40lb smelting setup Bayou SQ14

[10mmShooter]

Hi Guys,

I need a bit of advise in setting up my small smelter, I would like to process 20 to40 lbs per run. I've included a pic of my cast iron pot(dutch oven) its got 20 pounds of lead in it in my pic, as you can see I should be able to safely melt 40 lbs in the pot and that should make the pot about half full. I'm guessing my pot is 8 quarts maybe its 11 inches across by 4 inches deep.



I'm looking for an off the shelf burner that will meet my needs, the Bayou Classic SQ14 only $49 bucks looks, good, 4 legs, 150K BTUs and 16 inches square . Appears to be sturdy, lots of review with people brewing 5-10 gallons on beer on the burner. 5 gallons of beer is gonna weigh 40+ lbs so the burner seems to be what I need.

With 150K BTU I'm assuming it will burn through a tank of propane fairly quickly??

http://ep.yimg.com/ip/I/agourmetcajunshop_2054_529383.jpg

[imashooter2]

That looks like a 6 quart pot and should have an easy 100 pound working weight with about 140 pounds full to the rim.

Build a heat / wind shield and don't turn the burner up all the way and your gas will last a lot longer. My experience was that a wide open burner wastes a LOT of BTUs.

When I got my burner, I put the pot on top of it, then put a piece of board over the pot and stacked 300 pounds on that and then gave a good lean on it to be sure. I expect your burner will be fine, but better to test the welds with it cold...

[uncowboy]

Get a 10" peice of 10-12" diameter sewer pipe(Steel) Cut slits so it will center on your fryer burner suports. Then drop your pot on top of your sewer pipe and the wind won't cool your pot and you won't waste BTU's NOTE if your cast dutch oven doesn't seal the pipe the heat excaping around the edge of the pot is like a cutting tourch. Long handles on your tools will be a must. J.Michael

[Texasflyboy]

I need a bit of advise in setting up my small smelter

Free advice, freely given.

Read my post on this subject:

The perils of Cast Iron Cookware and Lead Smelting (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34131&highlight=cooking)

My comment is down the page a bit. I stand behind that original comment to this day. I own zero cast iron cookware for casting, smelting, or any other activity involving temperatures we use in our hobby. All my casting & smelting ironworks are welded plate steel.

If you insist on using cast iron cookware to smelt, then take precautions:

1. Do the smelting outside.
2. Create a dam around the pot to prevent the hot lead from contacting any moisture in the soil or concrete. Hot lead on concrete will explode in a manner that will surprise everyone in the area.
3. A double layer of aluminum foil over plywood is a good low cost safety measure under the burner stand.
4. Under no circumstances, strike the cast iron cookpot when its up to temperature with molten lead. You can dip out of it, just don't hit it anywhere. These pots are most fragile to cracking when they are up at the molten lead temperatures and have the additional stress of 40 to 100+ lbs of lead inside.

Remember, cast iron cookware was made to cook food, not smelt lead. A pot of beans at 150F vs. 40lbs of molten lead at 600F are at the opposite ends of the scale for weight, operating temperature, and safety.

That's my .02



Tom in VA

[cajun shooter]

You don't need the burner running wide open; The pot when at temp can be turned way down to maintain the temp for using the ladle to put into ingots. That bottle will run far longer than you can.

[huesos]

While this thread is on the subject, will a heavy gauge stainless stock pot work as a smelting vessel? It seems as though it would not have the tendency to crack open as the cast iron dutch ovens. The gauge of the stainless is not as thick as the mild steel fabricated jobs pictured above but is still substantial.

[imashooter2]

The only disadvantage will be the thinner steel won't have as much heat conduction as the thick home fabricated pieces. It will work fine.

[zxcvbob]

While this thread is on the subject, will a heavy gauge stainless stock pot work as a smelting vessel? It seems as though it would not have the tendency to crack open as the cast iron dutch ovens. The gauge of the stainless is not as thick as the mild steel fabricated jobs pictured above but is still substantial. I use a small Revereware saucepan to render 10 to 15 pounds of lead scrap at a time. I'd use a medium saucepan so I could get 30 pounds in it (a small stockpot would hold even more), but this is working too well already to ruin another good pot.

[Stillwater]

I went the other way, I bought a plumbers pot and furnace.

The price was a lot more, than if I had of scrounged pieces and would have cobbled something together.

This way I have a "purpose built" machine to melt my lead with. The pot it'self holds forty pounds when full.

The needle on the propane tank hasn't even moved after melting 15 pots of lead.

Bill

[Dale53]

I have a Bass Pro fish cooker (turkey fryer - same thing) and have smelted over a thousand pounds of bullet metal. I have no idea how long until I need a new tank (probably not terribly long). At any rate, it is NOT a terrible expense, that's for sure.

I smelt at a maximum temperature of 650 degrees (avoids potential problems with zinc when smelting wheel weights and also minimizes the amount of propane consumption). I definitely recommend a thermometer (a good one) as a worthy addition to your set up.

