Wally World Fish Fryer

[sciguy]

After hunting for a reasonable heat source all summer I found these fish fryers on sale at Wally World for $25.00. I know that some you excellent scroungers have been able to do things more cheaply but its pretty tough to find a burner and regulator for this amount. They had 5 more on the shelf when I left the store.

I'm going to bolt the base to a square of 3/4" plywood to increase its rigidity and do a bit of "strength testing" before applying fire to anything.

Hugh

[HWooldridge]

Yeah, that's cheaper than you can likely make - unless you have all the parts and pay yourself $.25 an hour.

[wallenba]

Kinda of dumb question guys....in my neck of the woods there is no Wally World. Are you refering to Wal-Mart, because that term ain't caught on here I guess.

[outdoorfan]

Kinda of dumb question guys....in my neck of the woods there is no Wally World. Are you refering to Wal-Mart, because that term ain't caught on here I guess.

Yep!!

[sciguy]

Kinda of dumb question guys....in my neck of the woods there is no Wally World. Are you refering to Wal-Mart, because that term ain't caught on here I guess.

Yes, I was referring to the often hated but still visited Wal-Mart. If you're looking for one of these you should stop in and check for yourself. When I called they told me they had all sold out several days ago and there would be no more this year.
While stopping to check for .22 ammo I took the time to snoop around and low and behold there were 6 still sitting on the back side of an out of the way shelf.

Hugh

[Hiaboo]

I'd lop off a foot or so of length on the legs to get it lower to the ground, because it doesn't look too stable to me.

Good find though! I'm tempted.

[wallenba]

Yes, I was referring to the often hated but still visited Wal-Mart. If you're looking for one of these you should stop in and check for yourself. When I called they told me they had all sold out several days ago and there would be no more this year.
While stopping to check for .22 ammo I took the time to snoop around and low and behold there were 6 still sitting on the back side of an out of the way shelf.

Hugh What brands of .22 do they sell? One of my guns hates Federals.

[sciguy]

What brands of .22 do they sell? One of my guns hates Federals.


Winchester 555 bulk packs, Federal 550 bulk packs, CCI Mini-Mags and several others.
Both the Winchester and Federal are digested by all of my .22 s.

Hugh

[Dale53]

sciguy;
>>>I'm going to bolt the base to a square of 3/4" plywood to increase its rigidity and do a bit of "strength testing" before applying fire to anything.<<<

GOOD PLAN!!

In fact, if you find it a little less than as sturdy as you would like, it would be easy to bolt or weld lengths of angle iron from top to bottom of all of the legs and double or triple the strength of the unit.

If this one has enough BTU's (and I have NO reason to doubt it) that looks like a stellar buy. Just add a Harbor Freight 12" Cast Iron Dutch Oven and you are in business. Frankly, for most of us SERIOUS shooters (meaning those who shoot several thousand rounds a year), this is about as good as it gets.

I have been using a "Fish Fryer" for several years with EXCELLENT results. I have mentioned here several times before, it is possible to smelt 650 lbs in an afternoon (actual weight, not a guess). That is enough production for most of us. That's a couple of hundred lbs an hour (that may be a bit of an exaggeration for "typical" but that is what my brother and I did earlier this year).

Dale53

[centershot]

Sciguy, have no fear! That is the very unit I've been smelting with for 2 years now. I don't use the pan that came with it, I use a 8 qt cast iron Dutch oven. I can fill that pot with wheel weights, light 'er up and sit back and have a Pepsi! 20 minutes later I've got molten lead. I was concened at first about the strength of those legs, but not anymore! Have at it!

centershot

[sciguy]

Sciguy, have no fear! That is the very unit I've been smelting with for 2 years now. I don't use the pan that came with it, I use a 8 qt cast iron Dutch oven. I can fill that pot with wheel weights, light 'er up and sit back and have a Pepsi! 20 minutes later I've got molten lead. I was concened at first about the strength of those legs, but not anymore! Have at it!

centershot

centershot,

Thanks for chiming in on your success with the unit. I'll still probably do a bit of prophylactic strengthening before things get warm. Disregarding that "little voice" has gotten me in way too much trouble throught the years. One hundred pounds of run away molten lead could make a heep of trouble pretty quickly.


Hugh

[sciguy]

sciguy;
>>>I'm going to bolt the base to a square of 3/4" plywood to increase its rigidity and do a bit of "strength testing" before applying fire to anything.<<<

.

If this one has enough BTU's (and I have NO reason to doubt it)

Dale53


Dale,

Its rated at 55,000 BTUs per hour input and can be modulated :-D

Hugh

[wallenba]

Sciguy, what are the height and width dimensions of the stand? I just got a new RCBS PRO-melt and a bathroom exhaust fan that I want to position over the top of. That might do the trick real nicely if its high and wide enough.

[Marlin Hunter]

Thats the one

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=59478

[sciguy]

Sciguy, what are the height and width dimensions of the stand? I just got a new RCBS PRO-melt and a bathroom exhaust fan that I want to position over the top of. That might do the trick real nicely if its high and wide enough.

The stand is 21" tall and 13.5" square. It would be easy to shorten if necessary.

Hugh

[wallenba]

The stand is 21" tall and 13.5" square. It would be easy to shorten is necessary.

Hugh Unbelievable luck seeing this today!! The size is perfect! It would cost more than $25 to make it from the Aluminum angle I was planning to use, plus I get a burner! Never shopped at Wal-Mart though, guess I can just this once.:-D:drinks:

[Goatlips]

I bought something similar several years back and tested it out by climbing up on it and jumping up and down and doing the twist. (That's a dance, youngsters!) Now I trust it with my hide. :Fire:

Goatlips

[Oldtimer]

Be careful with the plywood base. Mine gets hot enough underneath to kill grass if I setup in the yard. May want to hook up and run it for a while to check and see how hot yours gets. Bob

[sciguy]

Be careful with the plywood base. Mine gets hot enough underneath to kill grass if I setup in the yard. May want to hook up and run it for a while to check and see how hot yours gets. Bob

Bob,

Good point on the heat. I also have a good scrap piece of cementacious tile underlayment that might be safer. Its pretty strong stuff and probably has a better heat tolerance than plywood. It would also be easy to place a piece of it over the plywood as a heat shield.

