Melting pot

[Ike8477]

I am a prospective caster who hasn't started casting yet because I am in the process of gathering equipment. I am planning on melting my wheelweights over a propane campstove but I am wondering if I can safely melt them in an aluminum pot since I already have several available and would like to avoid buying a stainless pot if possible. I've already checked several second hand stores in my area (northern Ohio) and I'm not finding anything in stainless. Thanks for your advice.

[GLL]

See if you can find an old rusty cast iron pot instead (USA made). One that is no longer good for cooking would be perfect and hopefully cheap !

You might also consider welding up some heavy walled steel tube. I made several for my own use and they work very well. The big one holds a couple hundred pounds easily. Make sure you weld extra bracing on the stove though !

Jerry

http://www.fototime.com/FA460DE8C435B56/orig.jpg

[Stick_man]

DO NOT USE ALUMINUM POTS! Sorry for the caps, but it is very dangerous. Aluminum WILL fail. Cast iron or stainless is a much better choice. Take care of them and don't bang them around and they will last you a lifetime. On a camp stove, you could even use a cast iron skillet if you only have a fairly small amount of lead to melt down.

Welcome to the addiction. Be safe. Read the stickies here. Ask questions. Lots of great information available here.

[JohnFM]

I think it would be well worth your while to spend some time finding a good old USA made cast iron pot or a stainless one.
50 years or so ago my late father and I were melting down a bunch of lead to cast some fishing sinkers in a typical aluminum pot.

The thing reached critical temperature and collapsed. What a mess!
It was luck neither of us got burns.

[zuke]

Here's what I use, and paid $50 cent's for at a good will type store

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/pressurecookermeltingpot066.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/pressurecookermeltingpot067.jpg

[Jon]

Look at yard sales, and the local thrift shops. A small cast iron pot would work as well.

Best of luck.

[clodhopper]

Ike,
There is lots of good stuff at yard sales and second hand stores, cheap!
Pans, ladles, scrapers, ingot molds.
Aluminum is okay for ingot moulds. The alloy is losing heat after being poured in. A whole diffrent scenario from having AL pot on the flame melting lead in it.

[Longwood]

Several years ago, every Mall store in America was selling stainless steel pots and pans that had a thin coat of copper on the bottoms.
People soon noticed many of them were lousy pots and tossed most of them.
I see them all over the place.
The round pot with the tin sitting on my smelting heat source, is one that I got over 20 years ago and it is still going strong.

Recycle yards have bins with nothing but stainless and I see lots of good smelting pots and very handy stainless pans in them.
The big cookie sheet is 26"x18" and the small rectangular pans are 7-1/2"x10-1/2" and all of them are extremely strong.
I use the smaller rectangular and square pans the most. I can load them level full of bullets and pick them up without worrying about the container failing.
Big pans I get for $3 and the small pans usually for 50 cents or a dollar.
I also got a lot of my lead and tin at the recycler. I paid 40 to 50 cents a pound for it.
I usually grab a pan to carry the lead so I end up paying 50 cents a pound for some of them.
You can see that I need to smelt a little bit of tin.

PS, The lid for my Lyman vibrator cleaner is a stainless pot lid that I drilled and threaded the handle to keep it on the vibrator.

[ShootNSteel]

Are you located towards Cleveland? I drive there everyday and may be able to find somthing for you.

[Ike8477]

Thanks for all the great advice from everyone.
I will check my local metal recycled and a couple flea
markets. I am about 40 miles south of Cleveland. I'm sure I will find a stainless one, just have to be patient. Not my best quality!

[zuke]

Don't forget garage sale's!

