georgeld's smelting pot

[ANeat]

Hello everyone; fellow member here georgeld asked me to post these pics for him.

Here is his description.


I welded this up for that massive amount of scrap I got.

6" deep, 9" dia, weed burner, has a set of three heat shields that tuck under the upper one and set on those rods sticking out on the flats.

Needle is 3/4" stainless, seats on a drill bushing welded in the bottom. Just press on the lever and out it shoots so fast it bounces right out of a mold. I've got a 10# ladle to catch it in then pour into the four 4-1# molds I have. This is what Larry used to melt 12 five gallon buckets of scap in that yeilded 1300# in 8 hours working alone.

I'd consider loaning this IF there's some way to assure getting it back when I ask for it. Don't matter where it goes, or how much it's used. That's the only stipulation I have other than each person pays postage to get it delivered, or sent to the next person.

This is such a big deal it really needs a bunch of scrap to justisfy it though. Wouldn't be worth it for only 500lbs.

Please fwd these everywhere you wish.

George

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/untitled4.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/untitled3.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/untitled1.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/untitled.jpg

[alamogunr]

That is a fine set up. Mine is similar except I have to ladle out from the top. It is a pain to get the liquid metal down to a level where I can pick up the pot to dump out the slug in the bottom after it cools. You don't have that problem. Again, thanks for the pictures.
John

[454PB]

Looks well designed and made. My calculations say it should hold 156 pounds of lead when filled to the brim.

[georgeld]

Hmm, don't know the way to calculate contents wt for sure. Please share your formula with me on how you came up with that figure. I'd really like to know, other than filling it up and counting the ingots produced which is doubtful.

But, I've been guessing it would hold in excess of 200#. All I know for sure is: my book says lead weigh's 687# per cu/ft. (1728 c/i)2.5128#c/in. That's where I'm stuck.

Book I'm reading says: rad/sq'd x 3.1416 x ht x wt. In this case 4.5x4.5=20.25 x 3.1416=63.6714 x depth 6"= 381.7#'s.

Am I figuring it correctly with this formula?? That's the question, I'm not real sharp at such math, but, do get along most of the time.
I do know it's not possible for me and one other guy to pick it up when solidified when half full. BTDT!! and know better now! hehe!!

But, I never fill it more than about 1/2-3/4 full. I'm afraid of that much hot stuff.

Although this one's leg's are spread far enough it's not at all top heavy. I've bumped it a couple times with a shovel hard enough I expected it to be knocked over and it was solid even when jolted pretty hard. I used to borrow a 12" kettle from two different guys. One was mounted in a five gal metal bucket til I got it. Then I welded up a set of rings on leg's to sit it down in. Jim sure liked that and says it's much more stable and been using it about 15yrs now.

Gary's pot was broken by a guy he loaned it too. But, had a guy helping me once that knocked it over full twice around our feet. That's mighty spooky to me! I did have the gravel floor soaked down so it didn't run far til it stiffened up. It still scared the sht out of me!

Further explanation on this one not included above.

I have a pc of sand screen cut that fits on top this. Scrap is placed on it, and a second weed burner is used to burn the papers, plastics and crap out, melt what melts which flows thru the screen into the pot and the bullet jackets I salvage for brass is clean without all the melt mixed in with it like ladling does. The last bucket full of jackets and scrap brass I sold brought $48. Way more than it cost me to build this and fill the bottles with propane, plus pay for the second burner too.

I made this after trying to melt several ton of bullet scrap from an indoor range I was suckered into cleaning out. Not having a clue, I asked if I could get a few buckets full of bullet scrap. "sure, you can have all you want on one condition: "that you agree NOW to clean out the basement". OUCH!!

By the time I was done doing that, had more than 75 buckets at my place and had given another ten or more away. Since then I've given about 25 more away, melted down 1700# and still have 23 buckets full in deteriorating plastic buckets in my shop. The only time I've really paid attention to yeild is what I gave Larry. 12 buckets made him 1300# in 1# ingots.

I've cast for four years and still have more than 1400 left, beside's those buckets full of scrap. Anyone that wants to drive to my place and load it up, can have the buckets free for the loading and hauling off. You can even use this set up to melt it down before you haul it too. IF I help, I get half the ingots, if I don't help, it's ALL yours.

George

[Buckshot]

.............Nice looking rig, for sure.

............Buckshot

[fourarmed]

Georgeld, your calculation of the volume of your smelter is correct, but you need to multiply by the density of the alloy. For pure lead, that is about .408 lb/cu. in., giving 155 lb. and change.

[georgeld]

Ok, I follow that much and get the same figure you did.

BUT: my old book: Formula's, Methods, Tips and Data

Doesn't list: density, it doe's list lead as: specific gravity 11.0

Please explain how that relates to the .408 density

We're this far, come on and help me finish it ok?

Maybe the best way would be listing these steps in order all the way thru. I had a welding instructor that said: "some of you KIDS can't be taught!" He just might be right when it come's to things such as this. I did manage to get the welding worked out pretty well, or at least my welds don't break.

Thanks much,

George:castmine:

[454PB]

Lead weighs .4096 lbs. per cubic inch. Plug that in to your volume calculations and you have it solved.

[alamogunr]

Check this out. I use it all the time when I need a constant.

http://www.allmeasures.com/

[fourarmed]

Georgeld, for all practical purposes, specific gravity is numerically equal to density in units of grams/cu. cm. Multiply SG by (2.54 cm/in)^3 and divide by 454 gm/lb. and you get density in lb./cu. in. Incidentally, most sources give the SG of PURE lead as 11.3, which yields just a hair under .408 lb./cu. in. using the above conversion factors.

[shooter575]

Just remember, Pi r round.Cake be square :razz:

[454PB]

Private message sent, George. Also, another clickable link that will take you directly to the lead conversion tables:

http://www.allmeasures.com/Formulae/static/formulae/density/20.htm

[alamogunr]

This link will calculate the volume of your smelting pot if it is a cylinder.

http://www.1728.com/diam.htm

You can then apply the density in the previous link to get the lbs capacity. I imagine you could get the capacity of a pot made from a propane cylinder by considering the cylindrical portion separate from the "rounded bottom". An approximation of this rounded bottom could be made by assuming the bottom is some portion of a sphere. Probably wouldn't be exact, but close enough. Then add the cylinder volume to the spherical volume and use the density calculation to get the total lbs of lead.

The site linked above also has the formulas on a different page.

I know most here don't care to get into these things in this detail, but I find it interesting that I can just input numbers and get answers. Sure is a change from a slide rule and pencil and paper.

John