My old Wells H33 hotplate seems dead, voltage at leads but heating coil stays cool. Any place in Canada that has an electric hotplate to do a decent job of melting 40 lbs of lead. I tried an induction model at 1800 watts and it started to melt the lead but then stopped cause the "pot dry" sensor kicked in.
Which electric hot plate for lead pot?
- Thread starter guninhand
- Start date
I tested the old hot plate coil and it reads continuous at 10 ohm. At the same time the leads to the coil read 120 volts, so why it's cold I don't know. I bought the cdn tire plate and after about 90 minutes some molten beads showed in the alloy. That hot plate has a coil that gets red hot. I tried the cdn tire route 7 or 8 years ago and all they had was a solid element hot plate and it never came close to melting the lead. I'll speed melt with propane then transfer to the new hotplate for temperature control. Just have to put sturdy handles on the pot.
Hot plates are limited to 1000 watts. If you're somewhat handy and have access to 240V where you do your melting, get yourself a big element out of a stove and wire it up with the rheostat from the stove. That's what I used when I built my 50 pound pot.
The pot I'm using is stainless steel and the bottom is not perfectly flat, however it's the same pot that I used with the Wells burner, which gave amazing results with the temp staying usually within 5 degrees for the whole casting session. HERE'S WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING. I went looking for more powerful burners on line and saw one, a Dominion D72607 for 141 $Cdn at amazon*ca. The search specified a 1500watt burner. There were other cheaper 1500 watt burners but I assumed this one had to be the highest quality. At the last minute, decided to see what it cost on amazon*com. IT WAS $16.43 $US. Bung hole me on the lone prairie! So I decided it's final, domestic burners are crap. So I put "comercial" in the search engine. Best result was a Broil King CSR-3TB, 126 $US, with a ton of positive reviews. Same item at amazon*ca 266 to over 500 $Cdn.
So I now have the Broil King coming to my US address. I'm casting 550 grain match grade bullets and need to have the final batch with a 1 grain maximum spread, so need good temp control.
So I now have the Broil King coming to my US address. I'm casting 550 grain match grade bullets and need to have the final batch with a 1 grain maximum spread, so need good temp control.
Good temp control can be achieved with a really cheap element. Just get a pid controller, thermocouple and solid state relay. This turns any cheap hot plate or element in a super precise melting setup.
pm me if you need more info on how to build one.
Plus you can also use the pid without the relay if you are melting a batch of scrap lead into ingots.
Bert
Lonesome Donkey
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Central Alberta
I always used a naphtha Coleman stove and a cast iron pot until I upgraded to a Lee electric pot.
I used a 2 burner coleman stove many years ago, worked ok. This time I had a single burner backpack type and the melt temp went steady state at around 550F. Worst is had 40 lb pot on a strong grate with stove underneath and the body/fuel tank of the pot got too hot to touch. that can't be good.
handofzeus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Trout Creekish Ontario.
I used a 2 burner coleman stove too. Any issues with the fuel tank getting too hot would likely be due to pot size. I melt in a smaller saucepan sized iron pot and never had a problem.
If it's a 2 burner, you could also use the burner furthest from the tank, no? I've never had an issue with my stove, but I use a 20 lb tank and adapter/hose.
Tried the new Broil King hotplate. To my surprise, the 40 lb melt temperature leveled out at 690 F with rheostat set at max. This makes reliable mold fill out iffy, 750 F or higher should work. Will look for pan with flat heavy bottom and/or put insulation around sides of pot.
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Last edited:
