I be smeltin'

[SSN Vet]

I be smeltin' NOW WITH PICTURES

I finally got some time off on a day that had decent weather and conducted my first smelting ops.

Started with a single burner Coleman white gas camping stove, a 7" cast iron skillet and a box of wheel weights complements of the garage where I get my auto work done and a pair of long welders gloves.

I was very concerned about...

1. burning my tootsies

2. ruining my good pair of needle nose pliers

3. botching the whole smelt with a zinc wheel weight

All went reasonably well. The stove didn't take to long to melt the lead and the dross and lead came off my tools with minimal effort.

I eventually switched to dropping in the wheel weights without the gloves, as there was no splatter and I figured the risk of bumbling with the golves and knocking the whole set up over was greater.

First observation......lead is heavy! duh!

Second observation.....zinc wheel weights are easy to identify, when you're working with this kind of marginal heat source. At one point I dropped in 8 weights, and after fishing out 7 clips it dauned on me....."this one wheel weight hasn't even begun to melt"

I got two zincs out of a box of a hundred or so weights.

I was up to my elbows in aligators when I remembered the need for flux, so I quickly scounged up some dead pine needles and gave them a go. It seemed to work but in the end I found that stiring the melt with a dead stick was much easier.

So I'm now the proud owner of sixteen ingots of lead-tin alloy.

Time to fire up that little Lee pot and cast me some boolits.

 

[RustyFN]

Pictures we need pictures. Congrats, I am hoping to have my first smelt sometime this week.
Rusty

 

[Roccobro]

I cast my first boolits this past weekend. Was more fun to watch the owner of the equipment get it all going, and the owner of the mold make pretty 460g bullets than it was to do any of it myself. I guess I'm kinda lazy that way.

Justin

 

[CBS220]

I love casting. It's cheap and you often end up with a superior product.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Whoever smelt it dealt it.

 

[ants]

One small item:

Add flux BEFORE you skim off the dross. Some of that dull stuff floating on top with the dross is actually tin. You don't want to skim that away, or you have nothing but soft lead in the pot. Drop in the flux and stir the pot. The flux will cause the tin to mix with the lead. Then skim the remaining dross off the top.

 

[SSN Vet]

Flux !!!!



well I re-read the ABC's of reloading chapter on casting last night......

Add flux BEFORE you skim off the dross. Some of that dull stuff floating on top with the dross is actually tin. You don't want to skim that away, or you have nothing but soft lead in the pot. Drop in the flux and stir the pot. The flux will cause the tin to mix with the lead. Then skim the remaining dross off the top.

that's basically what it said.....

after ladeling off the obvious paint/dirt/greese layer of scum, I noticed a thin shiny silver layer floating on top of a dark, charcoal gray colored base.

so Mr. Overzealous went ahead and skimed off the silver :banghead:

which I now know was the tin. :banghead:

If I scratch my thick thumbnail accross the top of the ingets, I can make a noticeable scratch the surface ...but it doesn't make a deep impression.

Looks like I get a B- on my first smelt.

which means..... room of improvement

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Sounds like you are now going to do it the right way! Good casting.

 

[Jacka L Ope]

Congratulations on your turn to casting, where economy, performance and enjoyment rules.

Cheers!

 

[xsquidgator]

Congrats on getting into boolit casting! With the price of materials and components rising like they've been I'm sure you'll get the same or better satisfaction out of looking over a pile of cast boolits that you get from looking over a bunch of reloads. I don't see a pile of 500 boolits, I see a "free" stack of boolits worth $50!

My little casting tidbit fwiw- drop your boolits into water to get some extra hardening (max hardness occurs about 1-2 weeks after casting). To prevent splashing I fill an old coffee can about 1/2 full of water, and then float some chunks of wood in it. The boolits hit the wood first then drop into the water with little splashing. This'll make your wheelweights stand up even better to decent pressures, I think.

2nd tip is to look into cream of wheat as a gas check and lead scrubber, if you care to. (separate threads all over here about that, though).

No worries and no:banghead: !!
Once I got a pot of wheelweights with some zinc up to 800F or way hot anyway by accident - no worries. Worst case just use 'em for blasting away plinker loads, so what if they won't fill out totally? No worries just have fun isn't that the point?

 

[snuffy]

A popular myth about lead alloys is that tin and antimony will "float" to the surface of molten lead. There's no way that can happen. Once lead, tin, and antimony are alloyed,(mixed), they cannot be separated.

SO that scum you noticed is lead oxide or simply the coating on the surface of weathered lead that won't re-combine with the melt. It also contained dirt and oxidized crap that was on the WWs. Fluxing will help get some of it back to a non-oxide IF you use the right stuff. Wood sticks or shavings, sawdust work well. The best is sterric acid. It's used to make dripless candles. It's also in ivory soap, grated ivory soap is great fluxing material, but it stinks. You can sometimes get it at the hobby shops for making candles, but it would be expensive. I have a link to a place that sells it, but I just had my eyes dilated for a look see at my retinas. I'm lucky I can see the keyboard! All's well in that department.

 

[SSN Vet]

Ah metalurgy....if only the TA who taught that class had spoken english...

Ya know, I thought that the whole concept of an "alloy" was two or more molten metals that form a solution. And typically if two of anything form a solution, they mix completely.

Am I correct in saying the only way to seperate them would be to boil one of them off or to chemically seperate them.

So I guess there should still be some tin in there after all.

 

[highlander 5]

I would be leery about using a Coleman stove for melting lead as the grate over the burner MAY bend/collapse. I have a very nice 2 burner stove that can be had at Dick's Sporting Goods made by Fire Chef made of cast iron with detachable legs and is fired by a 20lb propane tank rather than gasoline or the 1lb tanks.
I can melt 60-80 lbs of ww in a little over an hour with ease. if you are curious feel free to PM me and no I don't own stock in the company.

 

[zxcvbob]

I use a 750W electric hotplate (exposed coils, the other kind doesn't get hot enough) to melt up to 10 pounds of scrap at a time. I paid $5 for the hotplate.

When I get a big coffee can full of dross, I mix a little grease or sawdust with it, fill my crucible (Revereware saucepan) about 2/3 full, and cook it on high heat with the lid on for at least a half an hour. From 5 or 6 pounds of dross, I usually get over 3 pounds of lead. I'm sure it's not worth the trouble, but that's a lot less lead oxide going to the dump.

Bob

 

[SSN Vet]

the good, the bad and the ugly!

Here's some pix, as requested....

the good (or should I say "the Precious").........


the bad (zinc wheel weights)............


and the ugly..........