do you insulate your WW smelting pot ?

[kryogen]

seems like I am wasting a lot of heat trying to melt the scrap WW in a steel pot in the open. I said OPEN, not OVEN.... I use a turkey fryer with a large steel pot on it.

Should I try to use some flame resistant wool around, and then wrap it with some sheet metal to prevent heat loss?

seems like I am heating it like crazy

[CHeatermk3]

I use an old cast iron dutch oven and heat over one of those propane-fired turkey fryer kinda stove. we use about 1/4 to 1/3 of a 5 gallon tank to smelt 100 lyman ingots worth of WW.

We don't have a cover but it seemed to go a bit faster when we had some sheet lead for a makeshift lid last time(melting elevator weights).

We set up on a pair of sawhorses bridged with some 2x12 scrap lumber in the doorway of by friends garage just about where the garage ends and the driveway begins.

[bangerjim]

My plumber's furnace has an outer metal bowl that lets the inner CI cauldron sit down in with a 1" gap all around. It roars like a jet engine and heats 50# of lead in a matter of minutes.

Putting a heat shield around your pot to contain the head is a good idea, especially if you using a low BTU heat source like a gas BBQ burner or a coleman stove.

What kind of an oven do you have that gets hot enough to melt lead???? And I hope you are NOT doing that inside your home!!!!!!!!!

Get a turkey frier as above. And by all means, do it outside.

bangerjim

[Mk42gunner]

My smelting setup is a turkey fryer with a custom (sounds so much better than home made) pot made from schedule 80 iron pipe 8" diameter 8" long, with the bottom ¼" plate. I didn't use insulation but did cut the center from an old brake drum to help hold heat against the sides of the pot.

The number one thing that helps get the WW and other scrap lead melting is to put a lid on the pot.

Robert

[Sweetpea]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?224154-Finished-the-new-smelting-pot-made-a-ladle

Here's the smelting pot I made.

All that angle iron around the outside helps to transfer heat into the pot, and the shield around it keeps the heat around the sides, and moving up.

Don't worry so much about insulation, worry more about keeping the breeze off the pot.

[303Guy]

do you insulate your WW smelting pot ?Yes I do. I have an aluminum outer with the gap filled with kaowool/fiber frax funace insulation.

[BK7saum]

Its not insulated but I have a flashing shroud around my 14" pot. I. Seems to heat up a lot quicker and maintain temp at a very low flame. Seems to be at least half againg more efficient, but that's just a guess. There is a significant improvement with the shroud.

[uaskme]

It makes a big difference and even more than that during the winter. Wind shield also makes a huge difference in the cooler weather.

[quack1]

I made a wind shield out of a metal 5 gallon bucket. It took a little time with trial and error trimming to get it to fit around the stainless pot but was well worth it in terms of quicker heating and using less gas to maintain temp.
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll300/1quack1/IMG_0001.jpg

[**oneshot**]

I have a steel ring that my pot sits it. I found it keeps the sides from getting cooled. I also use Heavy duty tin foil as a wind break around the base of the burner.

[crawfobj]

Aluminum foil makes a great temporary wind screen. You'll be amazed at how much hear you can retain.

[500MAG]

I have a roll of thin aluminum that I put around to block the wind. I like quack1's idea. I think I'll try that. The aluminum gets hot too and can burn the heck out of you. Lol

[kryogen]

yeah one of my issues is the wind that wont let the flame work properly.
I will try the aluminum foil trick. makes sense.

Actually, melting old WW smells so bad that I wont do it anymore in my driveway because I am sure that neighbors are about to complain. did that a few days last summer and I think that I got them to the limit.

Last time I went at the end of an old mine road, thinking I would be alone, and of course, lots of ATVers passing asking me if I am making crystal meth....

Ohh god. I would just like a place where I won't see anyone, and won't bother anyone with the toxic fumes.
I wear a respirator but the neighbors dont, and it smells REALLY toxic with all the paint/oil/rubber burning.

[kryogen]

oh and I use mini loaf pans to form ingots. cheap, and works fine. stacks easy. they weight approx 6 pounds each. fit nicely in the lee melting pot.
111130

[MO Fugga]

yeah one of my issues is the wind that wont let the flame work properly.
I will try the aluminum foil trick. makes sense.

Actually, melting old WW smells so bad that I wont do it anymore in my driveway because I am sure that neighbors are about to complain. did that a few days last summer and I think that I got them to the limit.

Last time I went at the end of an old mine road, thinking I would be alone, and of course, lots of ATVers passing asking me if I am making crystal meth....

Ohh god. I would just like a place where I won't see anyone, and won't bother anyone with the toxic fumes.
I wear a respirator but the neighbors dont, and it smells REALLY toxic with all the paint/oil/rubber burning.I was smelting mine on the back deck yesterday and getting strange looks from the neighbors on the end. Then the grandfather yells over, you melting lead?:redneck:

[MrWolf]

Mine is not so fancy but I use a welding blanket as a wind screen. If I ever need to use it it basically can be unclipped. Seems to work fine.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?240632-Weber-Smelting-Station

[RogerDat]

I have been thinking about taking the aluminum fish fryer pot that came with the burner and cut the bottom out to use as a chimney around the dutch oven. I think a lot of heat is going around the dutch oven rather than directly at the bottom and I don't use the aluminum pot for anything so if it is larger than the dutch oven I'm thinking it might direct more of that waste heat along the sides of the melt.

[MO Fugga]

Mine is not so fancy but I use a welding blanket as a wind screen. If I ever need to use it it basically can be unclipped. Seems to work fine.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?240632-Weber-Smelting-Station

That's pretty kick-***! Now I have a new project to do.

[lightman]

My home made burner and melting pot will do two pots ( about 800# ) on a 20# tank, so I did not insulate it. Insulation would make it more efficient, but the loss seems acceptable, so I have not done anything. A lid of some sort does make a lot of sense, guess I'll look around the scrap pile!

[William Yanda]

Wait for it, wait for it. I can almost see it. There! An old hub cap just begging to be repurposed.

[Jailer]

A little aluminum flashing did the trick for me for smelting in the cold temps.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b180/Jailer/posting%20pics/shroud_zps1ace42b0.jpg (http://s19.photobucket.com/user/Jailer/media/posting%20pics/shroud_zps1ace42b0.jpg.html)

[conundrum374]

I used to use a dutch oven over the turkey fryer, gave that setup away before moving 3 states away.

then built this to render aluminum, I was amazed at how quickly the pb melts in this setup.
117647117648

started with the 55 gallon drum poured an 80# bag of quikcrete for the floor.
then added the inner wall with burner tube and filled the gap with another 120#
quikcrete. the lid is a 60# bag with rebar handles.