One home smelting production setup
lead poison / melting pot
i got a lot of flack from my family about lead poisining a while back so iv went to this system. i melt down all the material in a 40 lb electric plumbers pot and then i pour it into a 24 hole bakery cupcake pan or a lyman ingot mould. i then use a cabintree lead hardness tester and number each bar or cupcake with its hardness # with a marking pen. looking at the attached pic --iv mounted a range hood over the melting pots . you can see a piece of wood mounted under the hood and on the bottom of it a shiney piano hinge. theres a piece of 1/4 in thick plastic mounted on the hinge--its hard to see the plastic but right over the left pot you can see what looks like a line--thats the bottom of the plastic. all that keeps any fumes inside to be drawn off by the range hood.
charlie in sw mo
sorry cant send the picture--pic limited to 100 and the pic is 219
Moas = Mother Of All Smelters
Folks, Sundog and I, plus children, have enough clean lead to last all of us for the rest of our lives. It is time to think about selling this gadget that will smelt 2000 pound easy. When a source of WW or other junk lead arrives in your neighborhood, even for a reasonable cash sale, this large mother will do justice in cleaning it up pronto. Here, pronto means one 8 hour day for 2000 pounds, provided there is enough BTU's around to melt the stuff in 4 hours or so. This thing is not for the faint of heart. ... felix (and Corky)
http://www.castpics.net/RandD/moas/moas.htm
Old back needs a new plan
Hey Guys
Nothing new for smelting down hundreds of pounds of WWs and other scrap but I can't be the only geezer who doesn't need to be constantly bending over. The picture shows my answer. Some blocks and a small gate puts the ingot moulds up to counter top level. Roofing steel has since been replaced with some diamond plate and a homless traffic sign. The gate and sheet metal act as a heat sink to cool things off more rapidly than dirt or wood and easy to keep free of debris. This rig also shortened the distance between hot alloy and waiting ingot mould. Spills aren't contaminated with dirt near as much and are easier to reclaim in just a few minutes. Been doin it this way since my early fifties. The waste cans are being used as a wind break only. Roy
[ATTACH]10267Attachment 10269 HTH
Here's my setup, burner also used for Beer
bayou classic burner for cooking lead and beer!
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../349433775.jpg
adding 2 oz 67/33 solder and when application demands, 1-2 lb magnum shot to alloy the wheelweights to a harder bullet
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../349433786.jpg
flux with sodium tetraborate octahydrate flux (do NOT stir)-it will crystallize as a glassy crust around contaminats-easy to remove- and flux when casting with beeswax/alox scraps
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../349433798.jpg
use rowell ladle from Antimonyman and cornbread stick ingot molds
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../349433806.jpg
50 lb of wheelweights makes a heckuva lotta these lil' 118 gr pills
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../349432650.jpg
add magnum shot to harden the rifle bullets
http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../233048100.jpg
yodar