cut Propane lead pot - by Russ

[Chill Wills]

In the for sale section you can buy a lead pot made from a propane tank cut in half.
Russ (ncbearman) has both large and small ones available. two weeks ago I ordered one.
Last week I received the pot. Looks good. I have not had a day I could try it out yet.
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I use a plumber's floor furnace to heat my lead. It has a 9" top. I used the 25lb cast iron pot that was supplied with it when I got it. Since then I have gone through two 10" cast iron dutch ovens. They fail sooner or later.

I decided it was time to try the propane tank pot. They hold a lot more metal and are reputed to be safer than cast iron.

Fifty bucks plus shipping costs and my pot arrived. Mine did not have the base ring welded to it as it comes from the factory and pictured above. I wish it did but it likely does not mater. Russ did of course provide the large one welded to it and will work fine. I did need to build a additional support frame to be large enough to catch the larger 12"ring.
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The smaller ring would have fit my floor furnace with out the additional frame but it would have been less stable and given the task; safely melting up to 250 lbs of lead, the additional support is the best choice anyway.

The most lead I have melted with my furnace paired with the dutch oven has been 90 lbs. I want to make larger batches for uniformity so this larger melting pot will be great. I will just have to see how well the heat output of the furnace will do with a much larger load.

I want to give Russ a plug so I will be cross posting this.

[skeettx]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=125758

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=125760

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=125763

[Chill Wills]

Skeettx, Thanks for fixing the pictures. They posted as attachment when I moved the post here. Live and learn:shock:

[dlbarr]

Nice. Wish I had a big enough lead source that would make it necessary for me to have a set up like that.

[dikman]

Chill, you've got a nice looking lathe hiding in the background, so you obviously do metal-work - so I'm surprised you didn't make your own pot? One of mine is about that size, and I've found that by heaping the range scrap high when I start I end up with about 150 lbs. of melted lead. Any more and it's starting to get too high for stirring it safely.

[Chill Wills]

Chill, you've got a nice looking lathe hiding in the background, so you obviously do metal-work - so I'm surprised you didn't make your own pot?

Yes, you are right on all counts. my old stick welder did not make the last move. I could have cut the tank and had a friend weld the base ring but ..... for what ever reason I had this mailed to the door, ready to go.:oops:

I will be interested to see how large a batch of alloy I can safely produce. I hear you with the scrap piled high and reduced to 150lbs. If that is all I can do, that will be just fine. Any more will be that much better. The only reason to do as large as I safely can is for uniformity.
A 250 lb batch being 100 pounds more of the exact same alloy. Truly, the thought of that is more appealing than really necessarily.

I am looking into getting a much smaller and more versatile welder that I can weld up pitted actions and other small jobs.

[Pee Wee]

these pots work great, Orville, Eddie and I made 4 of them, and they heat up fast and hold about 150 lbs. of smelted lead, we have been smelting for the past mo. Orville and I did around 500lbs last week in about 5 hrs. start to finish. I made mine with handles on it from the tank so it can be carried easier and if you have to do something with it while it still has hot lead in it its easy to move it. won't smelt without it now. give it a try you wont be sorry.

[Mike W1]

Once you get above the curve of the bottom I believe each additional inch of depth is about 46 pounds of liquid lead. That's why I shortened mine to below the weld line as I dip it out to fill ingot moulds and it's easier to do. Still plenty of sides left for stirring the mix and for my purposes 150-200 lbs at a time is more than sufficient.

[Chill Wills]

. I made mine with handles on it from the tank so it can be carried easier and if you have to do something with it while it still has hot lead in it its easy to move it.

Yes, because I like to pour the last pounds out of the bottom of the pot after the ladle won't fill so well, I've added a bale and lip to grab the rear so to tip forward and pour through the reshaped "spout".

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The only problem left is affording the powder to shoot all that lead.

[Chill Wills]

I used the pot for the first time yesterday. Gave it a test run. :awesome:
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I put a bale it plus a lip on the back so I can pick up the pot and pour the last pounds after the ladle stops working.
By holding the bale in one hand and grabbing the attached lip on the back with a pliers or locking pliers, you can get the last bit of alloy into moulds. Because of the need to make different mixes of metal, I like to pour out everything and start with a clean empty pot each time. If you do not do this and like to leave some metal in the bottom to get the next batch going, you may not need to add the bale or lip.

[Idz]

Those propane tanks work really well as pots. I just finished making about 300 lbs of ingots from range scrap in my 20 lb propane tank pot. I made an insulated furnace out of an old 30 gal barrel (20" OD) with a 14" OD metal liner and fiberglass insulation between them. I set my pot on a couple of bricks and use a Harbor Freight weed burner (500,000 BTU/hr) as the heat source. A HF steel welding table setup next to the furnace allows me to stand up while pouring ingot and my back appreciates that! I use a cookie sheet with a soaked cotton washcloth as a mold cooler which really boosts my throughput. I use 4 of the Lee cast aluminum ingot molds and rapid cooling has no affect on them.

