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Casting Finally Done....

1K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  carver 
#1 ·
Finally finished casting #300 of lead and 6 buckets of wheelweights into 2-2.5lb ingots...It's amazing how much crap and debris there is...I think I have a bucket filled with slag and metal crap,but it's done.Now to wait until winter to cast.Ordered a .45acp H/P mold,can't wait to see how they work.
 
#2 ·
I put my slag into 2, 5 gallon buckets, both about half full, it's easier to carry to the car! I cast 500 .44 caliber bullets, and 500 .45 caliber bullets the other day. I now have them all lubed, and ready to load.
 
#3 · (Edited)
I used to collect wheel weights and go through the act of cleaning the lead and dealing with the slag every couple of months. Now I have a life time supply of lead for shooting. Instead of looking down for wheel weights , look up at old building renovations. In my part of town old buildings use a lot of lead flashing around the chimneys and roof vents.
And a lot of lead in old plumping joints. The lead in the flashing always has solder joints (lead and tin) which gives the lead a near perfict hardness for making hard cast. The pure lead from the plumbing ,I use to soften the hard cast if need be.
I have enough lead to last a life time and I don't recall paying for any of it.

Forgot to mention the lead from plumbing joints , stinks like ten bears when you clean it .So please clean it outside if you know what I mean.
 
#5 ·
A few miles from my place is a hazardis material reclamation site. It belongs to the Rail Road. This is the site that they store diesel soaked ground , old paint and dangers chemical containers before recycling back into safe materials. I just gave them a call and they said yes.
 
#6 ·
I get my lead form the scrap yard, at a dollar a pound. The slag goes back, they pay me for it, and I get another 50 pounds of lead.
 
#8 ·
You have to watch what you get from the scrap yard though, the new wheel weights are lead free, by law! This junk will mess up a pot of lead in a hurry! To the scrap yard, wheel weights, is wheel weights!
 
#10 ·
This thread reminded me, I have two more plumb full, five gallon buckets of wheel weights to sort and smelt down. That's the part I hate. :(

And yes, it creates ALOT of junk slag.
 
#11 ·
I like setting up a saw horse table outside the man cave and smelt down,you can walk away and do other things knowing it will take at least 20min to get to temp,then flux,pour off into muffin tins,about 3/4 of pot,refill,etc,etc...Do yardwork and cast at same time.More satisfying than golf.
 
#13 ·
mikld

You have brought up a rather interesting point about losing good alloys (tin) and it going out with the slag. In using wheel weights there is all sorts of junk mixed . There is the metal clips , brake dust, and of course sand and who knows what else. As an end result you lose far more volume than one would normally expect.

In using lead flashing there are no metal clips or brake dust. What you have instead is sand. Lots and lots of sand. I am not sure were it comes from ,but its there. The tin loves to stick to the sand and the only two methods I have seen that will reclaim the tin is to keep the lead as hot as possible for an extended period of time. Or the use of flux and a substance that burns at a higher temperature such old bullet lube.
When every thing is good and hot (melted) , add the flux and the old bullet lube (any grease base will work) and give it a good stir. After a few seconds of stirring , throw in a couple of matches into the mix to start the flux/grease mixture burning . This dose two things. One- it burns off gasses like cyanide gas and other gasses. Two it helps the tin mix back into the lead.
The volume loss from start to finish is usually 20% to 30%.

If you have done every thing right ,your sand/slag will be a brown colour and you will have thrown away very little lead and tin.
 
#14 ·
When smelting (wheel weights, scrap lead, recovered bullets, and range lead), I flux, a lot, with sawdust, and I stir, keep the melt well mixed. When casting, I keep a wood stick, flux with sawdust once or twice, but stir often with the stick (rough sawn "shims"). This keeps my melt about as well mixed as possible but I "reclaim" the slag too. Even though a pot full of slag will normally only produce 1/2 to 1 pound of clean alloy, I do it when I'm not doing much else and I usually get a good bullet alloy (BHN 12-15).
 
#16 ·
I've looked into it. I like casting but it takes enough of my time, i'm not willing to dedecate more to powder coat them.
 
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#17 ·
Same thing here.
 
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