Anyone use a Butane stove to melt with?

I found a free one burner Butane stove I'm thinking of using for light smelting and ladle pouring. Up till now I've been using my Lee 20lb for smelting and bottom pouring. Has anyone else used one? Fuel is not as readily available but not that difficult to find and appears to cost less per ounce than propane but don't know how that translates to btu's and overall cost or efficiency. The stove is rated at 8500 btu's

Also what would be a good pot size and material to use for the purposes mentioned?

Cast iron is traditional for pots, but I've been happy with the tops of stainless double boilers from restaurant supply stores. They are heavy duty, affordable, and easy to keep clean. A potentially useful aside is that those stores often also sell those butane cartridges by the case, because caterers and such use them in quantity.

Butane doesn’t burn as hot as propane, but should work.

I’ve always thought an old stainless pressure cooker would work well. Otherwise, a lot of people like me use a dutch oven. Don’t use anything aluminum!

If it works out ok, the asian markets sell the canisters much cheaper than even walmart.

Another vote for cast iron , stay away from aluminum!

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Originally Posted by NEKVT

I found a free one burner Butane stove I'm thinking of using for light smelting and ladle pouring. Up till now I've been using my Lee 20lb for smelting and bottom pouring. Has anyone else used one? Fuel is not as readily available but not that difficult to find and appears to cost less per ounce than propane but don't know how that translates to btu's and overall cost or efficiency. The stove is rated at 8500 btu's

Also what would be a good pot size and material to use for the purposes mentioned?

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IF you are currently smelting in your casting pot quit (pot get's dirty quick starts dripping more caster gets mad ----)

yes, 8500btu will work, not as fast as a turkey fryer. I wouldn't go any bigger than an 8 inch stainless or castiron pot (cast iron can break) NOT Aluminum (but at 8500 but you might be OK)

Best material ---- COWW clip-on wheel weights, range scrap + tin, and maybe a hardener


PS: I use my one burner Butane stove for stir-frying, I have an electric stove :( (but the oven is great on clean cycle for annealing 22 lr brass :)

Use a 5 gal propane cylinder cut at the top bend and a turkey firer. I can make a 200 lb batch of one alloy. Scoop the melt out with a large ladle.

ive seen those stoves in pawn shops for as low as $10, that come in plastic storage box and use a fuel cylinder that kind of is very much like a can of spray paint, some Sams club stores sell them and also have packages of the fuel cylinders in the restaurant supply area. I was tempted too get one but fuel cost compared to getting a conversion part to run a Coleman stove off of 20lb propane tank is what changed my mind. as far as portable stove I stick with the Coleman and turkey fryer/crab boilers and 20lb propane tanks for economy.

Plus 1 on the turkey fryer/crawfish boiler.

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http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fu...ues-d_510.html


That site is your source for almost anything engineering-related.