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Thread: One home smelting production setup

  1. #61
    Boolit Grand Master



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    evan price;
    It can be dangerous adding WW's to molten metal. The steel clips can hide all kinds of moisture (even ice in the winter). When you drop water into molten metal you can get COVERED with molten lead. Bad JOO-JOO!!

    Many years ago, I had a steam explosion in a small cast iron lead pot while casting and it filled my eyes with molten lead droplets. I had to peel the solidified droplets off the inside of my eyelids (just visualize someone pulling your lower eye lid open and dumping a teaspoon of sand in there. Now, visualize the sand to be 650 degrees!! Not fun. The good news is that I fully recovered. Keep in mind that I had glasses on (they helped, a LOT, but did not completely stop the molten lead).

    I do NOT dump WW's into a pot of melted metal. I completely empty the pot and then start over. That way, any moisture is gradually driven off as the WW's heat and there will be NO problem. It's not worth it to save a little time. You were lucky! Consider it a warning!

    Stay SAFE!!

    Dale53

  2. #62
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dale53 View Post
    I do NOT dump WW's into a pot of melted metal. I completely empty the pot and then start over. That way, any moisture is gradually driven off as the WW's heat and there will be NO problem. It's not worth it to save a little time. You were lucky! Consider it a warning!

    Stay SAFE!!

    Dale53
    This is the stuff us newbies need to know. I'm glad I read your post. Thanks.

  3. #63
    Boolit Grand Master



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    ArmedMainer;
    Glad to have been of some help.

    Dale53

  4. #64
    Boolit Master

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    I drop my wheel weights, and whatever I am melting into my pot, on top of Kitty Litter.
    By the time is gets molten, all moisure is gone.
    The lead drips through, leaving behind any non-lead items.
    Have yet to have a "pop" since I started doing that.

  5. #65
    Boolit Buddy MaxJon's Avatar
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    Gotta make me one of them!!!

    Quote Originally Posted by Buckshot View Post
    This is Kenjudo's setup, and build info, PART 1:





    Gr8 stuff Buckshot! got me keen now! Gunna pass on the Baby Lee pots, think i could make one of those for just about nothing!!
    THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN HIT THE CENTRE OF THE TARGET IS WITH A CENTREFIRE!!!

  6. #66
    Boolit Buddy
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    When I registered on this forum one of the first things I checked out was the mother-of-all-smelters. I was awestruck. Today I thought I'd see what was happening on this thread and while I believe in "to each his own", I might be able to save someone a little time & effort.

    When I get enough wheel weights that its obvious I need to smelt them I dump them into a pile on the driveway. As the dutch oven is heating up, I push the weights around with my feet so that the piles are about one piece high. After I remove the larger pieces of trash and tire stems (and I have used a leaf blower at times), out comes the garden hose.

    Most of the dirt, brake dust and things lighter than lead can be washed down the driveway a bit so I don't have to remove them from the molten alloy later. By now the dutch oven is good and hot, so out comes the shovel.

    The dripping-wet weights can now be shoveled into the pot all the way to the top with some heaped on for good measure.

    Now is the time to set your pyrometer up to help monitor the heat. If the temp doesn't exceed 600 - 650 degrees there isn't any chance of melting zinc and later you can skim these along with the clips. By the time any lead melts the water will have long since evaporated. In my experience this will yield only a couple of inches of alloy in the bottom of the pot when its melted. As soon as the weights are liquified, turn off the gas. Let the contents solidify but not cool off. We're only talking a couple minutes. Shovel in as much wet ww as you can fit and then turn the heat on again. Believe me, the water will not stick around. Eventually I have to flux and skim just to make room for more ww.

    I don't start pouring ingots until I have a dutch oven full to the top of clean alloy.

    I see no reason to empty the pot until I'm done with that particular session. A near-full pot of hot alloy will melt fresh wheel weights faster than an empty one. Just ensure that the alloy in the pot has solidified before adding any more and the Tinsel Fairey will have to find a new boyfriend.

    Paul

  7. #67
    Boolit Master
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    2 veiws of my 1000 lb. furnace

    Well I will try to post these pictures. This is an old linotype melter that I purchased about 25 years ago for the some of 50.00 it was setup for natural gas . In these pictures I had modified the burners to run on propane and the smoke on the front of the furnace tells me it wasn't working correctlly. I have since added 3 turkey frier burners under it. I will try it out when on vacation next month if I have enough wheel weights to do a large melt.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSC01737.jpg   DSC01733.jpg  
    The problem in America today is, there are to many fools making to many rules that don't apply to themselves. Now just wait until the new pres. takes office and see what happens!!!!!

  8. #68
    Boolit Master
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    My smaller melter.

    This is just a typical turkey frier with a cast iron dutch oven. I think I am going to build a new pot for it out of some large steel pipe and steel plate after reading the threads about the cast iron cracking.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails DSC01758.jpg   DSC01759.jpg   DSC01764.jpg  
    The problem in America today is, there are to many fools making to many rules that don't apply to themselves. Now just wait until the new pres. takes office and see what happens!!!!!

  9. #69
    Boolit Grand Master



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    hammerhead357;
    Now THAT is a smelting pot! I'll bet it runs through propane FAST!!

    My set up is very close to your smaller smelter. Frankly, it is sized correctly for my use. My Dutch oven will hold about 120 lbs or so and that is enough to deal with for me.

