BH when you add grass

[Johnch]

Just venting , I am slightly pissed right now

I was smelting a bunch of range lead tonight
I had 100 lb or so in a SS pot on the turkey cooker
While it was heating up , I was doing yard work

I went over to stir the pot , when one side about 2" up let loose :groner:
Luckey for me , it started slow and I was able to fill 3 of my big 10 lb ingot moulds
But it ended up getting biger , now about 1"x 2"


But now I have 40 or so lb of lead cooling in the grass [smilie=b:
With a few lb in the pot with the jackets

The pot was a good heavy pot I bought years ago
I smelted tons of lead in it

Guess I will have to buy or make a new pot
Maybe weld a base on a piece of 12" steel pipe
I want something that will hold 100+ lb of WW at the start of the melt

Vent over

John

[454PB]

Sorry to hear your problem.

This is why I prefer steel to cast iron.

[Johnch]

This was a heavy Stainless Steel pot

John

[GLL]

John:

Here is my solution for smelting containers. I welded up some scrap 12"x12"x 3/16" thick square steel tube and added handles and lifting holes. It has worked so well that I subsequently made up four others out of 8"x8" square tube . The larger unit is used for smelting wheel weights while the others are each restricted for melting linotype, pure lead, wheel weight ingots,and one for experiments. I had to beef up my high pressure camp stove more than shown here to support the 300+ pounds that are possible in the big one !

I was lucky that my local steel yard has hundreds of remnants to choose from so the cost was cheaper than buying cast iron pots.

Jerry

http://www.fototime.com/884739BFB73F683/standard.jpg

[Johnch]

GLL , I like the idea

I will see what I can find at the scrap yard

John

[GLL]

John:

If you weld up a big one make sure you beef up the stove unit with cross bracing ( A LOT) !

I test my stove periodically by standing on it and jumping a bit.

I think mine might have collapsed without a bit of added steel bracing.

If I had to start over I might find an old compressor tank with the rounded ends, cut it in half, and weld up supports to hold it vertically. My square versions make it difficult to get the last bit of alloy out. As a result I always leave a bit in the bottom when finished. That is the reason each container is dedicated to a specific alloy.

Jerry

[Jim]

I made a smelter pot outa' a old S/S beer keg. I cut the top off with a 4.5" side grinder and 1/8" cutting wheels. Took all of one wheel and a piece of another, but it worked out good.

[44woody]

Johnch you can make one out of the bottom of a lp gas tank that will never come apart go to your local lp gas co and ask them for a old lp tank here in Florida they are not aloud to sale them once there unsafe some of the tanks are steel 1/8 or more just fill with one bottle of dawn dish soap and water and let set for 7 days then cut it with a side grinder :castmine: 44Woody

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
This is the first time I have ever heard of a good thick steel pot failing, also never heard of a cast iron pot failing. Al pots fail. Heck even #10 steel cans are good for 5-10 melts before they fail.
Are you sure the pot was steel?