am i doing something wrong....

[quiknot]

i have been trying other ways of smelting my lead...to save my Lee melter for the actual casting process...

i've tried a coleman stove propane burner and seems to work well....then i tried to speed up a few things and tried a wally world hot plate (750watts), that took about 45mins to start melting......next i tried a 1200 watt deep fat fryer, after over 65 mins, nothing was even starting to melt.....looking at going back to the old reliable coleman stove...

question is: why these other methods fail to generate the heat needed to work like the coleman....what other methods are there to generate the needed heat?

thanks

[Little Joe]

Get ya one of them thar turkey cookers to do yur meltin!!

Out of here,
Little Joe

[randyrat]

Them thur turkey burners are the cats meow. They take a little to get things going to start but are quicker than other methods. If yours take 65 mins to start sumthin is wrong.

[Rick N Bama]

I recently found a Fish Fryer at Wally on sale for $26.00 that is doing a great job for me. I never did get my Coleman to work.

Rick

[lurch]

The propane burnere is actually putting out a LOT more power (energy per unit of time) than the electric methods you tried and is not shut off by a thermostat as the electric appliances need to be for safety in their intended applications. I for one would NOT want an electric fryer in my kitchen that would get hot enough to melt lead. That's asking for a grease fire and I'm sure that in today's litigious society that the manufacturers of such are going to pains to make sure that doesn't happen. That's why the electric fryer would not melt anything. The hot plate will get hotter and actually melt lead albeit slow(er) due to the limited power.

Get a turkey fryer and a cast iron pot or dutch oven - lots of power and no thermostat. I was just at the Harbor Freight store today and they were selling the 6 quart dutch oven on the sidewalk for 12.99. You should be able to find brand new turkey fryers for about $40 new, or significantly cheaper used ones at a yard sale or flea market.

[Sundogg1911]

I use a turkey fryer and a cast iron dutch oven pot. Gets me about 50 pounds of alloy at a time

[Goatlips]

Quiknot, I've used a Fry Daddy for a feeder pot while casting, just hotwire the thermostat to 'maximum' :twisted: and plug it into a switched multi-plug strip to turn it on and off. I don't know why you couldn't do the same to a full sized deep fryer if you kept an eye on the temperature.

Goatlips

[44man]

About 51 years ago, I was hunting along a RR track and found one of those little propane plumbers stoves. The ones they melted lead with for packing sewer fittings. It was rusty but I cleaned it up and painted it. Thing has worked perfect all these years and was one of the best free things I ever came up with.
I use my turkey stove to make beer!

[TAWILDCATT]

[QUOTE=44man;157229]About 51 years ago, I was hunting along a RR track and found one of those little propane plumbers stoves. The ones they melted lead with for packing sewer fittings. It was rusty but I cleaned it up and painted it. Thing has worked perfect all these years and was one of the best free things I ever came up with.
I use my turkey stove to make beer![/QU
i got mine in a yard sale with tank and regulater for $5 works great!
fat fryers are made to heat to fry with.you may over heat the unit and short it out.
i dont know if they sell plumers pots any more.may be in your area they do.

[cast-n-blast]

Also, use some type of lid. Cut my melt time in half. All that heat just escapes. Add lead slowly, so it melts when it enters the pot. Alot faster than trying to melt the whole pot filled with lead.

[hydraulic]

I'm always looking for a cheap way to do things; that's what got me into casting in the first place. My plumber nephew gave me one of those plumbers pots. but it still takes a propane bottle. Yesterday I got an inspiration while adding wood to the stove in the basement. I loaded up the cast iron pot with WW and set it inside the stove in a bed of coals. Took it out in an hour, skimmed off the clips and dirt and poured 3 muffins. Loaded it back up and put it back in the stove. Being retired is a great aid to this procedure; it is slow, but cheap!

[jerrold]

I am fairly new to this, but have had great sucess with a burner I bought at Northern Tool. It has two burners under one pot. Light both to get things going and cut back to maintain constant heat. Cost $40 bucks i think which is pricey for the yardsale boys but it is a pleasure to use. Will heat dutch oven for smelting and small pot for casting. :drinks: :drinks: :drinks:
Life is short

jerrold