Rendering Lead

[TexasMac]

Hey guys,

Just thought I’d post some photos of the 360 lbs of pure lead I just finished melting down from six 60 lb ingots into much more manageable 1 lb ingots. I got a 1-time deal on the lead & could not pass it up. You can see the stack of large ingots in the top left hand corner of the photo along with about 1000 lbs of wheel weight lead which is also in 1 lb ingots.

As noted in the photos I used an outdoor cooker for the heat source but what made it relatively easy was the very large 16 qt. cast iron pot I picked up from Academy Outdoor Sports for $39.95, a heck of a deal since everyone else wanted close to twice or 3X as much, and shipping was free. It’s actually a 14” (top inside diameter) by 6.5” deep, pre-seasoned Dutch oven & came with the lid, which was of no use for this project. The negative when using a large pot is it radiates a lot of heat, requiring longer time to come up to lead melting temp. But when handling 60 lb or larger ingots a large heavy pot is much more stable (read safer). It fit the cooker perfectly. I had 180 lbs of molten lead in it at one time.

If you’re wondering where the ingot mould came from? It’s a standard RCBS mould with a coil spring ventilated handle welded on that I cut off from a cheap Harbor Freight welding hammer. Works great, speeds up the process and is very stable. Anyway, I’m now in great shape with plenty of pure lead and a bunch of tin. It was hell trying to cut a few lbs off the 60 lb ingots.

The whole process went very smooth, no hiccups, no splattering or split lead. The folded red towel in the photo was soaked with water and used to quickly cool down the ingot mould until the lead hardened sufficiently to dump on the garage floor. The mould was supported by the edge of the pot while filling it with the 2 lb dipper. Gloves, boots, blue jeans, long sleeve heavy cotton shirt, safety goggles were the norm.

BTW, this also resulted in a short experiment to determine how effective a solution of hydrogen peroxide & vinegar was at removing lead. Many of you have likely head of this technique to remove lead from firearm bores. I’ll start a new thread with the results tomorrow when the experiment is complete.

Wayne

[Nuclearcricket]

Wayne, nice job and nice set up. I use something similar to that but I actually have a plumbers pot that was originally made to pour lead joints. The big difference is that everything screws onto the top lf the tank. The tanks are a little different as they have a threaded flange on top for the burner to screw onto. I guess it will hold 50 pluss pounds of melt. It also has a wind shield that surrounds the pot to keep the wind away from the flame. Only draw back is when you fire it up it sounds like a jet engine but it don't take too long to meld don a 35 pound bar of allow to cast into little ingots.
Sam

[Kurt]

Looks good Wayne. It's a lot of work, but it sure makes mixing alloy a lot better.
I stopped the other day at the scrap yard when I was passing by to see if they had any good stuff in the bin and staring at me where three 1/2 foundry pigs 175# of virgin lead for .73 cents a pound.
I use a plumbing lead pot like Sam uses. I kept two heads and the tank. It melts the pig in a hurry.
Kurt

[powderburner]

to do big batches you really need ingot moulds ,, when I did a couple barrels of scrap I made a couple out of angle iron ,,2, 17 ingots apiece and 6, 8 ingots ones still had to wait a bit to pour again . but they would make 150# every time you filled them ,,a lot easier on the propane tank also, I did most of one barrel with one tank,,

[Kurt]

I made one of these from fittings I had and it will do a big batch of scrap in a hurry.
http://www.toolfetch.com/bon-tools-14-63...aQodDJYARw

[TexasMac]

Just thought I'd post another option.
Wayne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuWDuXlapzc

[Kurt]

That guy will wear a lead overcoat some day dropping a cold ingot in that fast

[powderburner]

that was my first thought too..

[J.B.]

A bit keen with the cold ingot..especially that large.. but the smelter itself seems a very neat piece of kit. Sure could have used one of those from time to time.

[powderburner]

with that burner a 100-150 pound pot would be a better solution