Anyone use something similiar to this?

[Hanz]

Hi guys (and Gals but I doubt there's many around here :-D )

I've been goofing around with casting just a bit and I need a smelter. I came across this Lodge Deep Fryer kit on amazon.com and I like the idea of the wire basket for lifting out the steel WW clips.

Here's the Fryer (http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-Deep-Fry/dp/B00008GKDR/sr=1-11/qid=1169927633/ref=sr_1_11/105-3293485-1838048?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden)

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00008GKDR.01-A23NLORBGXOLEO._AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Anyone use something similiar? I did see a lot of neat smelters but it seems most people just skim the clips off the top. I figure with a baslet you can load all the WW into the basket, fire it up and lift the basket out when the alloys melted. Dump the basket, flux and pour ingots or top off the casting pot and then replace the basket and add more WWs.

I guess everyone has to figure out what works best for them and the amount of lead they need to process. I'm at that stage right now.

You have a nice place here and I'd like to hang around and ask some questions. I hope to learn some stuff and make some nicer boolits.

[Lloyd Smale]

might work but the simular attemps ive made with baskets failed the basket sits right against the pot and the heat usually fail to hold up.

[versifier]

Looks like a decent pot to smelt in, though.

[Swagerman]

Probably wouldn't hurt to make some wooden handles for it, the weight of a pot that size may prohibit lifting it much.

im

[Hanz]

Thanks guys for the help.

I hadn't thought of the basket falling apart. I think they said the pot weighs around 7 pounds so empty it shouldn't be too bad.

I was trying to melt WWs in my 10# Lee pot and quickly grew frustrated with the small diameter of the pot and working around the "needle" part of the valve. Now I'm doing some head scratching to come up with something that works for me.

I think I want to smelt first using a propane burner to cast up some ingots and then use the Lee for casting. I'm sure once I get a feel for what I'm doing I'll want something bigger. :-D

[GP100man]

Hanz dont for get to clean your lee pot out so it dont get the drips.
i smelt & pour from pots very similar to yours ,i use 2 so im loading
or pouring or skimming or something.
just my 2 cents worth GP

[IcerUSA]

I picked up one of these to go with the Dutch Oven I got at Wallie World :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/Skimmer-6in-Bowl-Round-Wire-skimmers-NEW_W0QQitemZ110084678332QQihZ001QQcategoryZ25358Q QssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

EvilBay item :twisted:

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Hanz,

I think you'll find you'll be much happier with a dutch oven (tall, not wide) and a turkey cooker, something like this setup, which I've modified a bit to hold in the heat better and made ingot molds out of 1 1/2" angle iron:

http://www.zjstech.net/~ddixson/TurkeyCookerMods%20001.jpg

http://www.zjstech.net/~ddixson/TurkeyCookerMods%20006.jpg

http://www.zjstech.net/~ddixson/TurkeyCookerMods%20004.jpg

http://www.zjstech.net/~ddixson/TurkeyCookerMods%20007.jpg

A separate smelting operation will go much faster and will keep your casting pot clean of debris that causes the Lee to leak worse than normal.

Regards,

Dave

[mike in co]

i use a 50 cal ammo can on a turkey burner....a heat shield would be nice but i live without it. a single burner will do just over 100 lbs at a time...

[robertbank]

Hanz I agree don't use your Production pot for smelting. Waste of time and as you found out messy. I just switched over to a propane burner that Hunter sent me. Cheap and works. The turkey fryer idea is great if you have one. If you have a Coleman stove it will do as well. I usually smelt about 10 -15 lbs at a time in my cast iron pot and use a slotted spoon to pick out the clips. Flux with candle wax and now pour into muffin tins.

Take Care

Bob

[Dale53]

When you fellers move from the Coleman stove to a turkey fryer with a 60-100 lb pot you will feel liberated. You will not believe how productive that single move will make you. I am a certified "old fart" with a bad back and I can easily do 120 lbs an hour with my turkey cooker set up. That is, 120 lbs of clean, bullet metal in ingots. Of course, I am just a piker compared to some of these people with their huge, made for the purpose, smelting set ups.

When I was a bit younger, I have, on several occasions, smelted 1000 lbs in a day. It doesn't hurt to have a buddy help and split the results, either. In fact, where possible, I abolutely recommend you and a buddy team up and smelt together. You can jaw a bit, have a couple of beers, and just generally visit while being extremely productive. It makes it more of a pleasure instead of just hard work (and you also have someone to share in the heavy lifting). I used to have a a shooting buddy who would actually go with me while we BOTH collected scrap lead and then would follow up with a day smelting. It didn't hurt that he had a pick up truck that enabled us to collect LOTS of bullet metal.

Unfortunately, my good old buddy went away... No, he didn't die, he just moved to Florida:( :( (sob, sob...)

Dale53

[robertbank]

Work! If smelting and casting ever becomes work I'll go back to banking full time. :mrgreen: Cup a coffee or two and 50 lbs of WW ready to smelt makes for a nice afternoon when the weather is hoovering around 32F and there is no hockey on the tube. That and sizing my .303 cases getting ready for spring testing and putting up a summers worth of boolits for the various guns I want to work with this summer keeps a man busy this time of year and away from a paint brush that at some point will replace all the above activities.
Kind of makes a man shudder thinking about it.

Take Care

Bob