Obligatory 1st Smelt post

[birdadly]

Hi everyone! A lot of you have helped me both with my first casting and as of yesterday my first WW smelt, whether you know it or not, you probalby helped because I've done a lot of reading here!!

So I'm a city man, and it was actually quite intimidating for me to do this! But I took all of your knowledge, and did my best, trying to be safe. My only mistake in safety, was not putting the dang ladel down while taking a picture one time... oops, small blister on my camera hand.

But it was A LOT of FUN and now I have some ingots to cast with, giddy up!

If interested, with the help of my GF, we put together a 4-minute YouTube vid of the experience :)

http://youtu.be/r4BP6ScDDE4

Thanks again, and I really look forward to melting up some more soon! Comments and safety tips are more than welcome!

-Brad :holysheep

[clodhopper]

Nice. You are well equipped.
For letting the ingot mould cool, I use a scrap peice of 2X6 lumber, but any ole piece of wood will do.
A sheet of plywood on the floor to catch the splatters, with your turkey fryer, and table on it will make clean up easyer.

[10 ga]

Bird, Nice video. Way better than I did those 50 years back. Nice gloves, faceguard, long sleeves etc... Only a few suggestions. Lose the table with glass top, eventually you'll break it, or get a wood top to put over it. Move the table close, very close to the smelt pot. Put ingot mold on table instead of holding it to pour. Get a ladle with a longer handle that is at 90 angle to dipper instead of straight up. That way you don't have to be over the pot to ladle out. Check on vendor forum for tools or go to a plumbers supply for a good ladle. I use a lot of found and cheap stuff but I have a really top notch ladle that will hold 5#+ of molten. The dust mask has a nice look, but, it isn't really doing you any good, I'd move the operation closer to the door, covered and shaded but better ventilation. AND do not drink(do the dew), eat, smoke, chaw, etc... when smelting! If you need a drink, take the gloves off, wash and clean up a bit, then have a drink, eat and rest some. Then gloves back on and back to work! They are really nice ingots. Of course now you know you need more ingot as well as boolit molds. I have a cobbled mess of 3 sizes of round muffin ingots, 2 sizes of square mini cake ingots, castboolit ingot mold and beercan ingots. However when ready I don't have to stop and wait for ingots to cool. It's pour pour pour dump pour pour pour dump. I ain't as fast or neat as some but I'm retired and really don't have to rush. Nice post, thanks. 10 ga

[Springfield]

I like to put my ingot moulds on a metal car oil drip pan. The lead doesn't stick like it does to plywood, much easier clean-up.

[badbob454]

Nice video .. I too would set the mold on a solid table when pouring and get a different ladel , otherwise great job ... Hope you removed zinc before the melt as your temp guage was up to 800 degrees , which may melt any zinc missed into the melt... All in all a great start

[Defcon-One]

If you take this advice, "Put ingot mold on table (or floor) instead of holding it to pour" , your ingots will be flat on the bottom. All the distortion on the bottoms is comming from the motion of moving them while the lead is setting.

Other than that, great equipment and great product!

I did 180 pounds of COWWs today! I use RayinNHs 5 lb. ingot molds and can do 20 lbs. at a time in 4 ingots. Check out his ladles and skimmers too, they are worth his price. I have the exact same pot and stove as you have.

Look here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=86784&highlight=Ingot+mold


Enjoy!

[mold maker]

Watching you, brought back some really old memories.
Go to WalMart kitchen stuff and get a one piece soup ladle. Those spot welds will give up at the worst possible moment.
I can tell your addicted. It's a fever that you'll never recover from.

[birdadly]

Thank you guys so much for the comments and advice; they're very well received on my end.

I do feel dumb now seeing myself drinking something while doing this; I knew better than that. I'll chalk that up to a one-time oops.

A couple of you said to put the mould on the floor/table and then pour; that's great advice! And thanks Defcon for explaining I'd get better bottoms on the ingots then. That's definitely one thing I really want for future smelts, fantastic.

That dang face shield is kinda junk. It's the $4 Harbor Freight one. It's not very clear (yes, I did take the protective film off of it). But I think I will try taking it back and getting a step up from that one.

