After reading several others opinions, I have decided to start smelting my lead into ingots before going to my Lee pot. I have read about and looked at several peoples setup and I have been looking for equipment.

How does this look for a first timer who will only be doing moderate amounts of smelting:

Burner- Harbor Freight Cast Iron Single Burner

Pot- Harbor Freight #10 Dutch Oven

Will the dutch oven be to big for this burner or should I get a smaller pot like the 20 lb pot here- http://www.do-itmolds.com/products/a...ting_equipment

I am going to try and find a ladel at Walmart but I may just get the 1.5 lb one list with the 20 lb pot. I have 1 Lyman ingot mold but I need more and since muffin pans seems to be the handsdown favorite, I will get some of those as well.

I have read alot about the turkey fryers but with the amount of lead I will be smelting, I dont know if I need that much. I also havent been able to find one in my area for under $50 and I want to try to keep it all under that amount.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RR

SOunds like a good set up, much like one i used for years. In my case, bought the stuff used ar garage sales or flea-markets as this area has a lot of gas burners and big pots (we boil a lot of crabs, shrimp. crawfish...which is caryfish to the rest of the nation).

For a ladel used an industrial soup ladel...from a resteraunt supply company, had to buy that big one new...added a wooden handle (recess the bolts to keep your fingers from being burned..and make the handle long enough to use two hands if needed).


Cast iron corn breat molds work great (but out of the South, may be hard to find)...ingots come out the size and shape of ears of corn, but that's not a problem (had some that cast fish shapes). IF you can weld, can turn angle iron into "v" shaped molds once you weld on end plates.

Bottom/side pour is possible, bt need a valve that doesn't rely on washers for sealing...needs to be metal-to-metal valving. Got mine at a junk yard, evidently something rom a chemical plant...not fancy, worked it by wacking it with a stick.

when I started I got a stanless steel pot holds about 125 pounds of moltent lead and I still use it if I were you I would go to a plumer suply house and get a real ladel they are cheep and less chance of a accident than with a soup ladel I know alot of the people here use them but I do not trust them if you get muffin tins do not get galvinised ones the lead sticke to then hopt this helps :cool: Forest Punch

…doing moderate amounts of smelting…

Technically, what you're doing is melting, not smelting.

You have lead metal that you're melting into ingots.

Smelting implies you have lead ore that you're converting to metal by chemical reduction during the melting.

I do all my melting in my bottom-drain Lyman electric pot, same as I use for casting. I guess I do less of it than you plan. Bottom drain sure does yield clean lead, though.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
RRIt's a good idea to blend and cast your ingots from a large melting pot first as you will get a greater quantity of the same alloy this way. Most of us can't be sure our alloy comes out the same each time we melt up a batch so we compensate by melting up a large quantity. This is also the best time to remove as much of the impurities as you can by fluxing well before casting the ingots.

Your equipment list sounds adequate, just make sure your burner is strong enough to support the Dutch oven full of alloy. I use a $40 turkey fryer bought on sale from Ace Hardware. I bolted on a Webber barbeque grill to support my 3 quart cast iron casserole bowl that I got on sale from Macy's for $7. Anyone who uses a turkey fryer setup should NOT use the included aluminum turkey pot. Aluminum can't take the heat needed to prepare alloy and will eventually fail if used this way. Use either a cast iron or heavy steel pot.

Don't skimp on any of the safety precautions when casting. Be sure to wear protective clothing, gloves, safety glasses, and leather shoes. Prepare your ingots outdoors and try not to breathe in the fumes coming off the pot.

Like reloading, casting bullets can be a very enjoyable hobby when done safely. Best wishes.