Author Topic: Thanks Blackthorn (Read 539 times)

carpediem · « **on:** April 17, 2003, 07:06:24 PM »

:-D Hey you guys. All the snow has finally melted and it was warm and sunny today. Almost warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt.

So what else is there to do on a day like this when you can't go shooting? Yup, cast bullets, or refine wheel weights.

And on that note, thanks Blackthorn for the suggestion regarding the use of a propane cylinder for a melting pot. I had over two hundred pounds in that pot at one time and still had lots of room to spare.

Now what I need is a bunch of five to ten pound ingot molds. I should have taken up golf; it would have been cheaper. :wink:

Kindest regards,

Lvl1trauma · « **Reply #1 on:** April 18, 2003, 01:51:53 AM »

That's a hell of a lot of lead to have in a pot at one time!! Where did you find a pot that big? I hope you got a sturdy setup- hate to see that thing tip over!!!

Beau

carpediem · « **Reply #2 on:** April 18, 2003, 08:14:12 AM »

:-D Hey Beau:

This idea came from Blackthorn. Take an old 20 pound propane cylinder, unscrew the valve and fill the tank with water to vent the propane. Empty the water and using a cut off wheel in an angle grinder, take off the top part of the cylinder. I cut mine off at the point where the walls of the cylinder curve in to make the valve stem.

The bottom of the cylinder has a metal ring to keep the tank upright. I left that on because it fits perfectly into the propane stove I use for melting the lead. My propane stove is a ring burner and frame that puts out 60,000 BTU'S. I think it's the same style you use for boiling whole turkeys in a pot.

Fluxing and cleaning is a bit more time consuming as there is so much more metal to work with. I am using a ladle to fill my ingot molds and the metal comes out a little dirtier than using a bottom pour.

I am going to try putting a spigot of the side of the cylinder, real low down, to convert to a bottom pour.

Anyone got any suggestions on spigot design?

Kindest regards,

Lvl1trauma · « **Reply #3 on:** April 19, 2003, 05:27:13 PM »

No suggestions on the spigot. Sounds like one hell of a pot. More lead than I want to melt at once....

Beau

pjh421 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2003, 07:44:35 PM »

The propane tank is an excellent vessel for your purpose. The only drawback is that when you dip to remove molten alloy, having a pot that is deeper than it is wide makes it a chore. I use a 14" mouth Dutch oven. The propane tank would be superior for smelting and or casting metal into ingots if it had a bottom pour feature.

If you had a lathe and a means to weld, you could fabricate and install a bottom spout and vertical plunger apparatus similar to those of the electric furnaces from RCBS and Lyman.

Check magma engineering's website for a well designed ingot mould. I made a few of these (10 pounders) for personal use and have always wanted to be able to fill them like a bullet mould from a bottom pour setup instead of ladleing lead into them in the conventional fashion.

If you are not already using Marvelux casting flux for lead alloys when you smelt then you are missing out on a really neat product.

Paul