Home made lead smelter from waste oil

[boondocker]

I seen one off these on another site and had to have one.   It is made from all cut offs and scrap, 1/8 plate and angle iron. I have lots of used oil and can get cooking oil also. I smelted 5 gal pail of w/w and some phone cable sheathing with 2 1/2 gal used motor oil. Once you get it hot enough barely any smoke and she burns hot. I am a tinkerer and make a lot of stuff. Here is a link to some pics. Steve   


http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c277/boondocker6/Casting%20furnace/?start=20

[ShadowMover]

Thanks for sharing your project with us. There is a lot of energy in old motor oil, and it can be used to fire up a heater or even melt iron. My only experience is using it in a stove in a garage. I didn't have a good system and got a lot of black smoke and a terrible lingering stench. A friend built one and caused a 'black snow' storm with all the soot he made. I see from one of your photos that you are getting a little black smoke from your furnace, which means it is also making a smell.  This isn't a big problem on an occasional smelting project. Did you ever get any 'huffing' or puffing in and out of the flame when using motor oil?  When I ran my heater on oil it would sometimes start to puff in and out at the seams and small openings.

Here are two links that have some details on cleaner burning heaters that are using motor oil as well. The first site places an emphasis on using it as a heater, and getting complete clean burning. The second site is more about high temperatures and melting metal.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/oilburners10.html

Thanks for the neat pictures.

[Glanceblamm]

Interesting project and I do believe that I could get by with running one of those here. Used motor oil is never a problem as I can have anywhere from 5gal to 25gal on hand at anytime.

My first thought is regulating the temps (Read getting wrinkled bullets-or frosted bullets) but I guess that this would be a learning experience as one would judge how much oil is added at the start.
Thanks for the links.

[boondocker]

It is kinda of a neat process,the only thing I used it for is a smelter to render the material into ingot form. I do not want it to hot as to not melt any zinc into the usable lead. All I did was start a little wood fire in the bottom, split up 8 in 2x4 and start the oil on it in a slow drip. As things heat up slow the oil drip down and she gets to a roaring oil fire. Shadow she will talk to you in her huffing puffing way lol.   I like the economy off this as I am not wasting propane and have a ton of used motor oil around. I have a fully equiped shop lift and all . I get some side work to support my habits lol.