ruined about 120 lbs. Think I'll be able to make boat anchors out of it but I do much smaller batches now to be safe. I was able to use mostly bark and chips left over from splitting wood so the cost was pretty much zero. Threre is a box fan just outside the picture that controls the heat.
    Click image for larger version. 

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  6. #46
    Boolit Buddy Cheshire Dave's Avatar
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    Kendall here's some pics of my home made ingot moulds. A friend at work made them and got more creative then I would have, The handles and feet make it nice to smelt with but are a pain in the #@$&% to use to drain your electric pot.They get in the way.
    Attachment 12727
    Last edited by Cheshire Dave; 02-25-2010 at 09:42 PM.

  7. #47
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    Good morning Cheshire Dave It all looks workable to me. Wood is cheap ! The ingot feet can be removed with some hacksaw work.. or what ever power tool is handy..
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  8. #48
    Boolit Master waco's Avatar
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    looks good dave!
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  9. #49
    Boolit Buddy Boondocker's Avatar
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    Dave I am going to do the same thing, I have a turkey fryer but with the felled pine and softwood trees on the property I can kill to birds with one stone. I have 8 buckets of ww and about 600 pounds of phone sheathing and lead pipe to render. I am soon to be unemployed so after my knee surgery it will be render lead and garden maintenence. Oh yea she has me cooking cleaning washing painting and job hunting.

  10. #50
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by JIMinPHX View Post
    Zinc is pretty hard to get out of a mix once it's in. I've been told stories by people that have claimed to reduce the zinc contamination by skimming off a soupy mess at a specific temperature, but I've never been told a story about anyone getting it all out.
    When I melted down my first batch of wheel weights, I ended up with some that didn't melt, so I suspect that they were zinc. As such, I don't think my pot was getting hot enough that I need to worry about zinc contamination. Perhaps if I had used the top flame via propane weed burner technique that some are using, I might have had to worry about it.

    I've noticed that there are some manufacturers who are making zinc bullets due to requirements for some ranges to be lead-free. If so, then how does it act when mixed with lead in bullets so that most casters consider it a contamination?

  11. #51
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    I built a new small smelter today that I can use to ladle cast if Iwant/need to . Have several pots so I can do small batches of alloy, or pure lead for paper patch. I have a larger smelter ,too I am a fitter-welder by trade, so getting the materials comes pretty easily. ( I'm self employed, so always have leftover scraps)
    Last edited by softpoint; 11-02-2009 at 08:39 AM.

  12. #52
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    Here's the set up that I and my brother (that's him in the picture) used the day we did 650 lbs. I have since added an additional 3 ingot mould (about 4.0 lbs per ingot) made from angle iron. This Dutch Oven/Turkey Fryer set up answers my needs. I have done 1000 lbs in a day (the 650 lbs took a half day) and I had help both days. I can set it up in thirty minutes and be ready to go. It breaks down a bit slower as I am ALWAYS a bit tired after smelting.





    I noticed that Bass Pro was running a sale in my latest sale flyer (received yesterday) of $29.95 for the fryer (called it a fish fryer) and Harbor Freight has a 6 qt. Dutch Oven with Lid for about $20.00. That is the lowest priced GOOD set up that you will find, I believe. I find a barbecue grille propane tank (25 lb?) will last through several smeltings bringing the fuel cost to a rather inexpensive total. It sure is convenient.

    Dale53

  13. #53
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    Being a welder by trade, I should have already made some of those angle iron ingot molds, but haven't. The big pot in my pics hols a couple hundred pounds. Are turkey fryers safe with a large dutch oven full of lead on them.? I probably overbuilt my burner supports, but that is the material I had on hand.
    I guess all turkey fryers are not the same, and it'd be prudent to pick the stoutest looking one you could find?
    I've smelted about 300 lb in a day with my setup.

  14. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by softpoint View Post
    I guess all turkey fryers are not the same, and it'd be prudent to pick the stoutest looking one you could find?
    I've smelted about 300 lb in a day with my setup.
    Anything worth engineering is worth over-engineering!

    When you've got a hundred pounds of molten metal near your feet and legs, over-engineering is good...

