Larger casting pots questions, propane bottle?

[Recycled bullet]

I use the large stainless steel Soup pot from Walmart and set it on top of my bayou turkey fryer and I've handled as much as 150 lb at a time in it when making/ mixing alloys. Then I Pour ingots with a soup ladle dented on the side with a chisel, for a pour spout.

Is the propane fuel tank casting pot better for this setup I use?

How much lead can a propane fuel tank casting pot comfortably hold?

[country gent]

I had one made up cut just below the top radius that would hold 300 lbs. the stand was made from car rims and fired with stoker coal. Used a shop vac for a blower. On a good day I could get 4 pots of range metal done into ingots.

[Recycled bullet]

That's awesome country gent. Is your setup a blacksmith forge??

[country gent]

It was 4 16.5" truck rims welded together. the centers cut out of some of them.They gave about 2" on a side on the tank. 1st pot was a little slower melting but once the coals were going and filling from the top when you hit the blower it didnt take long. Once I seen molten lead I shut the blower off and let it "coast" . It was very similar to a forge.

My current pot is smaller and uses a weed burner for power.

This was set up since I was given 2 4' x 4' x 20" containers of range lead that I had to clean up.

One thing is when going to this scale is to make the scrapper/strainer and ladle to size. My scraper/strainer was made from an old shovel with slits cut in it and the nose rounded some, the ladle was an old 6" pipe cap. Both were pipe handles 4-5' long for 2 hand use. The ladle would fill 2 of my home made ingot moulds ( 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 10" angle iron 4 each mould I had 6 of these made up)

The draw back to the stoker coal is you cant pull the pot out while going as the coals collapse and you start over

[kevin c]

I’m not handy, so I got my propane tank pot made for me. It was cut an inch or so above the internal reinforcement band, had part of that band removed and a spout welded in allowing pouring out what the ladle doesn’t get. It holds ~250# (more is possible but I leave room to hold in any sloshing during processing).

I also bought the heavy duty Bayou Classic stand made of solid steel round bar welded together. Rock solid, which I think is a must when dealing with an eighth of a ton of molten metal. The double jet burner puts out plenty of BTUs, but adding wind screens and a thermal jacket really speeds up melting.

[Hammerlane]

Sooner or later the propane burner will burn a hole in the cheap Walmart pot. Find an old beer keg on market place and cut in half and you have a backup once the one half wears out. I use a extra large cast iron Dutch oven pot $ 125 amazon. Melted and processed over 50,000 lbs last year. 400lbs at a time.

[country gent]

With the heat and weight a half beer keg would hold it may fail as aluminum starts to loose strength at lead temps. The cast iron dutch ovens work well but you need to start slow and pre heat as cast Iron dosnt do well with expansion.The propane tank is steel and a solid design. It wont weaken at lead temps its easy to work with and readily available.

[Rickf1985]

Beer kegs come in Stainless steel and aluminum. I seem to remember that a full keg was stainless while a half keg was aluminum. Or vice versa. But they do come in stainless.

[Winger Ed.]

I'd recommend going to a smaller pot unless you are single.

With the larger pot, you'll get done faster, and then have maximum exposure to the 'honey do' list.

[Land Owner]

The 1/2 x 20# steel propane tank over a turkey frier burner is good for 100#'s to 150#'s. This set-up is about a much as I want to handle at one time. Getting the molten lead from the pot to the ingot molds can be problematic. Many will dip, some will pour. I made mine suspended with tripod chains and an overhead monopole crane rail (2x4). Then I added a long pour handle to the pot and a spout. I don't really like it this way.



I saw a video of a "Lazy Susan" turntable that holds the molds. With a welded, 1/4 turn spigot in the bottom of the pot, which pot stays on the fire. It takes the turn of a separate, not connected (due to heat transfer), long tined handle (OR GLOVE PROTECDTED HAND) to open the valve and fill a mold. Turn the valve off as the mold fills. Turn the Lazy Susan to the next mold. Pour again. Simplicity at its finest and LESS HAZARD for the caster. I am going this route.

[Sasquatch-1]

I have used a freon tank (similar to the propane tank), stainless steel pot and cast-iron Dutch oven. The Dutch oven was by far the best. I saw very little difference between the SS pot and the tank, other than the tank being less stable on the burner.

[gns4me]

My first large smelting pot was out of a 20# propane tank. Drilled 1/2 in hole next to the valve and filled full of water then drain and use side grinder to cut around tank. Handles rewelded onto side to move and put on 2 bricks in fire ring. White oak firewood makes great heat and pot could handle a s--- load of ww. fire dies down to coals then scoop clips and flux with wood chips . Ladle into molds (muffin )

[lightman]

My smelting pot is made from the valve cover off of a Railroad tanker car. Like a valve cover on a bulk propane tank but 4X thicker. It will hold 400# but I usually stay at around 350 to have plenty of room to stir and scrape aggressively. It sits on a homemade propane jet burner. If I didn't have that pot I would probably use a cut off propane tank.

The pluses for larger batches is having a larger amount of the same alloy. But to take advantage of larger batches you need a larger skimmer, larger ladle, more ingot molds, ect.
The main disadvantage is you could possibly end up with a larger batch of contaminated lead if you introduce something bad into the mix.

[fredj338]

My buddy is a welder & made me a smelting pot out of a 10" dia section of steel pipe, pour spout on the bottom & threaded rod to close off the spout. It works great but I only do about 60# at a time. The top of the alloy doesnt get really hot, even with a lid. I suspect it should be about 3-4" shorter. I think a propane tank cut in half with a pour spout would work a bit better being wider.

[Recycled bullet]

160 lb of lead from tuesday night