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Posted: 5/22/2010 8:57:59 AM EDT
| I just got a older coleman camp stove, The fuel it uses is the white gas or the coleman fuel. Is this stove good enough to be able to make ingots? or is propane better? If propane is better can this stove be converted over to be able to use propane? |
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I have used both fuels for many years. Propane is more cost effective & I find the valves on the propane stoves better able to regulate the alloy temperature.
Gasoline fumes get old real fast. As to conversion of gas to propane, check the Coleman website. The propane stoves are inexpensive. I typically use a pot that holds 9 lbs of alloy for bullet making. If you want to melt & or alloy a good bit more alloy weight, consider a stove that will give you adequate BTU'S, such as a turkey cooker & use a substantially larger cast iron pot than a 9 to 10 pound capacity. The 9 to 10 lb pots are typical for many who cast into molds. But they are small for volume for making ingots. |
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Go to any decent size sporting goods store and look for a propane conversion generator of liquid Coleman fuel stoves. I believe Cogburn (sp) makes one. I got one for $8-10 a couple of years ago. Muy cheaper than Coleman fuel and propane regulates better. If you have a 20# cylinder there is a hose you can buy and the $$$s go down even more. If you are doing large quantity, get a cheap dutch oven and turkey fryer.
skink |
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Huh! To buck the trend, I've used unleaded gas in my old Coleman's for years. Price per gallon on propane and gasoline are about the same and gasoline has about 22,000 BTU per gallon more energy content. I know gasoline is way more convenient to buy...
I used the old Colman to smelt and dipper cast for 20 years before I upgraded. In my experience, you can process up to about 2 quarts (47 pounds) of lead on a standard stove before melt time gets too long to bear. |
| Well what I am using at the moment is propane, the thing is it is one of those burners that screws onto the top of the small propane tank with a little plastic stand the tank goes into. basically any pot or container I put on top of it will stay there but I still worry a bit about some kind of accident at all that it would fall off or tip over. now the coleman stove is one of the classic ones and sits on the ground. Something tipping over or getting knocked over is a lot less likely. |
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