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I built a high capacity lead melting pot for a fella up here in Canuckville on the rock. I'm trading him for sinkers and a couple of duck and goose killing expeditions next fall on private farms.

Well it is almost done. A little thing called my wife's birthday got in the way lol.

I basically used this guy's idea for the valve in the bottom.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=49483

I put it flush to the bottom of the pot like he said he would do next time.

Anyways here are some pic's FWIW.

How do you start to build a high capacity melting pot? Start with a chunk of 12" sched40 pipe.



Then cut a bottom out for it.



Make up a couple of heavy duty handles for Lornes big mitt's lol.



Continued...........

Here is the diagram I printed off and the chunk of 1" x 2" x2" plate for the valve.



Drilling out the first pilot holes.



Drilling out the larger holes.



I have to plug weld that little hole in the back. It is basically cross drilled now and ready for tapping for the valve screw.



Continued.....

This is basically the end product. The countersunk machine bolt act's as the valve. The hole in the front of the block is where the lead will come out.





Welding it in the bottom of the pot.





Continued...

Ground smooth after welding. It is welded on the other side as well.



Bottom tacked on and handles welded on.



First pass.



Second pass.



Continued....

Ok so this is just a mock up for how this will work. I don't have the right length of taper head machine bolt and I will use a slightly larger diameter rod for the "valve stem".






Here is the little angle I welded on for now to see how it works.



Here is the unit sitting in my crab cooker burner just for demo sake.




I should have it totally ready to go by tomorrow with a few more tweeks and a homemade ladle for back up. I have read of a few folks that have used this system and it does work. We'll see I guess. I sure hope a lot of folks will benefit from this little contraption. It was fun making it.

Cheers,
John

Interesting! The valve is the weak link along with the small sides of the Angle Iron spout. Tell us how it works than you can tell the guy you had design change and then make it like Vance's. His has a tube for the weed burner to heat the bottom, Hinges at the side and a spout at the top. It pours a 15lb ball fast and controllable. Balls come out of the mold in one piece not layered.

goatram wrote:Interesting! The valve is the weak link along with the small sides of the Angle Iron spout. Tell us how it works than you can tell the guy you had design change and then make it like Vance's. His has a tube for the weed burner to heat the bottom, Hinges at the side and a spout at the top. It pours a 15lb ball fast and controllable. Balls come out of the mold in one piece not layered.

This is the first one I ever built. I scoured the casting forums for around 12 hours and this was the best valve system I could find. The countersunk pin in a hole type ones always seem to leak. I talked with Unified Alloys and apparently the asphalt guys use and all iron gate valve that can withstand the temperatures involved.

I agree that the little angle will have to be changed to something else. I don't quite get the hinged at the side and spout at the top thing that you described on Vance's pot. Do you have any pictures of it John?

Damn John! That looks great! I can see how the valve may be the weak link, but I would love to see how this baby works in the end!! Keep us posted!

Here is the post that Lorne made over on the SFBC site regarding the pot after he picked it up from my shop.

Worked like a charm. I need to build them a more skookum stand for the burner. Nice balls for sure. No wrinkles, total control over the flow, no mess, and best of all the valve worked!!!!

http://www.sportfishingbc.com/forum/sho ... pot./page7


I took goatram's advice and made a different spout on the bottom.

Cheers,
John

Glad it worked. That was a good looking spout you made.

NICE work John. Where do you get the lead for making those?

Sabs28 wrote:NICE work John. Where do you get the lead for making those?

I made the pot for some guys up Island. They work in the marine industry so they have access to old keel weights etc.

Looks like it holds about 5.5 US gallons ... That's a BUNCH-O-LEAD and of course you don't fill it full for safety reasons.

Nice Job.

Over 3000 lbs. of lead through her and zero hick up's with the valve!!! Thanks for the vote of confidence goatram

Sweet Job John. Glad it worked well.