  15. #55
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    >>>it'd be prudent to pick the stoutest looking one you could find?<<<

    ABSOLUTELY ON POINT!! The standard to apply: If you would feel safe standing on the fryer then it is sturdy enough.

    Dale53

  16. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dale53 View Post
    The standard to apply: If you would feel safe standing on the fryer then it is sturdy enough.
    Good starting point at least, but one must consider that nearly all of them have 3 legs... I'm not sure that I feel safe standing on any 3 legged stool though...

    My current burner has three legs, but I welded some rebar around the bottom of it about 4" from the bottom of the legs and then do my smelting in a grass area so that I can step on the horizontal rebar sections and drive the bottom 4" of the legs into the ground... Kind of anchoring it there so it doesn't readily move...

  17. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by grumman581 View Post
    When I melted down my first batch of wheel weights, I ended up with some that didn't melt, so I suspect that they were zinc. As such, I don't think my pot was getting hot enough that I need to worry about zinc contamination. Perhaps if I had used the top flame via propane weed burner technique that some are using, I might have had to worry about it.

    I've noticed that there are some manufacturers who are making zinc bullets due to requirements for some ranges to be lead-free. If so, then how does it act when mixed with lead in bullets so that most casters consider it a contamination?
    ............Zinc contamination causes the lead alloy to be slumpy, sludgy, and makes it flow (a crude comparison) like oatmeal Small amounts of zinc cause fill out problems in the cavity, even though the molten alloy may appear to be normally 'pourable'. On a molecular level there is an outer skin in contact with the air, as it sluices into the cavity. The zinc oxidizes faster and the more liquid metal behind has to break through, only to oxidize itself. It repeats constantly.

    Another crude but simple visualization is an oceanic subsurface volcanic eruption. The hot lava is under pressure and erupts into the water. The water vaporizes but also cools the immediate lava surface causeing a hard crust to form. The hot liquid lava under pressure behind it breaks through at some point almost immediately, and the process proceeds continually until the supply of lava or the pressure is removed.

    Small zinc contamination causes poor 'Fine Detail' fill out, E.g. Rounded corners, edges, and blurred features.


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  18. #58
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    That's buckshot that is really good to know, I"m getting ready to pick up a frier and do my first smelt i have about 30 pounds of WW that i've found (most stores have someone contracted to pick them up). I have a question how would a steel fry basket fair in the dutch oven during the smelt. i saw one at the thrift store and thought well if i put all the wheel weights in that and then put it in the dutch oven/stock pot after the lead was melted would that catch *most* of the clips and zinc/other nasties? I would assume ok given the melting point of steel but just wondering if anyone had tried it.
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  19. #59
    Boolit Grand Master



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    Most steel fry baskets are plated with something. That may or may not be a contaminant. The idea sounds good, but-t-t-t...

    Dale53

  20. #60
    Boolit Master evan price's Avatar
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    I'm using a Revere Ware 12-qt SS stockpot over a turkey burner. So far done 200# with it satisfactory. Did 60# of reclaimed range bullets (mostly FMJ but some cast) and tried to do it all at one lump with the regulator screwed wide open- and found that the bottom of my pot was laminated stainless with a 1/4" plate of aluminum in the middle, which melted. Ooops. This burner has enough BTU to melt zinc because I had one that turned to mush that was on the bottom of the empty pot on a new cold melt.

    Now, I start a melt with hand-picked WW I know for sure is lead, not bulk dumped scoops.

    Anyway, it still works OK...to dip I use a soup ladle ($.50 from the Goodwill) and to skim I use a Wal*Mart coarse strainer (square and about the size of a ladle) This works cats-behind to skim the clips, flux, and add more WW to the pot. Only problem is skimming out the powder dirt- need lots of flux to get it to clump- but that's where all those cheap-o crayons my kids get at restaurants come in. Add a half of a cheapo crayon- stir- great flux.

    Had ONE visit from the tinsel fairy today- got distracted right as I was adding more WW to a half-full pot- added too much cold WW too quickly and it burped and spattered lead all over the patio. Yikes!

    Still have about 500# to melt and getting more scrap soon.
    Due to market fluctuations I am no longer buying range scrap jackets.

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