My wood burning smelter

[Revolver]

I built a wood burning smelter today. The idea is the WW will go into an old air compressor tank that is recessed into a woodstove made from a 55 gallon drum. I have a small fire going in it now, heating water instead of lead. I don't know if this design will work, my biggest concern is the chimney may be too small.

Hopefully this thing will melt some lead! I haven't cast any bullets yet, just now gearing up to do it this winter. Last week I visited garages and collected my first batches of wheel weights. Almost all of them were willing to give me what they had, only on place charged me $8 for a half bucket. I plan on collecting as much as I can.

Any input would be great as I am just getting started.

http://www.doaks.net/projects/guns/woodsmelter/smelter01.jpg
http://www.doaks.net/projects/guns/woodsmelter/smelter-parts.jpg
http://www.doaks.net/projects/guns/woodsmelter/ww.jpg

[Hickory]

Now I now how to use the 55 gallon drum {that some how got two bullet holes in it} the time my son was home on leave.

[Ugluk]

Neat.
That will hold a lot of lead and should do well. Make sure it's sturdy enough to hold the weight when red hot.
I used rebar to support the pot in the drum and that has proven to work well.
I ladle from mine, but bottom pour would be interesting..
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63007

[Revolver]

Neat.
That will hold a lot of lead and should do well. Make sure it's sturdy enough to hold the weight when red hot.
I used rebar to support the pot in the drum and that has proven to work well.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63007

It's funny you mentioned that, I made 3 internal support legs out of rebar to support the bottom of the tank, just didn't put it in my drawing. :)

[jonas302]

Getting the clips and garbage out could be a problem and you probably going to need lots more air into the bottom of that barrel

I once built a wood fired smelter from a barrel cut in half the long way set on a stand the ww were shoveled into a 10 inch pipe also cut in half lengthwise set on top it was all set at an angle so the lead would run out one end then you could grab the pipe and dump the clips off when necessary

I was able to melt a little over a ton in a day with that setup burning old pallets

[Suo Gan]

8-)8-)8-)8-)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Getting the clips and garbage out could be a problem and you probably going to need lots more air into the bottom of that barrel

I once built a wood fired smelter from a barrel cut in half the long way set on a stand the ww were shoveled into a 10 inch pipe also cut in half lengthwise set on top it was all set at an angle so the lead would run out one end then you could grab the pipe and dump the clips off when necessary

I was able to melt a little over a ton in a day with that setup burning old pallets

I really like this idea :)
Jon

[Ugluk]

It sounds like a very clever way to clean up soft lead, but when it comes to clip-ons I value being able to flux a big batch.

[Revolver]

This morning I added an additional chimney pipe, built a fire, and it was scorching within 20 minutes! I added about a small amount of lead WW (a little under a gallon) and they liquified within 5 minutes or so.

I had a "user error" aka "learning incident" with molten lead spraying about but I was wearing protective gear.

This was just a test run to see how it worked. It has exceeded my expectations. I checked on it 25 minutes later and the small amount of remaining lead in the pot was still liquid.

Videos...

Melting WW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI2MCsiN3mg

The Build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5xL6Y9hZEc

[Rhino]

Nice work, i've got an old air compressor tank that could be used in just the same way, you've got me a little motivated now.

[buyobuyo]

I sure hope you did a really good job of getting the zinc weights sorted out. While neat idea, I see this as being a good way to end up with a whole lot of zinc contaminated lead if you missed some or didn't sort ahead of time.

[Revolver]

I sure hope you did a really good job of getting the zinc weights sorted out. While neat idea, I see this as being a good way to end up with a whole lot of zinc contaminated lead if you missed some or didn't sort ahead of time.

Yes, I manually sorted that small batch and know 100% there was only lead WW. Manually sorting was miserable work... I won't be doing that again.

My plan is to acquire a quality thermometer and then re-melt this same lead. I will then confirm my temperature is stable and well below the Zinc danger zone before adding unsorted WW in manageable amounts (so that I have time to scoop if I see the temps rising).

I'm having a blast figuring this out, I will definitely report back when I get to that point and do some mass-production work.

[WILCO]

Just found this video. Great work.

[Matt_G]

How much clean lead did you get out of all those WW's?

[Revolver]

How much clean lead did you get out of all those WW's?

I haven't done it yet... and I've hauled home many more buckets since then. I think I easily have over half a ton of WW to process at this point. :veryconfu

Tomorrow I will finally have time to try casting my aluminum ingot molds. Once those are done then I'm ready to melt some lead... this week I got myself an RCBS thermometer and a decent respirator too!

Will keep you posted, hopefully everything goes as planned.

[kbstenberg]

Junker Just some thoughts
Could you drill a hole in your outlet pipe behind the end of your stopper when it is screw all the way into the spout. When you partially unscrew the stopper past the outlet hole your lead would drop vertically.
In the later part of your video. You put the remaining part of the air tank on top of the fire pot. couldn't you melt the WW just like that! Naturally without the other half of the air tank welded into the fire pot.

[L1A1Rocker]

I really like this idea!

[Revolver]

Junker Just some thoughts
Could you drill a hole in your outlet pipe behind the end of your stopper when it is screw all the way into the spout. When you partially unscrew the stopper past the outlet hole your lead would drop vertically.

I have thought up a way to make a downspout that I am going to implement into the rig before my big melt. I had a similar idea as your but couldn't figure a way to make sure it seals.


In the later part of your video. You put the remaining part of the air tank on top of the fire pot. couldn't you melt the WW just like that! Naturally without the other half of the air tank welded into the fire pot.

Yes, that would be great but it just doesn't get hot enough up there... wish it did!

I really appreciate your feedback, and am open to all ideas, thanks!

[zomby woof]

Very nice. set up for production!!!

[downwind]

NICE JOB "MAINEGIVER"

GOT A FEELING WE WILL BE SEEING LOTS OF NEW IDEAS FROM YOU

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

DOWNWIND[smilie=p: :drinks: