How do y'all pre-heat your lead?

[theTastyCat]

Hey all - just did my first smelt a week ago, and because I was paranoid I let the lead in the bottom of the pot harden before added more WWs. That combined with the really tiny pot and an underpowered heat source meant that 22 pounds of ingots took three hours.

It's clear that I need to pre-heat my WWs, and probably later when casting, my ingots, to speed the process up, so I can add them to the liquid mix without fear of being vaporized. Any handy hints on how to do this? Do I need a whole separate setup to warm, or is there an easy way to do it using my existing heat source? I know there's no need for me to reinvent the wheel, so I'd love to hear what you do.

Thanks a lot!

[Casting Timmy]

An old toaster oven, using an electric hot pad and an old skillet, anything that can get the WW hotter than boiling water woudl probably work for you.

I probably don't do it right in that I will add more WW's to the pot when it's about completely empty but still hot. The water vapor will have to be underneath the lead to explode.

I'll never forget working in an aluminum foundry when the old timer took his popsicle and threw it on the aluminum, he said it's okay if water gets on top as it'll just boil off. It's when it gets trapped under neath the surface that it'll do anything to get out, usually exploding and clearing out the furnace.

Our big furnace was 2500lbs of aluminum, and it actually emptied in seconds one time when the maintenance man used water to cool off a dipping ladle after welding it up. A couple guys got hurt but no one got killed.

[Doc Highwall]

I preheat mine on my hot plate I use for my mould and lower the into the melted lead.

[bumpo628]

Maybe you could put a piece of steel across the back half of the pot, like a shelf.
Set the lead there for a while before you add it.

[Flip]

I, like you have a small pot, a Lee production pot. I will add WW's, pour an ingot, add some more, pour an ingot........ Occasionally I will not pay attention and one will pop. Having done this enough times I've realized that if it is going to pop it will do it near the clip so there must be an air pocket in there when the two were molded together. Since I've got a small pot I add one WW at a time holding it with a pair of pliers. While holding it in the molten lead as you approach the clip, if there is moisture in there you will feel a rumbling. If you feel it then stop there and let it heat up and vaporize the water out before going any further.

[Ole]

Sometimes I smelt small batches using an underpowered hot plate. I help the process along with a propane torch.

Keep the torch away from anything that might be zinc.

[dragonrider]

I use pliars and a propane torch. Put the torch to it and you can see the moisture evaporating from the surface, I will usually get it hot enough that the surface starts to melt, then it goes in the pot. No lead ever goes in cold.

[zxcvbob]

What are you using for a pot? I render all my scrap into ingots using an electric hotplate, and it doesn't go that slow. I use a stainless steel saucepan with a lid (I usually don't use the lid) It doesn't lose as much heat to radiation as a black castiron pot.

[theTastyCat]

Yeah, I wondered if I could just use a cheapo hot plate to warm them up enough. When I smelt again I'll be using a propane cooker with a dutch oven on top.

[plainsman456]

I have used a old propane BBQ pit with a steel plate on the grill.
It's one someone threw out.It doesn't take long that way.

[songdog53]

When smelting my lead time i get all of it out I just turn down heat or off and what little left hardens fast and fill it up again and start over and any mositure will be gone by time it has melted. I know takes extra time but beats Tinsel fairy burns.

[44fanatic]

Tastycat,
How close to Clarksville are you? I am still a novice caster but can lend you the beginning advice. Starting on the 21st, I will be in Nashville on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

[a.squibload]

Tastycat:
You could use a crockpot on low, you know,
unless you're cooking something...

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_69sguoFlVzY/TXV8ZPLSmCI/AAAAAAAAAF8/9XUPMVygxSY/tastycatstew.jpg

[*Paladin*]

I just throw them in an empty pot on the fryer. I haven't ever pre-heated. To avoid the tinsel fairy, I just make sure I empty the pot every time I pour. That way there isn't any molten lead left in the pot for moisture to get under.

[theTastyCat]

I love this forum. And I really love me some Sesame Cat! And often General Tso Cat - yum.


Actually 44fanatic, I'm about smack between Clarksville and Nashville, right on 24 - how about that. And I work in Nashville. I really appreciate your offer of help! This forum is awesome, but you really can't beat talking to somebody face to face. Let me buy you lunch sometime and we can talk about the hot and shiny. Or rather you can talk and I can listen.

Yep, even though this thread is just chock full of great ideas, I think I'm with you, Paladin - I'd just be nervous as a crack baby to add WWs to molten lead. Especially given my rather unbelievably bad luck. Now that I have a nuclear turkey fryer to fuel my smelting, it really wouldn't take that long for me to let the bottom cool and start again. By the way, thanks for your service - sure means a lot to me and to several billion more Americans. I know it wasn't all parades, photo ops, and music playing in the background - more like hot, brutal work for people who really didn't appreciate it, both there and here. I know it was far from easy, so thank you.

