Bottom pour cast iron pot.

[dearslayer]

Looking for info . Can a hole be drilled in cast iron dutch oven pot for a spout to use as a bottom pour or would it crack? Anyone have any links for video for the same?

[country gent]

The hole can be drilled actually cast iron machines fairly easily. The problem would be the cast iron pot may not be thick enough with out an insert installed to make the valve. The other reason for the insert would be to move the spout over from under the pot. A drill, hole saw or annular cutter could be used.

Center drill on location pilot drill and drill to size a hole saw or annular cutter may be better when they break thru.

Most cast iron pots arnt much more than 1/4" thick so a twist drill will at some point be cutting on the angles only with little side support . The insert could be brazed in or threaded in.

[heebs]

Couple problems. Cast iron doesn't expand like steel, therefore the steel may crack the cast iron as different expansion rates when heated. So many different kinds of cast iron, some are very good many are brittle. It would be a crap shoot in IMO.

[G W Wade]

I saw a video where they used a cast fry pan as the base for shot maker GW

[kevin c]

I think I saw the same video: IIRC, different sized holes were simply drilled through the pan, allowing the shot to fall through a shot tower to harden spherically, and cooled in the water filled catch basin at the bottom, with size sorting afterwards.

I do remember being surprised that the dripper was so low tech.

[contender1]

Can it be done? Most likely. Will it work as intended? Maybe, maybe not. As mentioned above,, the additional parts may cause issues.
When I look at any of my projects,, I look at the expense of a factory built, tested & tried item, and how much it will save me if I build my own.
Last year,, I was just getting into swaging bullets, to make .224 diameter bullets from spent .22 cases. With the expense of the stuff,, I was looking at ways to reduce my initial costs. Using lead wire, and a core cutter was my beginning method. I looked at a core cutter, and how it operated. I happened to have an older paper cutter that didn't work on paper very well anymore. (Plus,, I have 2 other paper cutters.) It took very little work to convert my paper cutter into a very good lead core cutter. I had all the odds & ends hardware here to where only my time was invested.
But to build a bottom pour lead pot assy,, I'd opt to do a bit of frugal shopping around.