Might fall under if you don't want the Answer...

[Skipper488]

anyway I'm new to casting, tonight was only my second sesssion and the first one I cast a total of 20 boolits. The reason I cut the first session short was because I was casting from my 6 quart dutch oven and with 30 lbs of lead in it the lead still wasn't deep enough to fill my ladle properly. This morning I found a lead melter with a small cast iron bucket about 4 inches in diameter so I decided to try again. Well I had to melt the lead in my dutch oven and as I was getting ready to scoop it into the 4 inch bucket I had a thought.

Now this is where the question I might not want answered comes into play... I'm either a genius or a complete idiot... I though let's just set this 4 inch bucket in the dutch oven. I set in down in the molten lead and ladled some into it. I filled it to the top and then some. All the dross and oxidation flowed right over the top lip of the bucket and landed back in the dutch oven. As I was casting I worked the sprue by hand and dropped the cuttings right into the dutch oven. All in all it worked quite well. So is there something I'm missing here that makes this a bad idea or have I stumbled onto a useful idea????

[randyrat]

Try it...But remember even cast iron floats on top of lead

[Jim]

I might be out in left field here, but I think the only way the inner cast iron pot would float is if the level of the molten lead in the big pot is higher than the level of the molten lead in the small pot.

[dnepr]

sounds kinda genius to me I like it, I cant see any problem other than the floating cast iron , but if you keep the level up in the little pot I think you all good, with a larger surface area exposed to the air you may get more oxidization and dross but fluxing will fix that , the thin layer of lead in the dutch oven area would be a good place to pre-warm moulds . interesting idea

[Tom W.]

knocking your sprues back into the pot will sooner or later cause a splash that you ain't gonna like...

[chris in va]

Too complicated. Get a bottom pour furnace of your choice, done.

[nanuk]

would you not need to run much hotter than normal to keep the smaller pot hot enough to cast with?

the heat source for the small pot is the lead in the big pot. I'd be worried about the heat control

[troy_mclure]

Too complicated. Get a bottom pour furnace of your choice, done.

yep, the lee one made casting sooooooooo much easier on me.

[WHITETAIL]

Skipper, Welcome to the forum
And I agree with Chris.

[Skipper488]

I'd like to get a bottom pour eventually but couldn't see spending the money until I played with it for a while to see if I was going to continue. As far as heating the smaller pot in the big one, no it act's like a double boiler. the mass of molten lead around the smaller pot acts to stabilize the temperature so any temperature fluctuation is much slower, up and down. It took some time to get the flame adjusted properly as any adjustment took sometime to reach the smaller pot. I put the thermometer in the big pot and small one alternately and noticed the temperature rising and falling in the big one as I added lead and it melted but much smaller swings in the smaller pot.

[Gee_Wizz01]

Also make sure the outside of the small pot is completely dry are you will get a really nasty visit from the tinsel fairy. I would put the small pot on the burner first and make sure any moisture is driven out before putting it in the molt lead. And don't use Marvaflux.

G

[XWrench3]

sounds like you ran across a good idea to me. at least until you decide if you want to continue doing this. if you do, you will probably want a bottom pour electric pot though. it just makes casting so much easier. i only smelt my wheel weights (or any other lead) in my dutch oven for making into ingots. for starters, it takes a long time to heat up to the point of having that whole thing turn liquid (i have a BIG pot) plus i dont like filling the propane cylinder. that cost me cash out of my pocket. the electric bill gets paid out of household funds!

[deltaenterprizes]

Sure is a good way to waste money on fuel, the money you save on fuel will pay for the electric pot.

[Butch B]

I am a new caster too and I am with the guys who think this is a very inefficient use of propane. I understand that you have to start somewhere but I would only use the propane burner for smelting if possible.

[1Shirt]

When it comes to casting, recommend you do not try to reinvent the wheel. Go with known and proven and you won't be making a mistake!
1Shirt!

[mdi]

I'm glad to see someone out there thinking, and not just rush out and buy a "kit". I started slow and took a while to get all my gear up to par. But I learned along the way, as I see Skipper488 is. Refreshing...

From your posts I see you've tried this "two pot" method and it seems to work. I would think it may be easier to just use the smaller pot directly on the heat source, but if it's working the way you want it to, keep casting!

BTW, I don't feel anything casting or reloading is a waste of time or money. I enjoy my hobbies; they give me much satisfaction. If I listened to all the "nay sayers" I would never started casting (lead poisoning, The Tinsel Fairy, cost too much, won't work that way, Lee ladles don't work, ad infinatim). Use common sense, go slow and most of all enjoy...

[bigted]

im with "mdi". do what you do and enjoy the outcome...sounds like you have kinda origanal idea with the 2 pot method. i like this kinda yankee mind workin...that kind of thinkin got us where we are and will take us even further in method do's and dont's.

i havnt had the good success with the bottompour pots but you may when you get to it. i cast the heavys tho and maybe the smaller boolits would cast just fine from the bottompour. had mine leak out most of a pot once and was very glad it was only a 10 lbs pot and that i was outside when this happened. also i wanted to add this about outside temp as a "by-tha-way.

i cast outside in colder weather becouse there is only colder weather here. last casting was at 12 degrees and i plan to cast even colder then that but the current 27-30 below is too cold for this ol coot so ill wait for a day that is closer to 0.

dont let em tell you that the way your doing things cost too much either as its your hobbie and if it works for now...i say go with it and be proud your not a follower and are starting out with a flurry of stuff that is and will be a most satisfying ordeal now and also when you ...at a later time...think back on the "simple" days you will smile and try like a dog to recapture these days your living rite now.

have a blast bro and keep us all posted on your success...oh and welcome to a most interesting site ....... have a good time with your hobbie.

[mpmarty]

It would seem that the "junk" overflowing from the small pot back into the large pot will eventually play havoc with your lead/tin/antimony ratios by concentrating the oxides in the large pot. But what the heck, if it works for you go for it.

[Skipper488]

One of the original concerns when deciding to put the small pot in the big one instead of directly on the burner was because I wasn't sure the small one would sit properly directly on my turkey fryer burner. The changing ratios of alloys wasn't something I had thought of though I do tend to over do the pouring of the mix from the larger pot to the smaller one, I just keep ladling and letting it run over the side and I only filled it twice for making pours, that's close to 20lbs (I think) of actual casting. As far as the cost of the propane I agree it may not be the most efficient, I'm more concerned with learning technique and best practices to worry about efficiency yet, not to mention the fact I'm used to paying $21/100 for jacketed bullets so the way I see it I'm still saving money. The first day I melted down my WWs and tried casting a few bullets, just to see what the mold would do, I was doing it outside and it was cold and windy causing the temperature to fluctuate. I thought perhaps the outer pot could keep the inner one from the fluctuations that I had previously seen and indeed it did seem to help that.

I thank you all for your input, I am new to this and I'm perfectly willing to admit when something I do is not correct, I can be a bit stubborn at times. I do intend on switching to an electric pot eventually for the actual casting, but my finances are still recovering from having raised 4 sons, the last graduated last spring and is now in the Navy. My gun and reloading purchases are made slowly with much deliberation because of this (and my wife keeps filling and sending care packages to our sons and others in the military) I had read much on the differences between ladling and bottom pouring to fill molds and thought it best to try the ladle before purchasing a bottom pour pot. I would have needed most of the equipment I have now either way and I will continue to use most of it for melting down WWs and alloying as my experience and knowledge continues to grow.

I will keep you all informed as I experiment more and I'm sure I will continue to have questions. Again I appreciate ALL of the input even if I choose to go in a different direction I do weigh all of the information I have at my disposal.