[Chill Wills]

Russ, The bale is made from 1/4" Cold or hot roll, what ever is available. As simple as the China-junk you get at the hardware or Home Depot that passes for 1018 steel. It takes 30 inches total. The harder part might be making the hub - having a lathe to turn the hubs that attach the bale to the pot is helpful. Or, find something else you don't have to make. The hub is just a 1" diameter piece of scrap, .7" long with a groove center cut for the 1/4" bale.
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The hub needs a hole in it for the bolt. I used a 1/4"- 20 in Grade 8 but you can go up to a 5/16" hardware bolt and hole if you think you need more meat in it.
The angle iron on the back can be anything and I attached it with 10-24 bolts. For mounting both the hubs and the angle iron I drilled and taped the pot but that is a bit of "belt and suspenders" and a simple drilled hole would do.

I would offer that you are cutting the pots in the correct place currently, that is above the weld. If I were to do it I would cut the tank just like you are, AND then in one spot dip down to the weld seam for an inch or so but no longer than that. This creates a pour spout and is very helpful.
Just my 2 cents worth.....[smilie=1:8-)[smilie=1:
- Michael

[dragon813gt]

I cut one in half a week or so ago. They are a lot thicker than I thought they were. Wasn't an issue to cut it w/ an angle grinder. I did have to clean the interior surface. The tank was really old and was given to me by a friend. I didn't clean the interior and ran a small batch in it. Lots of junk ended up in the lead so I cleaned it up w/ a wire wheel and flap disc. Now I just need to put some handles on it.

I've been using a Dutch oven for a long time. The flat bottom of them makes it much easier to get every last drop of lead out. Also easier to scrape the sides and bottom clean. But I feel much safer using the propane tank.

[georgerkahn]

I got a freon tank half from DCROCKETT which I've been using. I was/am curious re "dangers" in cutting a LP tank -- methods might range from a Dremel tool, to angle grinder, to perhaps an oxy-acet torch -- but, again, what steps NEED be taken to prevent an explosion? In my youth, we'd pour a bit of carbon tet in tanks to displace oxygen -- but, at least in New York State, it's illegal and impossible to find. Do you fill tank with, say, water and use a grinder?
georgerkahn

[dragon813gt]

In my case the tank had been outside, under cover, w/ the valve open for years. I set it upside down for six months before I cut it. Even then when I broke through some pressure was released and you could smell the mercaptan. I let it sit for another two weeks before I finished cutting it. I tried removing the valve, 4' wrench w/ a 3' cheater on it, but anyone that's attempted this knows how they don't like to come off. Best bet is to remove the valve and fill it w/ water.

[dikman]

George, don't even think of using a Dremel, it would cost you a fortune in cut-off wheels! I've cut a few in half using an angle grinder with a thin cutting disk, works very well. Open the valve on the tank and leave it standing upside down for a couple of days, that should drain out any residual gas. What you can still smell is the Mercaptan and that gets into the pores of the metal! The only way to get rid of that smell is to burn it out. The first one I filled with water and let stand for a couple of days, the others I didn't bother, just drained them and then cut.

Dragon is right, those valves are a bear to remove!!!!! (Tapered thread plus a locking agent).

[Chill Wills]

Once you get above the curve of the bottom I believe each additional inch of depth is about 46 pounds of liquid lead. That's why I shortened mine to below the weld line as I dip it out to fill ingot moulds and it's easier to do. Still plenty of sides left for stirring the mix and for my purposes 150-200 lbs at a time is more than sufficient.

Now that I have had a chance to batch 5 loads, I have a feel for using this new pot and what kind of load size it will do. I had done the math before getting it and so I knew the volume, there for the weight the pot would hold.

Mike, I tend to agree with you that 200lb is a good max load. I have run a trashy load and had a lot of junk on top. That load produced only about 115 lbs and needed every bit of room above the liquid lead for the trash. On the other end of the load size, today I did BPCR range scrap, all large bullets and very little dirt or junk. 195lbs of clean lead with little dirt when all was poured and done.

Today's large load size load answered some questions for me about my plumbers floor furnace. Being winter and a nice day, the heat at produced was just enough but not any too much. I had some re-freezing along the top outside rim. I would have to push it back down and it took a little longer to mix and clean everything before the whole pot came up to a good temp. Still, being able to make larger batches of alloy than my 10" cast iron dutch could do is a big plus.

This new pot is like having a new toy. I have another 5-6 batches of WW and some water pipe to do this winter before it gets warm and that should get the desire to melt large batches of lead out of my system until next winter.:p

[dikman]

that should get the desire to melt large batches of lead out of my system until next winter.:p

Maybe....:lol:. (It's Summer here but I still get an occasional craving to melt lead!).