NW Members - Bi-Mart Lead melter

[johnly]

Bi-Mart has Welbuilt propane burners on sale for $19.99. That and a Harbor Freight Dutch oven, you'll be set for high capacity lead melting.

John in Oregon

[testhop]

JUST REMEMBER to get a burner with enough btu and for $20.00you cant be getting a lot of btus

tom

[johnly]

Re-jetting the burner should be a cure for this, if the heat output is too low.

John in Oregon

[johnly]

It's 40 degrees outside, and the wheelweights were left in the garage overnight and were 50 degrees or so.

I put 60 pounds of wheel weights into the HF 12 quart dutch oven with the cover on, but cracked slightly, and turned the burner on maximum. In 40 minutes the contents had melted and I started removing the clips and other junk from the pot. The metal was in cooling in ingots 60 minutes after I started.

For $40, I think it's a deal.

John in Oregon

[yeahbub]

The burner I use is one from Harbor Freight for $20 with a piezo-electric igniter button and sounds like a Saturn 5 taking off. It'll make the smelter's inspection plugs glow red when 1/3 full of alloy. I made my smelter by cutting a junkyard-rescue 30 gallon air compressor tank in three equal lengths and heavily welding schedule 40 2" pipe handles to one of the end pieces, since it will hold some 800lbs if filled to the brim (I never would, but someone else may get it some day).

[johnly]

800 pounds. Now that's capacity:-D

John in Oregon

[kidmma]

How do you guys get the last bit of melt out of those big dutch ovens? Do you dump it out somehow or can you get at it with a ladle?

[mtgrs737]

Kimma,

I don't get it out (the last bit of lead), but leave it for the next melt. It takes less time to get the next batch to melting if you have a primmer in the bottom of the pot.