Ernie - the aluminum self heating pots available at department stores
work with 63/37 (tin/lead) solder. The temperature is slightly low and the
regulation is a bit too broad. The unit I measured showed around 40 degf
hi/lo diference at max temperature. This was after 1/2 hour stabalizing.

Hul

Ernie Sty wrote:
I was going to use a small ceramic crucible in which to melt my tin, bismuth
and indium--then I learned that the resulting alloy (Field's metal) "wets"
ceramic--meaning the ingot would be cemented to the ceramic once it cooled.

I think I'm just going to use a Teflon-coated frying pan instead. Teflon is
pretty stable and non-reactive up to 500 degrees, and once the indium melts
at 313 degrees, it should start to dissolve the tin and bismuth, so I
wouldn't have to approach the melting points of those metals.

Any thoughts on this?