Size of melt pot?

[Fixxah]

I have been hoarding as much lead and WW as possible. Currently there are around70 clean ingots ready for the casting ops. but I recently aquired a turkey fryer and a couple of cast iron pots from my boss along with a ladel with a 3' handle that holds approx. 25 lbs. of lead.

Please note that I am a plumber by trade and my boss has also donated a lot of lead from demo jobs. I want to melt all my stock in one session and was curious as t what size pot would be best to melt it all? Is 50 lbs per pot expecting too much and will it work?

John

[randyrat]

I matched my pot with how many molds i have. About 30-40 lbs at a time and can keep it going all day if i want to. I use a 8 qt cast kettle with a cover and it does me well. If you go too big it's harder to keep an eye open for zink floaters and keep up with molds. I would go bigger if i did it more often, but then you would need a heftier stand for the turkey fryer and more molds. Go slow don't spill and get sloppy...I use slips of card board from the local feed mill under my operation and throw them out when i'm finished. Make sure your molds match your final use. ie... Small enough to fit whichever melting pot you have.

[GabbyM]

A 5 quart dutch oven will hold 80 lbs of lead.
I can melt about 100 pounds of WW an hour in mine. Maybe more. I don't fill it full. Just about 2/3 is enjough to fill my ingot molds three times with some left in the bottom for seed.

I like to add scrap lead to my pot using a square nose shovel. My shoe laces last longer when I keep my feet back.

[Fixxah]

Anybody have a good supplier of cast iron kettles and a scoop for clip trash? I have a few hundred pounds of WW and a hundred pounds of old joint lead with some oakum in it. My goal is to have half a ton before I begin melt after deer season.

[OeldeWolf]

There have been a few reports of problems with cast iron, although that is apparently the most common sort of pot to use. I got mine at harbor freight.

[HeavyMetal]

The cast iron pots will last a while, the trick: is to not beat on them when they are hot!

Tapping the sides of a real hot chunk of cast iron will get it to split.

The real issue when making a large pot of molten alloy is having enough heat to get the job done and keep it hot enough to get all the different lots of WW and lead to make a complete alloy!

I have seperated clip on Ww in to weighed piles, yes I counted the clips, and added weighed pure lead and or linotype, foundrytype, monotype as needed to make a specific alloy for a specific need. Yes the bigger the pot the more consistant the alloy when you remelt to make boolits but most of us won't be able to heat up 300 lbs of lead at a time!

So I do a little weighing, try to make alloy in 80 to 100 lb lots, mark each lot with a steel letter punch and then mix these ingots as I make boolits out of my casting pots.

This is going to provide all the consistancy I think you can get from a back yard foundry set up and should do everything that's needed to supply a consistant alloy from lot to lot!

[randyrat]

Wait a minute i have an 8 qt canning pot. I'm not sure how big my smelting pot is now.

[Wayne Smith]

The three limits to how much you can melt are the strength/stability of your turkey fryer, the amount of heat you can supply, and the size of your pot. Stay well within safety limits of the first, the other two are reasonably self limiting.

[GabbyM]

In my mind keeping the pot shielded from wind may help avoid stress cracking.
I'd like to have a steel pot of some shape with a poor nozel fitted on. Sure would not spend money on a cast iron pot.

[blackthorn]

I use a cut off 20 lb propane tank. You can cut the hight to whatever you want but keep in mind that your heat sourse may not be sufficient to fully maintain a full pot of alloy. Also, the strength of your burner base will be critical. I cut my tank as high as I could but I remove the liquid metal after a full pot of loose WW has been smelted. The higher sides make it possible for me to ensure any moisture in a full pot of loose WW has been evaporated before the WW can sink below the molen alloy's surface. My pot also has a lid and a spout built in but I have never felt strong enough to pick it up and pour it out!!

[Springfield]

I just use a big steel pot, holds about 150 lbs when full. Heat it on the best turkey fryer I could find, 70,000 BTU's. Some are only 30,00. A coleman camp stove is about 12,000.

[Fixxah]

Is it easier to ladle the alloy out of big pot or have a pour spout?

Harbor Freight just opened up near Rhode Island, I picked up stamps but didn't think to look for kettle or pot. Gonna look now.