Lead - how do you like to melt it?

[Rangel]

Let's hear your favorite approaches.

 

[Auggie Doggie]

Cast iron dutch oven on a turkey fryer burner to melt down wheel weights / lead.

Auggie D.

 

[yomomma]

Any source of ( enough) heat and a pot. I also tend to do it in a ladle in my wood burning stove

 

[kjohn]

I just fire up my LEE Pro Pot IV and melt a bunch of wheel weights and pour them into mini muffin tins. I mix in some "flux" (I forget the name) while I melt, and I'm done.

I've been doing this for a good long time. It doesn't take a long time to fill a coffee can or two with nice ingots. I have lots of weights and lino stashed. I use a little bit of lino when I am pouring bullets.

I keep it simple and enjoy doing it. Which reminds me, I'll need to melt some more WW. Actually, I have two pots and sometimes will stoke up two to melt down weights.

 

[colt1851]

I use welders torch to melt into 1 pound ingots.

 

[Sniper_485]

homemade pot shoved into our branding pot with a tiger torch in one end.

 

[howard2]

I use an old Freon tank with the top cut off and heat with a tiger torch. I do this out in the yard usually because smelting wheel weights and other scrap lead can be smoky with all the crap with the lead. Have a few ingot molds that are used in rotation to give the lead a chance to harden. Flux lots to get a good clean product. I mark ingots latter as to type, ie pure, WW or lino.

 

[john442]

I use a propane turkey fryer burner with a homemade pot from an old expired propane tank (free).
Cut it up with a Sawzall and welded the handles from the top of the tank to the side.
works amazing. And cheap too!

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[BattleRife]

I posted a complete description of my setup a few years ago, you can see the thread here.

 

[Ed Smurf]

I use an old lead smelter. Runs on kerosene.

 

[Dogleg]

I use a stainless pot that that a long passed welder friend built me. Hit that with a tiger torch and it makes short work of reducing WW to something useful. That isn't much different than anyone else.

Where I might have something to offer is in ingot molding. I use muffin trays (Like everyone else) but I set them on wet/damp towels. That reduces the cooling time to a fraction.

 

[vagrantviking]

I've got a tiger torch and cast iron pot but am looking to improve the heat retention. Goes through a lot of propane in a hurry. Going to try insetting the pot in an overturned metal 5 gallon pail and see how that works.
Got a pile of pewter and range lead to process. Wish I could find a steady supply of pure lead though.
Cheap muffin tins don't last and are sometimes pretty soft when loaded with hot lead. I inherited some cast ones from my Dad that should work fine but will likely have to only half fill or they won't fit in the Lee pot. Some of my favorite ingots were cast in molds made from angle iron. Narrow and triangular shaped so easy to use in the smaller electric pot.

 

[bertn]

I use a cut down propane bottle as melting pot, with a wind breaker skirt made from aluminum flashing.

For making ingots i use a cast iron corn bread pan, makes nice size pie shaped ingots.

 

[fingers284]

I have cut a 20 lb propane bottle in half and used the "handle end" turned upside down for my tiger torch burner stand and used the bottom half with a long ( so it can be safely grabbed immediately after a melt with any glove) re-bar handle installed...this worked ok but to fill muffin pans safely, I wanted a bottom pour outfit big enough to hold 50 or more lbs of melt at a time so I built one out of 8 or 10 inch or so pipe and 5 inches or so deep (big enough that I can skim WW clips easily and then "stir & flux" thoroughly) . There is a photo somewhere in this forum section here provided by member Gnmonty of the outfit. It will do 100 lbs or so an hr.

The best muffin pans I have used are the "coated ones" from a Dollar Store...release ingots with just a flip over & never had a "burn through yet.

 

[HIGHRPM]

Old Coleman stove converted to run off a 20# propane bottle and a big cast iron pot or Stainless steel pot, works great !

 

[gnmontey]

i have cut a 20 lb propane bottle in half and used the "handle end" turned upside down for my tiger torch burner stand and used the bottom half with a long ( so it can be safely grabbed immediately after a melt with any glove) re-bar handle installed...this worked ok but to fill muffin pans safely, i wanted a bottom pour outfit big enough to hold 50 or more lbs of melt at a time so i built one out of 8 or 10 inch or so pipe and 5 inches or so deep (big enough that i can skim ww clips easily and then "stir & flux" thoroughly) . There is a photo somewhere in this forum section here provided by member gnmonty of the outfit. It will do 100 lbs or so an hr.

The best muffin pans i have used are the "coated ones" from a dollar store...release ingots with just a flip over & never had a "burn through yet.

m

 

[gnmontey]

Here is my setup.



Don't put the hot muffin tins on the lawn LOL.



M

 

[fingers284]

Thanks for the re-post of the photo's GN, I enjoyed that day...I've got a couple pails of WW to run through the outfit in the spring.

 

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[Balance]

Big cast iron pot on a propane burner, quick and easyyy