doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Hot plate for nitre blueing ?

You can "Kill two birds with one stone" by buying an infrared thermometer that has the feature of allowing a K type thermocouple to be attached. You can go up to fairly high temps that way. I got mine off EBay.



Regards
Ken

My nitre bluing set-up.
Reuseable stainless steel wires with like sized screws in place.


Stainless steel tank (with lid) on propane burners (2), wires in tank and thermo steady at 600*.


Completed nitre blued screws and small parts to the left side of completed rust bluing.


All parts for a custom Hagn actioned .30-06


There are still two benches open for Metal Prep, Rust & Nitre Bluing class the last week in June, in Montana just when the rivers should be coming down to fishable! My work shop in located 1/4 mile from the Famous Yellowstone River~~

El Garro

The PID controller has adjustments for +/- 10 deg F. So it will bounce around in that 20 deg range, as far as learning, I don�t think it�s learned much
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I really like the fact that I don�t have to �babysit� the nitre tank, turn it on, set the temp, go do something for an hour while it gets to temp, nitre blue, turn it off.

Just wish I could find a larger melting pot.

All this has gotten me thinking. Rather than using my kiln, I'm considering using the burner I use for my vertical barrel boiling tank. It's a high output wok burner using natural gas. It's in my basement, so I've ordered a higher CFM exhaust fan for my ventilation system. I have a large cast iron Dutch Oven to put the salts or lead in. It should be able to go up to 830 with no problem. I should be able to shoot the temp easily with my infrared thermometer.

I usually warm the salts to the melting point on an electric burner then put them in the kiln at a set temperature. Many ways to skin a cat. I like this method because I do not need to watch it that close and can be multitasking.

Thanks for all your input and pics everyone, reading between the lines it would seem we would all like to keep the pot at a constant temp so we can concentrate on the colour rather than juggling temp controls, it makes sense really.
The electric hob is here now but I ended up finishing the parts on the gas stove to save time, as soon as the bench is clear and there's time to do some experiments, I'll give it a go and see how good (or bad ) the temp control is. I'm tempted to try the pid controls but may get an electric lead melting pot and fit the sensor and controller to that, hopefully I'll find a way to save some time and produce consistent colours.

Look at this on eBay� http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182373517874

one of these kits is on its way. I'll try it on the cheap hotplate and see how it performs. There's more suitable temp probes on the same site which are a couple of quid so will use one of those rather than the type supplied. If it's successful it will end up fitted to a lead melter.
It won't do too high a temp but should be ideal for blues. If I need to go higher I'll use gas and my twin channel k type digital thermometer used on the caustic tank.

Where do you plan to attach the thermocouple? Will you put it in the salts?

That's somewhat similar to the one I bought for my kiln, except mine has more components since it's 220 volt.

Regards
Ken

Hi ken, yes, will make a bracket to hold it to the rear of the pot. Won't use the type that comes with the kit as I have the fine wire type.
I hope it works after all this
Saw a Lyman big dipper lead pot at a good price but can't contact the seller until Tuesday as it's bank holiday weekend over here.