temperature of melt

[patw]

I will be melting some wheelweights tomorrow and I was reading about some ww being zinc.  I want to keep my temperatures low enough that the zinc does not melt.  Has anyone used the infrared thermometers to measure the temperature?  I have one of the harborfreight ones (http://www.harborfreight.com/non-contact-laser-thermometer-96451.html)that seems to work fairly well around the house.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive been casting for 25 years and have never used a thermometer for anything. When smelting i use a turkey fryer and a stainless pot that holds about 150lbs of lead. I fill it with ww and start melting. As it settles i keep adding more ww until i can see the melted lead is getting near the top. Adding ww as you go keeps the temp low enough. When i get to the point that i can see melted lead toward the top i stir the pot to get the wws toward the top to melt quickly and the zinc wws float right to the top and are skimmed off with the clips. Ive never had a problem doing it this way. Only times ive had zinc problems when smelting is when i leave the pot unattended and it gets to hot.

[jhalcott]

 LLoyds way work quite well, BUT that is a lot of ww alloy to deal with. Also be CERTAIN those weights are bone dry when you are adding them to the pot! A TINY drop of dew can send about a pound of molten lead on YOU! I work in smaller batches, about 50 pounds at a time. I try to keep the melt temperature at about 750 degrees or so. I ladle the melt into ingot molds and start over with an empty pot IF I think I'll need more WW aloy than 50 pounds. A turkey fryer and a large, deep cast iron frying pan is used.

[qajaq59]

I just keep the melt about 700 and the zinc floats on top with the clips. Once you get more experienced you probably wont even bother with the thermometer anymore. But it isn't a bad idea when you're just getting started. No point in ruining good lead.