Melting Lead: Results (good)(pictures)

So I went around and got anout 130lbs. of wheel balancing weights from some local tires shops. (the big stores don't give it away, try the little guys). I got it all for free, so the was awesome! I was also given about 10lbs. of pure lead sheets from old x-ray films by a doctor, so I'm up to 140lbs before melting down.

Pretty simple from there, melt down the lead. I did end up casting it though, since I has so much. I used a metal spackling mix pan as the mold.

Here is my set-up, I just used a wood fire.



I just put those handles on the pot to put myself further away from the hot stuff. I wore welding gloves. Holding 52lbs. of molten lead at that distance from my body was heavy enough!

I didn't get any action shots, but here is what the "bricks" look like:


And here is the mold I used. You can buy them at any hardware store. I did spray it with cooking spray, and the lead popped right out.


So there are the surprisingly good results. I ended up with 120lbs. of cast weight, so I lost about 20lbs. in steel clips off the weights.

Those weights will go on the front of this snowplow, right on top of that rusty weight that is already up there.


Hope somebody learns something here. I'm just trying to give back a teeny bit

Thank you for posting - very interesting.

If it rains while you are doing that you will get some action dodging hot lead.

Thats serious recycling.Very cool.

that was cool, most interesting thing i read in a while

In the little bit of background research that I did before I tried this, that was the main safety concern. Moisture. I did it on a dry day. Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Moisture = BAD.

Thanks

Good stuff.

I tried some "Tire Shop Wts " Meltdown to make shot for my Muzzle Loader. Worked pretty good but I don't think it was clean lead such as what I get from the gun shop I patronize.Seems there are different compositions in different metals.Rifle Bullet Lead is different than Tire weight lead.Rifle bullet lead will not leave a residue of scrapings in the lands of your Barrrel .

Hi 1dollar,

For your first pour, you did excellent. A few suggestions.

You don"t need to use a cooking oil with the shape of your steel mold. Once the lead cools, it will slightly contract away from the sides of the mold. A better tension release agent would be paraffin wax with bees wax being the best. Skimming with bees wax will also clean off the dross (scum).

Your lead was at a very high temperature according to your ingot face. Too high of a heat on any metal will destroy some of the metals properties thus you will have a very poor metal to work with. About 900ºf maximum for Pb. Pure Pb is liquid at about 450ºf and wheel weights about 500º to 550º as wheel weights contain a small amount of antimony and a few other trace metals.

Always preheat your mold as your mold will retain water with-in the surface pours of the steel. If you hear a popping sound as your pouring the mold, this is small steam explosions taking place because of moisture.

Always turn your concrete blocks with the inside holes facing up, or 90º from what"s in your pics. There very strong facing up and very weak on the side.

Alot of accidents happen on the 2nd or 3rd try as a person gets relaxed as the first time went so well. Be careful!

Hot molten metal is just like tar on the skin. You have to wait until it cools before you can remove the metal. If you try too remove the metal/tar while still hot and burning, you will smear the burn over a larger area. For safety, this is a two man job.

T_Bone

Thank you very much! I did actually preheat that mold. I set it on the fire for a few minutes before I poured. It wasn"t very evenly heated judging by the color of it, but it was usually dully glowing. Is that too hot?

I put a small dab of grease in every pot, then finished skimming off the junk. I will try to get some beeswax next time.

Also, I"m assuming the big pits were an indication of too much heat? Any tips for keeping it from overheating? I skimmed it just as soon as I could (all molten) and then poured it once I was done getting the dross (your word, technical term lol) off. But, I did all this over the fire, so it DID continue to heat I suppose.

Thanks for the tips, I appreciate it

Also, I forgot to say this. That mold wasn't exactly 100% tight. The hot lead would dribble out the ends, where the end caps were spot welded on. It would do this until enough cooled off outside the mold. That is the reason for the middle one (the worst one) having such jagged edges. The molten middle continued to drain out even when the outermost lead had solidified again. That may change some of the observation.

Thanks again

I don't understand why you want to add weight to the front of the tractor?

A lot depends on what tractor it is. A lot of the older fords where very bad about the front end being to light to lift up much on the 3 point so weight up front is needed badly

You DO realize, now that you've messed with molten lead, that all your children are likely to be born nekkid, don't you?

I thought the photo sequence was pretty informative.

Hi 1Dollar,

In the 3rd pic from the top and looking at the 3rd ingot face, you will notice the ends of the ingot are light color and approx the correct temperature where as the center of the ingot is dull indicating excessive heating for Pb.

When working metals, allot can be learned from just observing the color of the metal. A good example would be the Japanese sword makers that temper there swords at dawn in the rising sun will yield the best sword steel.

The grease is just fine for this type of ingot and use. However when making bullets then bees wax will yield a considerable even weight projectile vs other flux.

After you flux the first time and remove the waste dross, then flux again until a mirror surface is obtained then pour. This will yield the best results.

The reason you ingot edges are ragged is from the mold cooling to fast thus the Pb was sticking to the side of the mold as it cooled. This best can be seen while pouring bullets. You want too keep the mold at near melt temperature as this greatly improves both uniformity and weight consistency. I normally just put my mold into the melt pot before using or for reheating my mold.

The reason I'm using bullet making as a example is a projectile demands the most consistent accuracy so allot can be learned from the process and be applied to working other metals.

T_Bone

Last year, if I hit enough snow with the blade at an angle, it just pushed the front of the tractor sideways. But rear weight is necessary too! You can just barely see those suitcase weights hanging out back there in that picture, I use 4 or 5 at 70lbs. each on the back.

Looks like the Hiway Department donated several sign posts to the cause!