Badbob, I did go through by hand and take out the zincs and irons beforehand, which as you mentioned, I'm very happy that I did. It seemed to take quite awhile to get up to 625 and then skyrocketed up to 800. I quickly tried to get it lower, but was happy that I was confident of not having zinc in it. Thanks for mentioning it.

Shopping list: better face shield, ladel (thanks for the options, the one I used was a $0.50 thriftstore one) and more WW's!!

Definitely addiced! -Brad

[lwknight]

Good advice going on here.
Youi are going to get a backache!!
You need a chair and instead of bending over to ladle up the lead sit down to ladle the lead into the molds that are on a short table right next to the pot.

Anything makes a table/platform like even a couple cinder blocks.
Just be sure to keep your feet clear of a possible spill.

[Gtek]

Great first run, now the fine tuning. Chair/stool-Yes, stable platform to pour on-Yes, close to pot-Yes. I put a fan behind me at 70 degrees or so. Fresh air on me first, then across top of pot and off it goes. I also saw the handle hanging over edge of table, you bopping around, loose dog, bad things can happen real fast. I have a 1" alum. plate 12"x16" mounted on very rigid table (metal legs) at the right level and is in airflow of fan. A large U channel of alum two feet long to move ingots to after about 3-4 flips. You've done really well first time out, can see prep and planning and PPE, GOOD JOB! It just gets more expensive and fun from here. Have fun- be SAFE. Gtek

[bumpo628]

Shopping list: better face shield, ladel (thanks for the options, the one I used was a $0.50 thriftstore one) and more WW's!!

You may be able to fix that ladle. Just put it in a vise and put a near 90 degree bend in the handle. Maybe about 2 or 3 inches from the bowl.

Nice job on the first smelt.

[MikeS]

One thing I want to add is concerning your audience. While your GF did a great job with the pix, one thing that I noticed was her dog sitting kind of close to the lead pot. While dogs are fairly intelligent animals, sometimes they can do dumb things, like suddenly deciding to run past the pot, possibly running into it by accident, tripping over the propane line going from pot to tank, etc. Next time you smelt, either keep the dog in the house, or make sure it's on a leash short enough to keep it far from the operations! I love dogs, and I would feel really bad if one of mine burned herself on one of my lead pots, or moulds due to my stupidity in letting them get near them. If he/she was in fact on a leash that I didn't see, then disregard this warning! :)

[fivegunner]

Great Video, Not much I could add , I would get a few more ingot molds to make it go faster. wecome aboard!!! best regards :castmine::cast_boolits::awesome:

[Jal5]

Looks just like my set up for burner/pot.
To avoid backache, I set up a platform of sorts made up of concrete blocks, with another concrete slab I had laying around on top for the "table" ( think it was a decorative concrete slab used to make a walkway in the garden) and the burner&pot sit up on there. I can stir, ladle, etc at normal standing height and I am 6' tall. For a place to set the ingots and mold on I use the lawn tractor hooked up to the wagon and put a large piece of plywood over the wagon making another table. Works pretty well, stable, and I can set the whole works outside on the concrete to work instead of being in the garage.

Joe

[birdadly]

I'm super glad I posted this now, like 'lwknight' said, great advice and much appreciated. Even though this wasn't a pristine run of a smelt, I hope it may help a newbie at some point in time with all of your great comments.

MikeS, no that dog surely was not on a leash but yes he should have been. It's not that he wasn't on my mind, but I didn't think enough about the bad consequences of what 'could' happen. Thank you! His name is Derby, half shepard, half whippet.

'lwknight', my back didn't hurt after this one, only because it was a pretty short smelt, but I love your idea. Next time everything will be closer. And 'Gtek', love the idea of a fan. Keeping the smoke/fumes going in a constant direction, away from me, sounds perfect.

The ladle I may try to bend, but I wouldn't mind a larger spout on it, so I may keep looking in the meantime for something bigger/better. This one seemed to hold about 3lbs. I wouldn't mind getting all 4lbs poured with one scoop.

I definitely should have gotten two of these moulds to keep me going with less downtime. Well, live and learn!

Thanks much! -Brad

[birdadly]

Say, I should ask a question here. Had I wanted to keep going with WW's after I got most of this first batch into ingots, do you guys just get as much out of the pot as possible, then add another pot-full while the bottom is warm? Or do you let it cool, harden, then start from scratch?