    FWIW
    Dale53

  10. #70
    Boolit Master
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    Dale53 the big one doesn't get used unless I have around a 1000 lbs of metal to be melted down. I don't know how it will be on propane use with the new 3 burner set up.
    The smaller one gets used most often and is less work...Except for having to ladel pour the ingots.....Wes
    The problem in America today is, there are to many fools making to many rules that don't apply to themselves. Now just wait until the new pres. takes office and see what happens!!!!!

  11. #71
    Boolit Buddy
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    I'm so damx jealous of BUCKSHOTS and Hammerheads stuff...I wanna chew my foot off...

  12. #72
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    My bottom pour

    Here's a few photos of my bottom pour. It's a 12" cube made of 1/4" plate steel (700 lb capacity if filled). The solenoid is from a chevy starter motor. The spout is 1/4" NPT. The valve is a brass pin punch seated in a pipe cap which I drilled out. The punch is threaded onto 10-24 allthread. I cut the allthread and used a union to allow for some fine adjustments in travel. The allthread is connected to the solenoid by a union which I notched and drilled to receive the roll pin which connected the plunger to the shift lever.

    The solenoid is actuated by energizing the pull-in coil. This draws too many amps and heats up the solenoid in a hurry so that's the first fix I need to make. I'm going to put a second circuit on it (unless I come up with something more clever -- ideas are already in mind). The second circuit will be a momentary switch to energize the pull-in coil and I'll move the toggle to the hold-in coil. Operation would then be 1) hold-in switched on, valve closed; 2) pull-in triggered, valve opens 3) hold-in switched off, valve closes.

    I've posted a vid on youtube. It's still processing as I write this so I'll post the link to the vid when it's done, check back later. Nothing special in the vid, just some shots of lead pouring out of the spout.

    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	23677The pot
    Click image for larger version. 

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ID:	23678The solenoid
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ID:	23679Valve closed
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ID:	23680Valve open... notice the pin which captures the punch in alignment with the hole.
    Last edited by LeadThrower; 07-14-2010 at 12:08 PM. Reason: Additional info

  13. #73
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    Here's the link to the youtube vid:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyX9_svA9Io

  14. #74
    Boolit Bub Munkeyjoe's Avatar
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    Very cool Video.... How does the nozzel fair though?? Do you have to reheat often?

  15. #75
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    I only have to reheat for the first pour. The first stream of lead solidifies, unless I preheat the nozzle ahead of time. Once the session is going, I only need to reheat if I stop to add material to the kettle. I initially wired up the solenoid using the pull-in coil and that draws so much current that the solenoid heats up quickly. I've modified it so that I have two momentary switches: one energizes the pull-in coil, the other energizes the hold-in coil. So I hit both to open the valve and release the pull-in switch so only the hold-in coil is keeping the valve open.

    It's still fail-safe in that if I let go of everything or if the current drops (dead battery, etc.) the valve will close under the solenoid's spring tension.

    The two things I really wanted on this design were successes:
    1) True linear action -- all lever-type systems involve some arc of travel and require floating linkages. This was only a conceptual desire and not a practical need. Just take a look at all the successes of other members using levers.
    2) Electronic control with the switches at the same level as the ingot moulds. The one thing I did think was of practical significance for my situation was to make activation of the valve possible from down where my hands would be -- at the bottom of the pot. I didn't want to have to reach up to open the valve.

    I use indoor range scrap for my lead. One very nice advantage of this (or any) bottom pour design is that I don't need to clean out the bullet jackets prior to casting (since the bullet jackets float). I can start casting much faster and I can scoop out the jackets when they're cold which is much more comfortable.

  16. #76
    Boolit Bub Munkeyjoe's Avatar
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    Well it sure is a very nice setup.

  17. #77
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by LeadThrower View Post
    I only have to reheat for the first pour. The first stream of lead solidifies, unless I preheat the nozzle ahead of time. Once the session is going, I only need to reheat if I stop to add material to the kettle.
    It probably wouldn't be too much trouble to add a small pilot light type burner along the spigot and nozzle to keep you from having to use a propane torch to re-liquefy the lead.

  18. #78
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by grumman581 View Post
    It probably wouldn't be too much trouble to add a small pilot light type burner along the spigot and nozzle to keep you from having to use a propane torch to re-liquefy the lead.
    True, that. But... with the capacity of this thing, the need to reheat that nozzle is pretty minimal compared to the total casting time. I haven't filled it with scrap yet and I tire of making ingots before it's empty. That said, I'm busy enough that I haven't buckled down to an all day ingot casting enduro... "wecome race fans, to the 24 hours of Le Plumbum!" Such a day might convince me to add the pilot I'll let you know

  19. #79
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by LeadThrower View Post
    Such a day might convince me to add the pilot I'll let you know
    Just run a small diameter pipe along the length of the spigot and drill a couple of really small holes in the top side of the pipe. You might need an orifice on the pipe leading into this to fine tune your gas supply.

    Are you running natural gas or propane (LPG) for your main burner?

  20. #80
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    LPG. It's the burner from a King Kooker. I think I have a bookmark to orifice sizes for lpg vs natural gas burners, but if you have a hole dia recommendation (for the pilot burner holes and the restrictor orifice) I'd love to hear it.

    I've been amazed at how much heat that thing kicks out and how much lead I could go through using my old system (12 qt dutch oven) before needing to refill the 20-lb tank. I'm thinking I'll stretch the lpg a little farther by insulating the sides of the box since it's got quite a bit more surface to radiate heat. McMaster sells 2" thick mineral wool that is heat resistant to 1200°F. I think that will do the trick.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check