Haul post

[Bantou]

Managed to pick up roughly 80-90lbs of lead wheel weights yesterday from the local tire shop. Took me all freaking day to process them down into ingots... I think I need a bigger smelting pot.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200215/a5f9ee6b8f4181fd1e85be9ce204f190.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bantou]

My smelting set uphttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200215/87104e8353fa6fcfac6ce56538b351df.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Budzilla 19]

Yessir , you need a bigger smelting pot. I use a cut in two old helium tank and a ring off the top welded to the bottom half for stability. It will hold more than I care to try and move!!! Also old Freon tanks are safe to cut and weld on. Also a big Dutch oven from a thrift store or garage sale works wonderfully!! Good luck.

[Bantou]

Walmart has large stainless steel stock pots for $11 that I’m thinking about getting. Might put some kind of spigot on it if I can figure out how to keep it from leaking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lightman]

Thats a nice score and a nice pile of clean lead after a hard days work! After you do several melts you will develop methods to streamline the job. My biggest suggestion is to get up off of the floor to a comfortable height. Arrange the scrap pile, the burner and the landing zone to minimize bending, stooping and the number of steps you have to make.

A bigger pot would be nice and it looks like your burner would hold a medium or large Dutch oven. Then you need more ingot molds, then a bigger dipper, ect ect! When you increase one thing you have to increase other things to keep up. One of the best purchases that I have made was for a large skimmer for the clips. Another was a Rowell ladle. Before that, I used a slotted kitchen spoon.

[Yogi]

I might think about adding some angle iron in addition to the legs to compensate for the added weight. I'd hate to see one of them give out spilling your hard work everywhere, along with getting burnt. I melted a Coleman stove once.

[Land Owner]

I made a monorail (and at times a tripod) above my 1/2 propane tank with pour spout (from Forest Punch - this site) that swings by chain into and out of the heat with an 18" long threaded rod inside of a tube with a 6" long wooden handle. Holds well over 100# of melt material and is "easy" to maneuver (with due caution). My propane heater is real similar to Bantou's above with the addition of bricks up the sides past the heater and an aluminum chimney around the pot and above the bricks to funnel the heat to the pot. One hundred pounds of material and right about 30 minutes to melt.

https://i.postimg.cc/GtHCkGjg/IMG-0806.jpg

[Bantou]

I might think about adding some angle iron in addition to the legs to compensate for the added weight. I'd hate to see one of them give out spilling your hard work everywhere, along with getting burnt. I melted a Coleman stove once.

It is pretty sturdy but I will look into it before I upgrade my pot. Right now my pot only holds about 30lbs which is about what the stand would support if it was being used to fry a turkey.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bantou]

One of the best purchases that I have made was for a large skimmer for the clips. Another was a Rowell ladle. Before that, I used a slotted kitchen spoon.

Right now I use a slotted kitchen spoon to scrape my clips out, a serving spoon to flux, and a medium sized ladle to pour my ingots. I’ll look into getting better equipment as my budget allows. The whole reason I got into casting was because money is tight and, assuming I don’t count my time, it lets me make boolits for less than a penny a piece.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lightman]

I certainly understand the budget thing! Most of us started small and nothing says that you have to change. If it works it works! I started with a 10# cast iron pot on a Coleman stove. And the same types slotted spoon and serving spoons. Still have them!

[dverna]

But look at the fun you had! If by "all day" you mean 8 hours, you saved about $100 over buying smelted lead. $12.50 an hour is better than minimum wage and no idiots to deal with.

I have the same pot as Land Owner and I like his set up. I need to ladle out my melt and it is slower but maybe a tad safer for an awkward operator like me.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

A bigger pot and a weed burner to add heat to the top of the pot will make quick work of those wheel weights. Not counting sorting, I can produce that many ingots in 20-30 minutes.

[Land Owner]

Weed burner, eh? I toss in wax on top and set it on fire. Then the alloy melts from bottom to top with propane underneath and top to bottom with burning wax above - outside of course.

[Bantou]

But look at the fun you had!
8 hours is a pretty good estimate, by the end of it though it was less fun and more I just want to get this over with. Next time I attempt that big of a smelt it will be with a bigger pot and more molds.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[44magLeo]

I have a cut off propane tank I use with my propane cooker. I might get another and cut both ends off. Weld a flat piece of steel on one end to have a flat bottom. Then build a spout and rod to make it a bottom pour. Maybe even use a electric stove burner heating element as a heat source. Was looking at one at Lowe's An 8 inch with 6 turns is 2350 watts on 240 volts, 2050 watts on 208 volts. There are a few appliance repair shops around, might find a good used one cheaper.
Hooked up to a PID for temp control it should work good.
Just need to build a good support for it.
Leo