Idea to melt lead on a stove build

[W.olly]

I am thinking on making anther stove for the workshop for heat and to melt lead. It will be near 500mm square as i have 4mm steel plate to hand to make it. I would line the walls with vermiculite fireboard and rear flue as in diagram. the crucible will be slid into a fix crucible in the stove. Just a wonder with say a 1mm gap around the main crucible if temp will be high enough say 400oc ??

thoughts folks

 

[Screwdriver]

You can melt lead in a saucepan on the oven. I melt mine on a little camping stove.

If you stick a pan in a fire, you can end up boiling lead and that is crazy dangerous.

 

[W.olly]

You can melt lead in a saucepan on the oven. I melt mine on a little camping stove.

If you stick a pan in a fire, you can end up boiling lead and that is crazy dangerous.

so no need to inset the the crucible into an inner crucible int he stove. it will melt in a crucible on top of the stove. is that what your saying ?

 

[brightspark]

so no need to inset the the crucible into an inner crucible int he stove. it will melt in a crucible on top of the stove. is that what your saying ?

it will melt in a bean or soup tin with a blowlamp or on the gas stove

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I melt mine over s Primus stove and a old pan.

 

[W.olly]

it will melt in a bean or soup tin with a blowlamp or on the gas stove

well ill give it a go. i cnat see the lead boilng as its near 1700oc to boild lead. and a stove gets to maybe 600dec

 

[brightspark]

me and bruv once melted some on mothers coal fire in a dish it spilt all over the fireplace and marked it did we get a bollocking another time bruv payed me to clean his room and i swept up some .22 black hilti gun cartridges up i didnt know wot they were and chucked them on the fire all of a sudden 4 big bangs and a load of hot coal cinders flew out on the fire rug and burnt it another bollocking

 

[W.olly]

well il give cartridges a miss. not long painted the workshop floor lol

 

[Arc Tourist]

Get a proper cast iron lead melting pot.

 

[gaz1]

i post enough theres plans on the forum

3mm is ample enough

 

[W.olly]

Get a proper cast iron lead melting pot.

And sit that in the inner pot ?

 

[500e]

Lead is no prob but fumes not good

 

[Arc Tourist]

And sit that in the inner pot ?

I don't understand why you would need an inner pot, its unnecessary.

 

[W.olly]

i post enough theres plans on the forum

3mm is ample enough

how though would i add a flue to that in the workshop.

 

[W.olly]

Lead is no prob but fumes not good

good point, it wont be a thing done a lot just a project for maybe two jobs, just like t faff about. the stove is the main thing for heat output to the workshop. asso mnay folk do this in the kitchen though i would be ok ? as say rare used.

I don't understand why you would need an inner pot, its unnecessary.

so the lead will melt in the crucible on top of a multifuel stove ?

 

[gaz1]

burns wood as well

better with a core but can be run with stainless steel but not for long they do destroy themselves

oh and that ones a 3" flue

 

[Screwdriver]

so no need to inset the the crucible into an inner crucible int he stove. it will melt in a crucible on top of the stove. is that what your saying ?

No. If you are using a solid fuel like wood or coal, that can burn at super high temperatures even if your stove body doesn't reach those temps.

well ill give it a go. i cnat see the lead boilng as its near 1700oc to boild lead. and a stove gets to maybe 600dec

Depends entirely on the construction method for the stove. Clearly wood and/or coal can burn at vastly higher temperatures if there is a forced air (oxygen) supply. Inside an insulated firebox, you could easily hit 1000ºC if you wanted to so while lit. "boiling" lead may be melodramatic on my part, you certainly risk superheating it.

You only want to melt it and any excess temperature is a right pain in the... well, see what happens when some idiot only waits half an hour for a small ball filled with lead to cool down:

You may want to skip to about 21 minutes...

 

[Migmac]

I used to melt lead in an old kettle on top of a camping stove. Kettle made it easy to pour into the moulds. I gave up doing it inside after an incident involving her new kitchen lino

 

[Arc Tourist]

so the lead will melt in the crucible on top of a multifuel stove ?

Ahh, a sealed stove. Heat transfer isn't going to be as efficient or as fast for melting lead as a direct flame would be. It will be interesting to see your stove design working.

 

[Screwdriver]

You may be better off with a removable stove plate on top so that the flames can lick the bottom of the pan.

<edit> Lead is poisonous of course and I think it's one of those substances that can build up in your system over time. You don't want to get it on your hands because that is the pathway to your mouth, eyes, mucous membranes etc. Obviously you don't want to eat it (!) but the greater risk is generating micro particles which you might breathe in.

One of the biggest dangers with any hot liquid metal is potential contact with water which, when superheated, can explode violently taking splashes of metal with it. Spill some hot lead onto water and it can jump right up into your eyes. I nominate @pressbrake1 to tell us what precautions you ought to take with metal castings or buckets of hot metal generally. The ante goes up fairly dramatically with molten steel!