I've been doing this for a LONG time with complete satisfaction. I have done as much as 1000 lbs at one time but often will do as little as 100-150 lbs when needed.

Dale53

[huesos]

Dale,
Are you using the cast iron pot that comes with the Bass Pro? The above post on the dangers of cast iron has had me wondering ever since I read it.

[Dale53]

I bought my fish cooker and cast iron pot separately. The fish cooker came from Bass Pro. The cast iron Dutch Oven came from Harbor Freight. If you try to rough house cast iron you CAN break it. However, I am VERY careful to NOT bang on my Dutch Oven.

As a matter of fact, I do prefer to use a built up (welded up) seamless pipe of very heavy gauge. However, my pot of that type will only hold sixty working pounds. The Dutch oven will handle twice as much (it's twice as big).

Each and everyone one of you will have to make your own choice. There is ALWAYS some hazard involved when smelting molten lead. I tend to be VERY careful when using and storing my equipment.

FWIW
Dale53

[10mmShooter]

Thanks for guidance everyone, I'm attaching a pic of below, I got the stainless version instead, its very sturdy, as you see in the I had to use some steel bar stock since my 6 qt pot was just barely large enough to sit on the supports, I should have gotten a larger pot, but mine is fine, it was hold 70lb when half full and this is as much molten lead as I want to handle at a time. The rack will hold me standing on it 190lbs, but I'm not gonna test it with that much lead.

In the picture thats 40lbs on lead in the pot and about 30 in bin getting ready to go in.

[grumman581]

Free advice, freely given.

Read my post on this subject:

The perils of Cast Iron Cookware and Lead Smelting (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34131&highlight=cooking)



Interesting that you've had two incidents with cast iron pots... I have to wonder what you are doing different... Are you using propane or natural gas? I use natural gas and I have never had any problem with any of my cast iron cookware that I use at elevated temperatures breaking... I have a cast iron griddle and I've had it heated up for searing steaks and it had even started to glow a dull red... Of course, the rate of temperature change is a lot less with normal household gas pressure vs a high pressure propane burner...

[imashooter2]

I've had a 2 quart cast iron sauce pan crack on a Coleman stove when I hit it with the ladle. Not a catastrophic failure, but the crack dribbled lead all over the burner before it cooled enough to stop. THAT was an enormous PITA to clean up. This pot had melted hundreds of pounds before failure. I had even used it with a charcoal blast furnace to alloy up some 50/50 antimony and lead back in the day. It was glowing red hot then I can tell you!

I had a Harbor Freight Dutch oven crack straight up the side on first use. That failure would have been trouble if the pot was at temperature, but it happened as soon as I turned on the flame with a turkey fryer. HF replaced it and that pot has melted a ton or so since with no issues.

[Texasflyboy]

Interesting that you've had two incidents with cast iron pots... I have to wonder what you are doing different... Are you using propane or natural gas?

Propane.

The point of my post was to state the obvious. Cast Iron Cookware was made for cooking at temperatures significantly less than required to melt lead.

That's why it's called cookware, and not "lead smelting ware".

I am not the only person this cracking issue has be-deviled. Most of my friends over the years have had the same thing happen. There is no way to predict if the cookware will crack or when it will crack. Sometimes they crack when heated. Sometimes they crack when they cool. Mine cracked anytime I tapped on them (not hitting, tapping, like you tap a cook spoon when cooking to get the food off) when they were at temperature.

It was scary for me to not be able to predict the failure with cast iron cookware, which is why I left it behind. I would love to know why cast iron plumbers pots never seem to crack, maybe it has to do with they way they are cast, or the raw materials.

I just switched to welded plate steel. Cheap, effective, and never (knock on wood) cracks.

[testhop]

i have a question .
this may not be the right place to post if not feel free to move it .
the question is how about a stanless steelpot ?
any problums anybody had ? this cracking iron pots has me worried .
also any drawbacks in useing s s pots

[imashooter2]

i have a question .
this may not be the right place to post if not feel free to move it .
the question is how about a stanless steelpot ?
any problums anybody had ? this cracking iron pots has me worried .
also any drawbacks in useing s s pots

See post #7 above.

[inuhbad]

When you guys talk 'Welded Plate Steel' what particular alloy are you guys talking about???

What THICKNESS & ALLOY are you guys using that is so much safer & more effective???

What's the thickness & diameter of the steel pipe wall that you're using???

I have a welder and I'm quite skilled at it, but I want to know which materials you recommend? I'm obviously not going to try this with cheap scrap 'butter steel', but I also don't want to have to spend $75 bucks on some high-quality alloy either...

What do you guys recommend?

Would something like 10" Diameter Schedule 40 Steel pipe (.365" thick wall) work okay???

[Stillwater]

inuhbad:
Is the schedule forty pipe you're talking about cast, or drawn?

That is a really good question that only a metallurgist, could give a positive answer too.

Bill