Just like the title says What BTU burner to use for melting wheel weights. I have been looking at burner'e and I have found a 15,000BTU and a 30,000BTU I am just wondering if the 15,000BTU burner would be good enough or should I get the 30,000BTU.
What BTU burner to use for melting wheel weights
- Thread starter Savage78
- Start date
i got a $50 bass pro fish fryer with 65k BTUH which melts lead fairly quickly with a heat shield around it. i try and do 50lbs or more at a time for better consistency. the only problem with it is the flimsy stand, but it's not built like a turkey fryer.
BattleRife
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- of No Fixed Address
I just this afternoon did about 100kg of wheelweights in 4 hours. I tried to do some Thanksgiving weekend with a burner I figure was about 10-20,000 BTU/hr, it was tedious and frustrating. I estimate it took about a half hour to get the first sign of melting in my big pot.
Today I used a homemade burner based on Ron Reil's forge burner designs (see the internet for more info). It uses a .035 wire welder contact tip at a 10psi propane pressure, the folks at Zoeller Forge claim their similar setup achieves 60,000 BTU/hr. Whatever, a dozen wheelweights thrown in a cold pot are brought to melting in about 4 minutes. Today felt a lot more productive than the Thanksgiving adventure, my production was limited by the time it took to fill the pot, fill and empty the moulds; not so much the melting rate.
Today I used a homemade burner based on Ron Reil's forge burner designs (see the internet for more info). It uses a .035 wire welder contact tip at a 10psi propane pressure, the folks at Zoeller Forge claim their similar setup achieves 60,000 BTU/hr. Whatever, a dozen wheelweights thrown in a cold pot are brought to melting in about 4 minutes. Today felt a lot more productive than the Thanksgiving adventure, my production was limited by the time it took to fill the pot, fill and empty the moulds; not so much the melting rate.
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So far I'm looking at about 550,000 BTU in my setup atm heheh
I managed to get a bunch of range scrap from our indoor range cleanout that from what I was told was not cleaned out for at least 5 years.
44 - 11 liter buckets at about 55Lbs each of range scrap from the steel back trap.
Just tried wanted to see what I could come up with in about an hours work and ended up with 3 - about 14 Lbs.
Used the standard turkey fryer propane base and to speed it along, A nice 500,000 BTU Tiger torch
I managed to get a bunch of range scrap from our indoor range cleanout that from what I was told was not cleaned out for at least 5 years.
44 - 11 liter buckets at about 55Lbs each of range scrap from the steel back trap.
Just tried wanted to see what I could come up with in about an hours work and ended up with 3 - about 14 Lbs.
Used the standard turkey fryer propane base and to speed it along, A nice 500,000 BTU Tiger torch
BattleRife
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- of No Fixed Address
So far I'm looking at about 550,000 BTU in my setup atm heheh
I managed to get a bunch of range scrap from our indoor range cleanout that from what I was told was not cleaned out for at least 5 years.
44 - 11 liter buckets at about 55Lbs each of range scrap from the steel back trap.
Just tried wanted to see what I could come up with in about an hours work and ended up with 3 - about 14 Lbs.
Used the standard turkey fryer propane base and to speed it along, A nice 500,000 BTU Tiger torch
You have well over 2000 lbs and you did 14lbs in an hour? You may have to step up your game if you hope to have a social life in the future.
If you're near Edmonton someday you can borrow my setup for a little while: I figure the ingots I melted today and Thanksgiving will keep me shooting at least 3 years.
Social life??..... Oh yeah...that thing before marriage lol.
naa, I was just running some tests on different ways to speed the process along, once the tiger torch came out, things got going fast.
I have an uncle that's a long time retired commercial fisherman, still has his sainer..... in his back yard lol.
has tons of gear and I am sure lots of weights.
I may be making ingots for a while.
naa, I was just running some tests on different ways to speed the process along, once the tiger torch came out, things got going fast.
I have an uncle that's a long time retired commercial fisherman, still has his sainer..... in his back yard lol.
has tons of gear and I am sure lots of weights.
I may be making ingots for a while.
You have well over 2000 lbs and you did 14lbs in an hour? You may have to step up your game if you hope to have a social life in the future.
If you're near Edmonton someday you can borrow my setup for a little while: I figure the ingots I melted today and Thanksgiving will keep me shooting at least 3 years.
fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
I use a common industrial hand held propane torch, the big one that hooks to a 20 lb. or bigger bottle. 3 old cinder blocks placed in a U shape with a scrap steel plate over top for the pan (usually an old cast iron frying pan) to sit on. turn torch on about 1/2 and place in the U of the blocks. Will easily melt a couple 100lb of W.W. an hr.
If you already have the torch the setup costs nothing, its all surplus junk.
If you already have the torch the setup costs nothing, its all surplus junk.
I was attempting to be sarcastic/warn people so I don't get sued kinda sorta thing. my way of saying be careful when cutting propane tanks in half which should be common sense, but sadly isn't these days.
But you make sure the tank is empty, remove the valve and wash the tank with soap and water a few times or let it sit for a week to degas. Then cut the tank, weld on handles and a base and your ready to melt.
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BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
I've t an even easier method. Unscrew the valve and fill with water. Replace the valve and cut. You might get a bit wet, but you won't dry streaky.
