First smelt didn't go so well

[HDS]

I didn't think it would work either, not enough juice!

Sorted all my weights last night and they where 30lbs of clipons, 20lbs of stickons and 1lbs of pure tin stick ons. By volume I'd say there was as many iron and zinc weights as all the three combined.

Anyway got it all sorted (lousy quality cell pictures):
http://i.imgur.com/uKoHf.jpg

Then I tried to smelt it:
http://i.imgur.com/6eXD2.jpg

Yeah it's not looking that good. I barely got some of the lead on the bottom to melt but it was obvious it wasn't gonna work...


Now, however I got this old stove elsewhere (used for some DIY parkerization) that I could haul up to my smelting place, but I am not sure if an electric stove would have enough juice either:

http://i.imgur.com/jriQY.jpg

Think this will work, or do I need to get a propane burning setup?

[mroliver77]

An 8" electric burner on a cooking range should do the trick. For the original setup you need some kind of heat shield around your pot. A bucket with the bottom scalped out to allow the fire to get air and allow an inch or more clearance around the pot would help a bunch. A steel sauce pan will help get the heat into the lead better than a cast one will. Cast is great if you have the btu to get it hot and keep it hot. The heat shield will go a long way in helping though. Keep us updated on your progress.
Jay

[HDS]

Yeah I wanted to go with cast iron since its easier to keep a constant temp and heats more evenly. Maybe there's some high temperature insulator one could wrap around it as well.

[dragonrider]

I would get a turkey fryer, I bought mine for thirty dollars at wall mart, Howeverr I have only used it a couple of times because I had burner that I made years ago and it works just fine. But I continue to use my home made burner because it sits under a bottom pour smelting pot.

PS you may have to beef up the stand of a turkey fryer.

[Dale53]

>>>PS you may have to beef up the stand of a turkey fryer. <<<

Or you can do as I did, I bought a Bass Pro Fish/Turkey fryer on sale that is sturdy enough out of the box ($30.00). I can handle an 8 quart (or better) dutch oven with this.

I have smelted 650 lbs of alloy in an afternoon with help using this rig.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/QWinter2009andleadsmelting-1767.jpg

Dale53

[GaryN]

I think your propane tank is also too small. It will be gone before it will melt the lead even with an adequate size burner.

[Beaker424]

I think your propane tank is also too small. It will be gone before it will melt the lead even with an adequate size burner.

Not true. I have the same setup and have had 5 casting sessions so far on that 20LB tank. It is just about ready for a refill. But I also keep a spare handy.

For the price you can't beat it. Mine was actually the Bass Pro Fish Fryer that came with the iron pot.

[Doby45]

Not true. I have the same setup and have had 5 casting sessions so far on that 20LB tank. It is just about ready for a refill. But I also keep a spare handy.

For the price you can't beat it. Mine was actually the Bass Pro Fish Fryer that came with the iron pot.

GaryN was talking about "this" tank, not Dale's..

http://i.imgur.com/6eXD2.jpg

[Beaker424]

Sorry,

Yep, that looks pretty small.

[Beaker424]

And that board Dale has is a good idea.
Too bad I already have drips all over my patio before I realized that :(

Is there an easy way to get those off of concrete?

[D Crockett]

HDS could you post a picture of the tin stick on ww would be courious as to what they look like D Crockett

[mold maker]

Me also. Never heard of tin weights.

[HDS]

I can get some pictures next time I am there, don't keep my smelting where I live. They looked like ordinary stick-on weights, soft like pure lead but lighter and the designation "Sn" somewhere on them. That designation was all I had to go on to be sure that they where not lead.

[WILCO]

Yep, that looks pretty small.

That's what she said!

[MGySgt]

Heat Sheld - I used Aluminum flashing for my heat sheld. Can make it any size you want. All your trying to do is reflect the heat back at the pot.

[7of7]

Heat shield,.. I used a duct reducing adapter.. and then cut some slits in the top of it where it would contact the pot, that way the fire wouldn't go out all the time..
I also grabbed a 1/4" bolt, and moved the burner up to about 2 inches from the pot... had to cut a slot for the venturi, but it heats up very very fast now..

[Longwood]

If you are going to make a pot from a propane tank, I have a tip.
Instead of cutting it all of the way around, cut it across the top right where the access in the valve guard meets the tank. Make the cut down the sides until the finished pot will be the depth you want then cut around the tank. That will leave a nice hood - splash guard - on one side of the pot that you can stand behind when adding new clips etc.

[Longwood]

That's what she said!

Then she blew in my ear which caused her to jump back from fright.:shock:

[loader]

Smaller ingots would be way better. Once you got a couple of ingots smelted, then the molten lead will melt the ingot placed in molten.

[montana_charlie]

Then she blew in my ear which caused her to jump back from fright.:shock:
Because some brain matter was oozing out of my other ear.

[kbstenberg]

HDS I have made several propane burners out of the side burners from gas grills. I scrounge from the local dump. They don't put out real major heat but plenty for smelting.

[HDS]

Well I forgot to take a picture, but I smelted today using the electric stove and it went okay I think. I'm gonna need to insulate the pot to get it a bit higher but the stove itself puts out enough juice.

First ingots, a bit of caviation but they where not cleaned at all, probably remains from whatever my grandmother last baked:
http://i.imgur.com/fjLpH.jpg

EDIT: Forgot to take a picture of the pure tin stickons I meant!

[leadman]

I had a strip of what looked like tin once, but they were actually chrome plated lead or zinc, don't remember which now.
I posted here and was told they were used for show cars.

[HDS]

Figured I might as well post this here too:

Cast bullets for the first time ever today. Yes not just with this mold, but the absolute first time. I had issues with wrinkles and rounded edges despite temps on the melt and mold being within proper operating ranges. In retrospect I think the sprue plate was too cool and thats what did this. There was a lot of fiddling and testing and experimenting here as it was my first time trying this. It's definitely fun though!

The mold drops bullets at .434" but it seems to size down to .430" well enough:
http://i.imgur.com/72NG9.jpg


A few unsized ones, I noted that the tops on some have got a sort of beginning to a HP going on, thats the flat nose pins on the block seating a bit too high, not sure if thats a big deal or not, one some its the other way around:
http://i.imgur.com/1WQ6S.jpg

Well next up is pan lubing and loading a few test rounds.

Measured some bullet weights and they seem to drop between 253.5 to 254 grains, heavier than the 245 gr the mold is supposed to cast. I assume this is alloy related, I used the aforementioned clip-on weights for this.