[gbrown]

For a smelting pot I used to use an old plumbers pot that held 20-30#. Wanted more. Ended up using an old refrigerant bottle--the big green ones, about 3 gallon size. Holds nearly 100#. If you have any friends in the A/C business, see if you can get one. I cut it about an inch above the weld line with a Ryobi battery operated reciprocating saw. Took about 30 min. I have an old burner made from the old cast hot water heater burner type. Low pressure regulator, but the can sits about 1 inch above flame. With 80 # in it, I gotta watch it or it will get too hot. Also, there was a member selling smelting pots made from recycled propane bottles. Shipping would be the only question.

[ShootNSteel]

That's about where I am too..
Have you heard of the Hartville Flea Market in Hartville?
Go on a Saturday morning, get there about 8:00 AM on a sunny day and you will likely find about a 100 things you can use.

[leadbutt]

Here's what I use, and paid $50 cent's for at a good will type store

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/pressurecookermeltingpot066.jpg

http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/pressurecookermeltingpot067.jpg



you paid .50$ for a coffee can?!:kidding:

[zuke]

Got that off my sister, and she paid about $8 for it

[45-70 Chevroner]

Go to the thrift store and they will probably have some SS pots, usually very reasonably priced.

[WVHunter129]

I use a Coleman fueled cook stove an old USA 4 and 1/2 quart cast iron Dutch oven. I use a LEE ingot mold for casting wheel weights and for indoor range lead I use muffin pans. I have 3 SS pots I use, one for dross and the other for clips and if indoor range lead I use one for the copper jackets. I have heard a lot of people in casting to say to stay away from aluminum!

Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

[Salmon-boy]

I'm probably going to start more than a few addictions here, but whenever I go to the dump, it seems that one or more water heaters jumps in the back of the pickup...

In fact, I just finished cutting one up for a wind-break for a 5 gallon water-heater/melting pot.

[WVHunter129]

Like to see pictures of that.

Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

[Salmon-boy]

I'll post some pix once I get it together and finished.

I need to plug up some of the holes where the heater elements were installed and was thinking of a bottom pour spout, but may stick to a ladle.

Right now, it's kind of wobbly on the turkey fryer stand, so will need to sort that out first thing.

[WRideout]

I think it would be well worth your while to spend some time finding a good old USA made cast iron pot or a stainless one.
50 years or so ago my late father and I were melting down a bunch of lead to cast some fishing sinkers in a typical aluminum pot.

The thing reached critical temperature and collapsed. What a mess!
It was luck neither of us got burns.

When I got back into casting, I had been using a dipper that was a coffee measuring scoop fastened to a handle. I thought it was Al, but didn't think it mattered. I never had a problem at the low temperatures I was using, but then I got a Lee four pound pot, which can get really hot. I made one dip, and came back with half a dipper! I didn't realize I could get it hot enough to melt aluminum. After that the melt in the pot was pretty but worthless; all kinds of different colors, and just big clumps that don't pour.

Wayne

[WVHunter129]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/WVHunter129/Thesmeltingsetupwithanothermuffinpan.jpg

Here is a picture of my setup. It is a Coleman cook stove that uses Coleman fuel. Setting on top is a 4-1/2 quart dutch oven I found in my father-in-laws garage. Beside it I have muffin pans to cast ingots. In this pot I have indoor pistol range scrap lead. I use the muffin tins for it and when I have wheel weight lead I use a LEE ingot mold. That way I know what I have in storage later on.

[Christorbust]

Here is a picture of my setup. It is a Coleman cook stove that uses Coleman fuel.

WVHunter,

How long does it take to melt that entire pot on that Coleman?

I just bought a stove just like that from the 60's from goodwill for $4!

P.S. Excellent state your from btw.

[Lloyd Smale]

i bought a BIG stock pot at walmart. I think it was about 15 bucks. It holds enough ww to get you about 200lbs of ingots. Its been going for about 5 years now and its smelted tons of lead. Before that i went through 2 cast iron pots that were about half that size. they both eventualy cracked. Im sure the cast iron just isnt good for the extream heat cycles that smelting incures and eventualy get stressed. DONT use aluminum. I tried it once and came back to a pile of melted lead on the floor.