I'd say I left about 1" of lead in the pot when I was done. My only thought was starting from scratch might be a touch safer, as heating it up again would possibly get rid of any moisture? Thanks! -Brad

[lwknight]

I leave a little seed stock in the bottom. I usually lower the fire to let the stuff in the botton get near slushy then add more weights. It gets solid real quick but the heat retained will dry everything without a chance of an explosion.
When moisture actually gets underneath the melt is where the tinsel fairy visits.

[dieguy59]

Well done on the first smelt. These members know their stuff and you will find yourself implimenting alot of different ideas. I got some cinder blocks for my fryer(I'm over 6' and my back WAS sore). Some more molds(muffin tins...,anything) it will really speed things up. I discovered that one my molds skin over a bit i can still pour through the skin to 'inflate' them to give them a fuller, more even surface. I use the LEE 1+1/2+1/2+1 lb molds(overfilled to equal a 4lb ingot) as well as the Cast Bootit ingots. Welcome to the addiction!

[dieguy59]

My method of getting the most in a pot is to keep adding DRY WW on top of the heap as it settles(not into the alloy just on top of the unmelted ones). Face shield welding jacket and gloves always on whenever I'm near the pot. Nothing more expensive than regret.

[Gtek]

I leave 1/4" to 3/8" in bottom, turn off fire. Have wire loop bent so it will stand in pot. Let her cool all the way down. Lift out and black Sharpie date and composition. When you get more of the same set back in. A solid pancake in the bottom will get you melting a whole lot faster on next batch. Gtek

[dieguy59]

X2 to the Sharpie and quick start to the next batch.

[birdadly]

I love the 'stuck wire' idea Gtek, thanks! I was wondering the best way to switch from doing WW's to Stickons. I never thought of actually taking out that 1" I left on the bottom as a solid piece! Perfect!

dieguy, I did add a few ontop of my original potfull once I realized how much it was sinking down. This batch had most of my very small WWs so there were tons of clips. Next time I will feel comfortable adding more and more while I can still add them ontop of clips/WWs (not in the molten stuff) as you said, thanks! -Brad

[OneBagNomad]

Great thread. I will be doing my first smelt in the near future and the tips/advice/lessons learned being shared here are gold. Thanks to the OP and replies. You've have saved me time, frustration, and probably pain in the coming weeks.

[canyon-ghost]

Faceshield? Try an industrial welder's faceshield, like a Jackson. Any welding supply store will have them and extra clear lenses. They also make light and dark green lenses for welding.

They're headgear you only need to buy once.

[dieguy59]

Just came in from smelting some range lead. After letting it cook for 20-25min, had the lid somewhat between me and the pot as I was stirring the jackets to the top. Glad I had the face shield welding jacket and gloves on. Something went BANG!, and there was a few little splatters that could really have been painful. Never too careful.

[Ole]

Nice video.

You can get a lot more aggressive with the water if you're careful. Get a spray bottle and spray the molds with a fine mist of water to cool them off in a hurry. Just make sure they are totally dry before pouring your next batch. ;)

[birdadly]

woohoo, I'm glad you found the thread, Nomad! Finally, I helped someone! I feel like a better member now :)

Canyon, I think you make a good point. I really hated the fogginess of the cheap shield, and I think it'll be well worth it to purchase a nicer one.

dieguy, glad you mentioned your scare, it really solidifies to me that I want to be careful!

Ole, I am leaning towards getting a second mould. Someone had mentioned the money saved in propane would sooner or later pay for it, in which I agree. I definitely plan to take your advice as well to make it go even quicker. I'm not saying I'm in a rush, far from it, I have plenty of time, just wanting to do it as good as it can be :)

I only linked that YouTube video to here and to a few friends that don't cast/reload, but I probably still should have labeled it as 'non-educational', as I put it up there simply for you all to critique... which has really turned out well! Now I want to do a casting vid too... perhaps this weekend :) -Brad

[a.squibload]

The HF face shield is OK, but I had to epoxy the head strap on mine when it broke.
Found a nice welding helmet for $5 at a garage sale.
Good work, be safe.