I was reading below about the hot plate and cast iron pot used to do your melt. Do hot plates get hot enough to melt a 3-4 quart pot of wheel weights.I have to melt down about 300 lbs of wheel weigts and there is no way I'm gonna do that in my rcbs pot. Any ideas for about 30 bucks or less. Also igot about 200 lbs of ingots from a friend and the problemis the lino and regular wheel weights are all mixed up.Any easy way to tell the difference.

one thing to watch out for when using a hot plate, some are made out of very thin sheet metal for a base. When you get a cast iron pot full of lead they collapse. a freind of mine had this happen to him. He was lucky, it spilled away from him. But he had an 80 pound piece of lead soldered to his concrete patio, his wife still reminds him of it every tome he melts lead and that happened 5 years ago. Funny how women remember some things. <G> A hot plate that will draw 10 amps or so will melt a cast iron pot of lead. Make sure the bottom of the pot is flat, if you cast iron pot has legs on the bottom, grind them off so you have full contact with the heating element. Watch garage sales for a cheap colman white gas stove or a turkey fryer, in my opinion they work far better than a hot plate.

Ed B
AKA elbStJoeMO

Use a magnet. If they are regular wheel weights (not melted down), the magnet will pick them up by the steel clip that holds them on the rim.

PS on those ingots, if it's real lino, you can hold the ingot on one end and tap it with a hammer, lino will ring, lead will just make a dull thud.

the cheapest pot is a 50 cal ammo can...will do 120-140 lbs....the problem is a heat source.
a coleman stove will do 50 pounds on fuel, 40 on gasoline. no idea on propane. now a turkey burner is about $50 an empty new 20# bottle $25-30 and * bucks to fill. just look for the strudyest looking burner legs. my casting quality jumped by leaps wiht large lots of alloy of a similar mix and adding just a little tin.

A 800 watt hot plate will melt wheel weights but it's pretty slow. A propane camp stove is faster.
A coleman gas camp stove faster yet. I started my new turkey cooker and it really throws out the flame. What convinced me to buy a turkey cooker was the 30 gallons of wheel weight . The 200 # of virgin linotype (courtesy of Buckshot)and the 100 # of pure lead I need to turn into ingots. I have been using a double burner propane camp stove and a 2 and 3 qt alum Heavy pots for the last 5 years. I've melted 1 ton of 25 # Ingots (elevator weights I beleive, bhn 8)in those 2 pots, plus a lot of wheel weights. If I had to guess I would say over an hour a pot. ben.

Mike: On my route to the shooting range they built a tire and lube place. I stopped and asked about wheel weights. I been receiving their WW for over a year. I haven't used my propane barbecue in a few years and thought I would start
in again. The tank was empty (the reason I probably stopped using it) and this tire place also sells propane. To fill the tank cost $10.72
I was given a card which if I fill 3 tanks the fourth is free. How about that. ben.

You can buy a Presto Kitchen Kettle, 1300 watts, 6 quart capacity, at WalMart for $20, bypass the thermostat on the end of the cord (easy to do) and melt several dozen pounds at a time. Kind of like a hot plate and pot in one. Not as fast as a propane cooker, but at least as good as a Coleman stove. A Fry Daddy (or Pappy or Baby) will work too, but doesn't have the capacity.

[ 12-07-2003, 00:29: Message edited by: Waterfowler ]

ben,
i got in on a new tire shop with my buckets with my phone number on them... so think i have wheel wieghts covered fer a while.
flying j gas/truck stop filled mine for under $8.
so my 4 refils is 32 and guess what your 3 paid/one free is nealy the same...lol.,

i'd love to see a shrouded/insulated pot wider than a 50 cal, and just a tad shorter that fit on top of the turkey burner just to be a bit more efficient.think 150 lbs would be easy, a little and a lttle more efficent.
oh well it works as is abunch better than most other options..ok moab is a bit bigger but labor intensive...

Thanks guys for all the advice.Time to go and shovel

There has been a lot said about using alum pots
including my post. What I posted was from my personal experience. No hear say. Certainly cast iron or SS better than alum. But a heavy alum pot works also with a little common sense. First off I never melted more then 3 or 4 pounds on the hot plate which I had on a large cookie sheet
in case of pot problem. Another thing my 2 burner propane camp stove is The type that holds all cooking utensils. It would hold 20 times the lead in the pots if the pot was to break. I never picked the alum pots up by the handle until there was only a few pounds of lead left. It was all ladled into ingot moulds. I did have 2 large cast iron pots during this time but they were to big for the propane stove. But will use them with my turkey fryer. Also I cut coffee can to brace underneath the grill on the stove. Anybody want a couple of alum pots that's been proven ok for melting lead up to now anyway. . ben.

Mike: I had a 18 inch lid to a drum which I cut a 8 in hole in the center. Fits on the turkey fryer. One of my cast iron pots bottom is shaped like a wc bullet. Lid works great with the pot on the turkey fryer. Now all I need is a lid for the pot and a months time to get over my shoulder surgery. Going to North Sububan Hospital this morning for pre op lab work. Yes
I know it's Sunday surprised me to. Did pre op 2 weeks ago. Took 5 files of blood. Looked at the paper work and said to early. come back Sun Dec 7. Bonfil couldn't get blood out of me. If I need blood for surgery it will come out of the pool. I guess they have to check my blood against the pool blood. ben.

I don't want to seem like a nervous nellie, but I would urge great caution even with heavy duty aluminum pots.

I was using an aluminum pressure cooker (so it had VERY thick walls). One side of the pot near the bottom gave way VERY suddenly on me when I was using a Coleman stove. No change in appearance to warn me, but all of a sudden there was lead coming out of a place that used to be pot sidewall!

The pot held little lead at the time and no harm was done, but I'd hate to think of what might have happened if I'd tried to pick up that pot when it was in a weakened state.

I really don't think ANY aluminum pot is very safe to use... Used (or even new) cast iron pots are really not so expensive.

jpb

A gasoline fired plumbers lead furnace will melt an initial 20-30 pound charge of lead in about 20 minutes. I've got one that I've used for years. I do the initial melt, then keep adding metal as I ladle the melted metal into an ingot mould. These old furnaces show up regularly on ebay. Another useable heat source is an old cast iron gas hot plate, also available on ebay.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44705/results.jsp[/URL]

[ 12-09-2003, 02:14: Message edited by: Leftoverdj ]

Dave,
For melting a lot a lead at a time, or less if you're so inclined, I have had good results with a coal-fired blast furnace that I fabricated.
First I took an old pickup truck rim and removed the center leaving just the outer ring. Then I notched out one side to allow a piece of 5" square tubing to be inserted. I hooked up an old squirrel cage blower from an air conditioner to the tubing. On top I have a pot that I made out of some 11" diameter pipe with a bottom welded on it. The pot sits on top of (and slightly inside of)the rim. I fill in the rim with coal. I usually get the fire going with some charcoal and then add some coal and the blast from the fan. This setup will melt a 5-gallon pail of wheelweights in about 20 minutes. I wish I had a photo of the setup as it would be easier to see what I'm describing than to imagine it.
Anyway, this rig works very well, but it does require some fabrication from the owner's side. I have about $0 invested in mine as I scrounged all of the parts and did the welding myself. Maybe you could figure out how to use coal to suit your pot. You really do need to use some sort of air blast with straight coal as it's pretty smokey without it. A good wood or charcoal fire would probably melt 75 pounds or so with ease. Good luck.
Wren