Attachment 22401
Here' a picture of top of pot and top linkage
Attachment 22402
this is the foot pedal and bottom linkage
Attachment 22405
bottom of pot and spout. The spout has interchangeble tips of varying diameter
Attachment 22406
this shows the two valve rod guides, the valve seat is directly below them and is a 3/8" radius machined into the spout body
Attachment 22407
The tip of the valve rod, the tip was turned on a lathe to a 3/8" radius
Attachment 22408
this is what the smelter and stand look like together.
I used HotGuns design, I merely added a foot pedal and linkage to his design. Like he said in his post, the valve design will hold water. Once in a while it will drip when smelting but that is usuall because I bumped the stand pretty hard. I left a shoulder on the top of the valve rod, this so I could add a weight to help put some pressure on the valve rod to help seat the valve.
This has worked pretty well for me, I have smelted about 800-900 pounds in it so far. I can't say it is better or worse than the turkey fryer/dutch oven set up because this is all I have used other than a hot plate. I am currently building a dutch oven/ industrial water heater burner set up to see the difference. jmsj