[geargnasher]

I use a large galvanized electrical work box and blank cover sitting on a hot plate for a mould oven. I installed a grill thermometer through the top and cut a hole in the side just big enough for my largest mould to go through. I preheat 8-10 lbs of ingots at a time on top of this oven, it stays at 350-400 degrees on full-high and I park my moulds in there any time I pause casting. It keeps the ingots pre-heated and the mould at perfect temp while I take a break.

Gear

[evan price]

I let the weights melt, then leave some of the clips on top like an island. Add more weights, making a pile, then just shovel the pile higher, then put a lid on it and let it cook. Even if it pops the lid contains it.

[*Paladin*]

I love this forum. And I really love me some Sesame Cat! And often General Tso Cat - yum.


Actually 44fanatic, I'm about smack between Clarksville and Nashville, right on 24 - how about that. And I work in Nashville. I really appreciate your offer of help! This forum is awesome, but you really can't beat talking to somebody face to face. Let me buy you lunch sometime and we can talk about the hot and shiny. Or rather you can talk and I can listen.

Yep, even though this thread is just chock full of great ideas, I think I'm with you, Paladin - I'd just be nervous as a crack baby to add WWs to molten lead. Especially given my rather unbelievably bad luck. Now that I have a nuclear turkey fryer to fuel my smelting, it really wouldn't take that long for me to let the bottom cool and start again. By the way, thanks for your service - sure means a lot to me and to several billion more Americans. I know it wasn't all parades, photo ops, and music playing in the background - more like hot, brutal work for people who really didn't appreciate it, both there and here. I know it was far from easy, so thank you.

Thanks for the thanks!

[10 ga]

I smelt with wood fire or the propane burner. To pre heat I use #10 cans full of "ore" and put them on my old, formerly used for smelting and casting, Coleman 2 burner. On low it will warm the cans of "ore" up and then I use tongs or a large serving spoon to put the stuff in the smelting pot. I usually don't need to pre heat ingots when casting as I'm going much slower so as to control the alloy mix more accurately. I'm retired and a ladle kinda caster so I've got all day and speed aint my thing. Guess thats why one of my nicknames is "Lightning". LOL. Best, 10 ga

[John Boy]

Cat, no need to preheat the WW clips or the melt in the casting pot

* Separate pot - melt the WW clips to 650 so no zinc ones contaminate to melt
* Scoop off the clips & debris
* Flux the melt
* Pour ingots
Casting Pot
* Turn pot up to temperature
* Place WW ingots in pot
* Flux the melt
* Start casting

While the casting pot is coming up to temperature, clean your mould, get your other casting stuff together and maybe even a little reloading

[Suo Gan]

Hey all - just did my first smelt a week ago, and because I was paranoid I let the lead in the bottom of the pot harden before added more WWs. That combined with the really tiny pot and an underpowered heat source meant that 22 pounds of ingots took three hours.

It's clear that I need to pre-heat my WWs, and probably later when casting, my ingots, to speed the process up, so I can add them to the liquid mix without fear of being vaporized. Any handy hints on how to do this? Do I need a whole separate setup to warm, or is there an easy way to do it using my existing heat source? I know there's no need for me to reinvent the wheel, so I'd love to hear what you do.

Thanks a lot!

Harbor Freight $12.99 weed burner (or any weed burner) and an extra propane tank. This is the best system there is for making sure your cold, or even wet lead for that matter is dry when it goes in the pot. Works good for getting alloy (that is free of zinc) up to temp faster too, and burning the nasties off. Be careful, because a little goes a long way and you can get the pot boiling, and you don't need that. I just blast the wet lead off from a distance until I can physically see the surface get dry. Wear your gloves because the lead will be warm...for quite a while after. There is not a more effective or faster system out there for doing this and not chancing putting a cold ingot in the alloy when you are smelting.

These also work good for burning weeds, starting brush on fire, clearing a barn of spiders, burning the hair off skinned animals and chickens, etc., etc. No tool shed should be without one.

I smelt several times a year in the winter and early spring and the lead is always damp from condensation. A good place to store lead is inside an old drum with a lid. Make sure it is on solid ground as they get heavy!! Once a couple get full, then its time to render!

[theTastyCat]

Wow - that is a good idea!

[lbaize3]

I agree that a hot plate is excellent for keeping your molds hot during a pause in casting. However I had a brain fade the other day and set a lee six cavity mold full of just poured bullets on my hot plate while I was putting more lead in the melting pots. By the time I glanced back at the hot plate, the lead had run out of the mold and all over the top of the hot plate. Needless to say, cleaning the mold was a major pain... The hot plate I just brushed off with a rag. I had to use a propane torch and a rag to get the mold clean...

Failure is as good a teacher as success....:redneck: