Cut Propane turkey fryer weight capacity?

[psychbiker]

I picked up 230lbs if fishing weights and want to melt it down.

I have a turkey fryer setup and cut a propane tank in half. What’s the safe weight capacity the pot can hold when I go to melt down the lead?

Being diving weight lead I think I’ll add Linotype at a 2:1 (lead to Lino) ratio. Can’t remember what I did before weight wise and don’t want anything collapsing on me.

[wv109323]

I believe the limit will be the structure of the fryer. I think I would stop around 50-60lbs. Unless you have numerous ingot molds why melt vast amounts of lead. I think you can flux better in small amounts.

[Stewbaby]

Definitely varies by the stand. A bass pro special may only hold a 1/10 of a what a bayou classic holds. Devils in the details

[country gent]

Most propane tanks a stronger than the stands. I would reinforce or build an heavier stand for the fryer then melt what the pot holds. I had a set up that would melt 350 lbs at a time cleaning up range lead from an indoor range. A Lot of jackets but no clips. Used it for awhile. I used stoker coal to fire it with a blower. It took longer to pour the ingots than to melt a pot full.
You will want a heavier longer skimmer and stirrer for your pot. When fluxing use enough sawdust and wax also. 200+ lbs I would cover the molted with 1/2" sawdust and 1/4 of a bar of paraffin. Stir scrape this in thru the metal then skim add needed alloying and flux again with paraffin and sawdust to blend. I perfer making my mix in a big batch.

If you do more than one pot Id ingots as to alloy and pot number. This way you can blend the pots together when casting for a very uniform mix every time. 2 pots use 5 1lb ingots from each pot when refilling use an even number from each pot.

[psychbiker]

Thanks guys. I might figure out how to put the fryer on cinder blocks and the make a wind screen around it. If melted down wheel weights a few times but this may be the last time for a while. Baby on the way in July.

[Pablo 5959]

I welded bent 1/2” rebar to the legs on my fryer so the legs have a much wider stance.
I use a trenching shovel for filling, stirring in flex and cleaning.
I feel it’s safer using a full length shovel handle that keeps my face away from the melt.

[kevin c]

I use a Bayou Classic double jet burner. The stand is welded steel, designed to take forty gallon pots (~#350). There seems to be plenty of safe extra weight bearing capacity.

https://www.bayouclassicdepot.com/products/sp40-bayou-classic-double-jet-propane-burner

My processing pot is a #20 propane tank cut just above the seam. #250 of alloy comes up to just below that seam, leaving a few inches of freeboard for safety. It sits on the original ring base. This set up has been stable for me, but I'm thinking of getting a wider ring welded on the bottom for extra security.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=228451&d=1538985277

[Rich/WIS]

Given about 5 gallons of oil and a 20-25# turkey should hold at least 70# without issue. Depending on the design it may also be possible to reinforce the stand, or perhaps just smelting in smaller batches would be a better solution.

[ioon44]

"I have a turkey fryer setup and cut a propane tank in half. What’s the safe weight capacity the pot can hold when I go to melt down the lead?"

I reinforced the legs on my turkey fryer stand and run about 250 lbs of lead in the propane tank.

[lightman]

Like the others have said, the stand will be the determining factor. The cut off propane tank is strong enough to fill up with lead. And like the others have said, you may be able to beef up your burner. If you have a welding machine and welding skills you might design a stand built around your burner.

Like Country Gent said, when you are melting 200-300# of lead a nice ladle and skimmer are nice. I have a Rowell #4 and the skimmer that goes with it. You will also need several ingot molds to utilize the production from a large pot and burner.

[Hossfly]

My experience with pot capacity is like lightman says don’t over run your mold count. The first mold fill run will be fast dump because molds are relatively cool, 2nd mold fill not so much. If you got aluminum molds they tend to solidify the alloy quicker, but if using cast iron longer wait time is required. Heavy leather welding gloves are your friends here. I usually run about 75# in a cut down Freon tank 50# size, close to what a propane tank is. Can fill 2 times and leave some alloy in pot for next batch. Have enough molds for that amount. Dump first set, refill and done for a while. That seems to be the biggest factor in determining capacity is mold count. My tank will hold about 200# but you need room for fluxing etc.

[country gent]

You run into a unique circumstance when using the fryer stands for this. You are operating at much higher temps ( frying may be 400-450* casting cleaning lead is 700-750*) As this heat increases the steel in the stand starts to weaken due to heat softening. The legs on my frier stand were 3/16" thick bent cold rolled steel. To strengthen stiffen mine I cut 3/16" X 2" flat stock and welded in to both sides of each leg then a ring around the feet. This made the flat legs into c channels 1/ 3/8" wide and 2" deep a much stronger set up. Remember that stand is much stronger sitting there cold than when its been running for several hours and well warmed up.

[Conditor22]

Not enough information to give a valid answer. The best bet is to test it for 1 1/2 times the proposed weight you're going to put on it before you melt lead on it......

[GregLaROCHE]

Consider how many molds you have. You could be using a lot of propane keeping all that lead molten while you wait for your ingots to cool.

[rockrat]

Depends on the design of your turkey fryer. I have a few that we used when we fed band kids. Two are so-so and one was built fairly stout. Thats the one I use, along with a 12 qt. cast iron pot. I usually melt 150 lbs, can go to 160 but pot is really full then. I can do at least 5 batches of alloy on a 5 gal tank of propane

[psychbiker]

Consider how many molds you have. You could be using a lot of propane keeping all that lead molten while you wait for your ingots to cool.

Good point. I'll check and see how many. Think I have a good amount.

[JimB..]

I stood on my fryer stand and jumped around, so figure it’s good for 200.

I wouldn’t build a base from cinder block, I think they break down from heat.

[MrWolf]

You can cool the mould down between pours by quickly placing them on a wet towel. Just the bottoms and be smart about how wet the towels are.

[jessdigs]

I have had mine full up to the weld. I imagine well over 100 lbshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200127/9762ce4f0d2a44bbd5ce55ebe7241bdf.jpg

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[lightman]

Thats a nice pile of ingots!

[David2011]

How big is the pot that came with the fryer? Probably 5 gallons. It will surely hold the weight of a turkey and 3-4 gallons of oil. You could melt all of the lead you currently have in 50 or so pound batches in less time than you can fabricate anything. Mine is not real heavy duty and it will support 100 lb without any problems.