My Big Cheap Melting Pot

[JIMinPHX]

Yea, but that thing looks so easy to make, & it would probably work pretty darn well too.

Trying to build a non-drip-o-matic valve for one of those is probably a full scale project.

[shadowcaster]

Yea, but that thing looks so easy to make, & it would probably work pretty darn well too.

Trying to build a non-drip-o-matic valve for one of those is probably a full scale project.

My design is super simple to build and not a single drip.

Shad

[Idz]

I notice most smelters are pot-on-fire arrangements. When I'm melting down range scrap it smokes like crazy so I enclosed my propane tank pot in a furnace box made out of 18" patio pavers, used the cut off tank section as a pot lid, and cover the furnace top with a piece of sheet metal. My burner is a Harbor Freight weed torch that can put out 500,000 btu/hr but I throttle it down to about 36,000. By keeping everything enclosed the noxious smoke in the pot becomes a reducing atmosphere to 'flux' the metal and doesn't annoy the neighbors. After cooking 100 lbs of scrap for about 45 minutes I can open things up and most of the smoke has been reduced to carbon. I calculated a melting efficiency of about 15%. I think I can do better with a true insulated furnace box but am not that ambitious. Does anybody have guesses/measurements of efficiencies of the open pot-on-burner smelters?

[RoGrrr]

Some of you fellas have built some nice looking equipment and I'm sure you are taking good pride in it. Starting out, I used a 3 quart cast iron pan to smelt several hundred pounds of range scrap into ingots. I puckered up EVERY time I lifted it from the turkey burner to pour into my moulds.
I finally decided it was not worth the risk of pouring/dumping/leaking 30 or so pounds out and splashing it all over the place and cooking my feet to the point that I might never be able to walk again. I looked at many of the bottom pour pots here and bit the boolit and designed and built a hefty bottom pour pot that I never have to lift. Consequently, I have no worries about burning my feets.
I strongly recommend everybody either limit your melt to 10 or 15 Lbs so you can easily handle it or build a bottom valve pot.
Also if you are going to lift and pour, either stand on a metal grating such as a heavy duty drain grate or have a layer of COARSE (#4) gravel/crushed limestone so if the pot fails, the molten lead will flow down between the gravel and be UNDER your feet. I learned this tip from some metal smelters (no, not lead, but aluminum/brass) who have numerous stories about people who were seriously injured when their smelt escaped.

[shadowcaster]

Some of you fellas have built some nice looking equipment and I'm sure you are taking good pride in it. Starting out, I used a 3 quart cast iron pan to smelt several hundred pounds of range scrap into ingots. I puckered up EVERY time I lifted it from the turkey burner to pour into my moulds.
I finally decided it was not worth the risk of pouring/dumping/leaking 30 or so pounds out and splashing it all over the place and cooking my feet to the point that I might never be able to walk again. I looked at many of the bottom pour pots here and bit the boolit and designed and built a hefty bottom pour pot that I never have to lift. Consequently, I have no worries about burning my feets.
I strongly recommend everybody either limit your melt to 10 or 15 Lbs so you can easily handle it or build a bottom valve pot.
Also if you are going to lift and pour, either stand on a metal grating such as a heavy duty drain grate or have a layer of COARSE (#4) gravel/crushed limestone so if the pot fails, the molten lead will flow down between the gravel and be UNDER your feet. I learned this tip from some metal smelters (no, not lead, but aluminum/brass) who have numerous stories about people who were seriously injured when their smelt escaped.

That's how I started out too, and won't go back to the ladle method if I can help it.

++1... Very well put on the dangers of smelting and the safety precautions one can take!

Shad

[detox]

I would use one that come from a paint Bucket, and I would use It only when the pot is almost empty.

Good idea. I removed wire handle from my 5 gal paint bucket. I will attach it to pot when it is allmost empty to pour remaining 7 lbs. I have poured from this pot a couple of times using visegrip pliers and i have decided that spout is not needed.

The diameter of this pot is 12 inches, same diameter of 5 gal paint bucket. This wire handle fits perfect.

[Racenviper]

I finished mine today a used it. Smelt down 113 lbs of range lead. Using a propane tank works so much better then a dutch oven. With the curve bottom one can almost empty it while it sits on the burner. I made my cut below the weld a was glad I did as there was a nasty lip at the weld seam. Overall I happy with the way it turned out.

[RoGrrr]

I finished mine today a used it. Smelt down 113 lbs of range lead. Using a propane tank works so much better then a dutch oven. With the curve bottom one can almost empty it while it sits on the burner. I made my cut below the weld a was glad I did as there was a nasty lip at the weld seam. Overall I happy with the way it turned out.

RV
While I'm entirely happy with my furnace, I'm wondering what kind of handle you have on your vessel. I hadn't thought of doing what you describe here and if I ever replace my exotic furnace I will give serious thought to what you have done. While I do like the ability to pour the pot empty I think it is advantageous to leave some remnant to facilitate melting the next batch of ore.
The huge ladles in smelting plants where they smelt TONS of steel and other metals gave me the idea to gimbal the (propane tank) vessel for ease of handling.
Originally, I was going to install one of those hose hangers like you see in the self-serve car washes, in which the hose/wand is suspended from the ceiling so you can swivel it and walk all around your car and spray (I found one at a scrap yard and it was just too good a deal to pass up so I bought it). Then I saw shadowcaster's setup and changed my design so I don't have to lift or swing anything to pour. I'm thinking about selling mine and building an updated version tho. Mine is 7" by 9" and 7 inches deep. Shad's is no more than 5" deep which is good for scooping out jackets and dross.
If you want to see what I have, go to imgur, as shown in my sig.line. Also there is a lengthy thread on gathering/cleaning and sorting at:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ghlight=186lbs
I believe up to 77 posts.

[Racenviper]

I don't have a handle yet, was going to put one on just as 'detox' has in the post previous to mine. I just have a handle from a bucket that would work, as a modified a bucket for a Frankford arsnel brass separator I use for my stainless steel pins.

[RoGrrr]

I don't have a handle yet, was going to put one on just as 'detox' has in the post previous to mine. I just have a handle from a bucket that would work, as a modified a bucket for a Frankford arsnel brass separator I use for my stainless steel pins.

Considering how heavy my 3 quart cast iron pan was when filled only halfway, if I were using a propane bottle, I'd want not only the bail as a handle, I'd also drill 2 holes thru the rim 90 degrees off from your bail and stick a rod (1/2 inch all-thread) thru both holes with it sticking out about a foot (it would be just below his index finger) as a lever/handle for you to hold onto and control your pour.

[Lance Boyle]

I have a cut down propane cylinder. I wanted to add a bail handle and a re-rod loop handle opposite of the spout. When I figured out the weight of what I would have in there I just skipped the handles altogether to eliminate the want to move a hot pot. I will probably add two re-rod handles only for handling cold. I have a large plumbers ladle about the size of a half softball I use to fill the ingot molds.

I have retained the top half of the cut down propane cylinder and have rough plans to make a bottom pour from that. It's already got the hole in the bottom, just make a rod and grind a point on it and grind to fit to the hole. Plumb a pour tube to an ingot mold shelf. I'd have to revisit the other designs on here to not oversize the pour pipe, that's a lot of head pressure on the pour to make a molten squirt gun/ splasher.

[RoGrrr]

Use the upper half of the propane bottle and put a valve on it. Use it as a bottom pour furnace. Use the handle ring as the support and center the burner under there.
Granted, I talked about handles on the pot but do it the easy way.
These things are just too heavy to manhandle especially when they are hot. Don't ask for more trouble than necessary. I like my bottom pour smelter.