Electric Single Burner Recommendations

[arjuna70]

I'm setting up a casting area with a hood for ventilation. Is there any electric single burners which will get hot enough to smelt lead? I found this one but I'm not sure if it will do the trick.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/GE-Single-Burner-Hot-Plate/12442587

[jr545]

Horsepower wise you should be OK as most electric pots I see are advertised around 800watts.
I'm not sure how much weight those units will take for smelting without rigging something to handle the load and just let the coils provide heat.

[DLCTEX]

You may need to make a heat shield out of metal flashing to help hold the heat to the pot. A simple ring surrounding the sides of the pot may be enough without insulation. The 10# Lee pot is only 500 watts.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Back in the days when America made such things, I used a single burner hotplate with a small cast iton pot equivalent in diameter to the outside burner coils, which did not have a plate covering them. The pot had maybe 1/2" rounded corners and the bottom was ground flat. It held about six pounds of melt. I do not know the wattage of that hotplate, but the heating coil got red hot just like a stove eye. It had a drip plate underneath the burner coil that reflected heat up even though the bottom of the unit had a cover too. It was fully satisfactory, provided you renewed the melt with small ingots(1/2#).

I suggest you get hot cruising flea markets and junk stores for such a unit. I looked at your wally unit and it looks fully satisfactory for heating a can of Campbell's tomato soup, if you are not in a rush. I think osha, greed , and the red chinese have killed modern American hotplates. IMHO. BvT

[arjuna70]

The other thought I had was smelting out of a another casting pot. Not the one that you use for your Boolits, but maybe another 20lb pot.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Casting out of a big pot works well. The only thing to remember is that if you want to change alloy it must be emptied into ingots probably and the new mix made up, tested, etc.. Although you could certainly work a big pot in 5 pound melts. It's pricey but the single or double burner coleman stoves work well and can sometimes be had for cheap.

I have settled down to two big Lee pots and a small one. Makes it easier to leave a big pot full of something, have an empty big one and small one. Sometimes a mix requires just a little more of something to overcome leading, or be just a bit softer. BvT

[454PB]

That unit is a 1000 watts, which is enough heat if properly directed. I use one that is 750 watts for melting up to 10 pounds in my old Lyman casting pot, but it is slow going.

Another possible problem is that many of the newer heating devices like this have a thermal protective fuse that won't allow the 600 degrees needed for melting our typical alloys.

[d garfield]

I started out with a Coleman one burner stove and an old cast iron pot,lasted about 20yrs. I now use a two burner Coleman stove and the same old pot. I use a ladle to fill the molds. I do 38-55, 357,35rem and 45-70 all made from WW.

[Danman8520]

I got this hot plate and returned it. It did not run continuous, it would click on and off, just like a glass top stove. It would not melt the lead.

[Shiloh]

I got mine (Electric) at a second hand store. It probably will melt lead. It is ancient and the lights dim when I turn it on. I used it for heating plating and precious metal stripping solutions.

I RARELY use it. The newer ones are probably a lot safer. Modern plating solutions are a lot safer also. Cyanide free to boot.