Single coil burners

[RaymondMillbrae]

Hey guys,

what do yall think about SINGLE COIL BURNER (http://cgi.ebay.com/Single-Coil-Burner-with-Chrome-plated-Drip-Pan-NEW_W0QQitemZ310201248221QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item48396f69dd) for smelting?

I was looking at a turkey fryer (with a propane tank), but a single coil burner would be so much easier to use and put away.

About the only thing I can see a problem with, would be the weight of the smelting lead on the coils.

Once again, this will be for smeltin the lead, and then casting them into ingots. The actual slug-making would be on my Lee Pro 4-20.

Any feedback, or good, cheap, sources? (I was thinking of getting one from WalMart or maybe even the Salvation Army/Goodwill Store).

In Christ: Raymond

[docone31]

I use a single coil hot plate for first melt. It works ok, but, is sensitive to weather, and contaminants.
It starts out ok, then gets slower and slower as the crud builds up inside the pot. Almost acting like an insulator.
As long as you go slow, it should work out. Get the most watts you can. 1500W works well. I have a 750 watt unit. It works but is slow.

[ANeat]

I dont think it would have enough BTU's to smelt very much. I cant imagine it keeping 100 pounds of lead in a molten state.

They (hotplates) are handy for pre-heating your mold though. Every caster should have one

[ETG]

I bought a cheap one from Target. Around 800 watt I think for around $20. It had a soid top (couldn't see the coils). It wouldn't melt lead. Took it apart and ground off the stop on the mechanical thermostate. It's slow but it will melt lead and alloys now.

[RaymondMillbrae]

Hey folks,

so if the coils glow RED in color, it should be hot enough to smelt lead in a 4-quart pot, right?

And secondly (sorry for the dumb question), can you smelt lead using an aluminum pot?

I know that aluminum doesn't melt until it hits 1220 F (and I will only be taking it up to approximately 650 F)...but will the lead stick to it or something?

Thanks.

In Christ: Raymond

PS: ETG...how do you "grind off the stop on the mechanical thermostat"?

[WILCO]

Walgreens hotplate for $10.00 works great for smelting and casting.

[waksupi]

Ray, aluminum has been known to have catastrophic failures when melting lead. Don't do it.


Hey folks,

so if the coils glow RED in color, it should be hot enough to smelt lead in a 4-quart pot, right?

And secondly (sorry for the dumb question), can you smelt lead using an aluminum pot?

I know that aluminum doesn't melt until it hits 1220 F (and I will only be taking it up to approximately 650 F)...but will the lead stick to it or something?

Thanks.

In Christ: Raymond

PS: ETG...how do you "grind off the stop on the mechanical thermostat"?

[brad925]

I have a 2qt cast pot i want to use for ladle pouring and my brother made me a pot out of heavy wall pipe about 12 inch diameter a and 12 inch deep for smelting. Goes on a base made out of the same pipe and uses a a weed burner to heat it. Works great but i hav'nt tried the cast pot out yet. Was hoping to use a coil burner for that if i can or i will have to go to a camp stove. Maybe hook that up to natural gas like the BBQ then i don't have to fool with propane bottles being empty all the time.

[montana_charlie]

Hey folks,

so if the coils glow RED in color, it should be hot enough to smelt lead in a 4-quart pot, right?
If the 'controller' (thermostat, or whatever) will allow the coils to get hot enough to reach a red color, it should melt lead.
If there is enough wattage being supplied to a heavy diameter coil, it will melt a 'large pot' of lead.

Just make sure your pot is not large enough to crush the 'heater' when full.
CM

[454PB]

As long as you're prepared for slow operation, 1000 watts or so will melt lead. Most of these "cooker" hotplates have temperature limiting devices and won't reach a high enough temperature to melt lead without some modification. Some have fusible links that melt (much like a fuse) and have to be bypassed to get enough heat. A 4 quart pot is way too big. I use an old Lyman 10 pound casting pot on a 1000 watt electric burner. That Lyman pot would probably hold 16 ounces of water, and it takes up to 20 minutes to melt a pot full of lead.

[DLCTEX]

+1 on DO NOT USE ALUMINUM POT TO SMELT. It may work for a while and then metal fatigue can cause a sudden collapse. Cooking temperatures do not approach smelting temps. A stainless steel pot will work.

[Longrange]

Do not have any aluminum anywhere you are smelting, bad things can happen and you will not have any warning when it does.

[RaymondMillbrae]

Cool, folks.

Thanks for the warning on the aluminum!!

Off to the Salvation Army/Goodwill Store to find a steel or iron pot.

In Christ: Raymond

[ItZaLLgooD]

Walgreens hotplate for $10.00 works great for smelting and casting.


How much lead will one of these melt? I got one to try out. I also have a big dutch oven. Can I melt 20-30 pounds of lead? Should I stick with a stainless pot?

[ETG]

PS: ETG...how do you "grind off the stop on the mechanical thermostat"?

I used a Foredom flex shaft tool - any dremmel type grinder will work fine. It was just a metal tab that hit a stop after one turn. I forgot - I also removed the fusable link as mentioned above.

[lwknight]

A lot of those cheap little hotplates will melt lead alright. The problem is that a 110 volt unit has only about 5600 BTU maximum. If you could insulate the sides of the melting pot , the you might do OK but, it would still be slow going. I guess for smaller melts it would be just fine. Anyway you cannot go wrong to try one because even if it does not work , you will have a hotplate to preheat your molds which is very helpful and convenient.

Those propane burners waste a lot of heat unless you put a cowl around the burner and the pot but they can run somewhere from 40,000 to 80,000 BTU and it seems that with the larger diameter pots the flame just spreads across the bottom to work more efficiently.