Hugh

[Oldtimer]

Hugh, Sounds like a plan. I'd be a little uneasy with the plywood. Looks like you're set to go. Be careful. Bob

[Bull Schmitt]

A neighbor was scrapping his propane fired grill and it had a side burner for heating a pot of beans or whatever. He let me have the burner portion, regulator, and burner control etc. I made a stand for it and now have a nice heat source with a stainless steel top. It pays to scrounge!!

[wallenba]

No joy at my local Wally World on that item. Was going to use the stand only for another project. On the other hand, an associate was just stocking the ammo case when I got there, bought my limit of CCI Mini-Mags.

[DanM]

Excellent buy. Fish cookers/turkey friers make wonderful smelters. and you can make the wife happy by giving her the big aluminum pot. Rarely do we get the chance to buy a casting gadget and make SWMBO happy at the same time.

[XWrench3]

I wish my wal-mart had one of those! Maybe i will have to take a trip into the city to see if i can find one there. I could stop at several tire stores at the same time, and see if i can find a few 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights. I think i just talked myself into it. road trip ! !

[HeavyMetal]

I think I'd mount that on a nice piece of steel plate about a foot an a half square.

Be easy to bolt but I have a small wire feed welder so I'd make it permanent!

Never smelt on the lawn to much chance of fire! Concrete patio best move for this, well sewpt, no trash, wife or kids, dogs or cats and your good to go.

I'd also fab up a bit of a heat sheid to direct the temp up instead of out you might get more out of a tank of fuel that way!

[HWooldridge]

If you want to build yer own - Academy Sports carries the burner heads and regulators as separate items. I also think Harbor Freight has them from time to time.

[evan price]

After hunting for a reasonable heat source all summer I found these fish fryers on sale at Wally World for $25.00. I know that some you excellent scroungers have been able to do things more cheaply but its pretty tough to find a burner and regulator for this amount. They had 5 more on the shelf when I left the store.


Went around to three Wal*Marts this morning and found nothing but blank stares from the employees when I asked for help. The Super Wal*Mart had a well-stocked grille & outdoor section but they had the King Kooker brand fish & turkey fryer; the difference was the stand was made of pencilrod welded in two hoops with three pencilrod legs. Very unstable! And they wanted $69 for it. The same burner and regulator though.

The last W*M I visited is the one closest to my house which is in a more rural area. No luck there, either, the manager at least knew what I was talking about but said they had been clearanced several months ago.


However, as I was poking around in the garden section outside, up on top of the pallet racking I saw the bin tag for the fish fryers and beside that there were 6 of the 30-qt turkey fryers- NOT the King Kooker ones, but the Backyard Adventure (or whatever Hugh's was) with the nice welded angle iron stand, for $37. Heck, a good 30-qt aluminum stockpot is worth half that easy.

Be aware of one IMPORTANT THING!

They had two different style boxes- some that looked like Hugh's and some that were newer and had a bulletin on them that they "Conformed to most recent CSA codes". Well, curious as I am, I fetched the ladder and got one of each down and flipped out the Kershaw and opened them up to compare-

The newer style has a much crappier plastic regulator unit, that has a built-in timer that shuts the gas off after iirc 45 minutes. Obviously, this is NOT a good feature for someone wanting to use it as a smelting furnace or casting pot. The older model had a metal regulator with NO timer so I got one of those.

Happy hunting!

[hugh]

sciguy tanks for the info.

[roarindan]

:castmine:sciguy, I've got mine,,think i paid $36 but all i did was buy and hook up the tank and start smeltin.my pot is big enough for a large amount of w/w's .and I can use a 5"wide piece of hardwood. to stir:Fire:

[Cherokee]

He is my setup, the plywood base never gets hot. Sometimes I use cardboard. No problem and I ran the smelter for 4 hours today.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee102/DCS44256/Reloading/Smelting003.jpg

[Dale53]

Cherokee;
Your Fryer looks just like mine:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/QWinter2009andleadsmelting-1767.jpg

I got mine at Bass Pro on sale for $30.00 or so. Then I added the 12" cast iron Dutch oven.

As I have said many times on this forum, I can't think of a better set up for general use smelting.

I have NEVER had any scorching problems with the plywood underneath.

Dale53

[XWrench3]

well, i am half way there. i found a N.I.B. turkey fryer at a yard sale today for $20.00. i was on my motorcycle. you should have seen me on the way home. it was reminisat of the beverly hillbillies truck!LOL! now, i just need a cast pot.

[NHlever]

You got it home safely, and that's what matters! The other day I saw a guy on a motorcycle pulling a kayak on a trailer.......... hadn't seen that before.

Those fryers look good. I think I'll have to see if I can find one!

[moses]

I have been going to walmarts all around and had no luck.
I was in High point NC for the weekend, my band was playing there so I stopped in the walmart there and low and behold they had at least 6 of the fish fryers, they were not on clearance but for $39.95 still a good deal!
So if any of you live near High point NC you can get one at the Walmart on hwy 311 (Main street) across the street from the bowling ally.

[shooterg]

I've been using the angle iron legged fish fryer from Walmart also - 100+ lbs. at a time, no problem in a cast iron pot, so plenty strong. The cast iron burner should last a long time. And I've even fried fish in the pan that came with it !