I was given some wheelweights and was told that they needed to be cleaned before I melted them down, how clean do they need to be, they are a bunch of stickies annd clips and what can I use besides Dawn which I have already done?
You can give em a rinse to get rid of any large amount of dirt but usually they're not too bad. Flux and stir well and you'll be fine! Just watch out for zinc wheelweights.
The only possible reason I can see for "cleaning them first" is because they pick up rubber dust, from tire/road contact. As you melt them the rubber dust burns and stinks. Amazingly, it smells like burning rubber.
I never let that bother me. I'd just throw 'em in the pot and let 'em melt down. Dirt, clips and anything else floats to the surface.
Yeah, what aa1911 said. Just melt them down, they will clean themselves when they melt. Skim the crap off the top. Please wait until they are COMPLETELY dry before you drop them into the pot of molten lead. Don't ask me how I know that!!!!!!
When you say clips, are you talking about the "old fashioned" weights that you have to hammer on? If so, you don't really need to clean them, the clips are part of the sludge that floats to the top and is thrown away.
I'm with Alpo, I don't clean mine, I just dump em in the pot, one at a time. Please, all head what George posted. Make real sure that no water of any amount gets into the lead pot when the lead is melted.
I just put wheel weights or scrap lead straight into the kettle, dirt, oil, steel clips, copper jackets and all, whatever ain't lead burns up or floats to the top, I don't worry about the stink of burning oil or rubber, I do it out side, but not when it's raining...............
When melting lead be sure to have good ventilation. In garage with big door open is OK. Outside is better. In the house is not good. The vapors can be toxic over time.
The old wheel weights are about 95 percent lead and 5 percent animony. Very good for casting bullets. The new ones are Zinc. You can not use them.
I add 10 percent tin to my wheel weights. Tin really helps in the castability of the alloy and makes for a nicer looking finished product.
I use zinc chloride salts for my flux. Saved plenty from my days owning a radiator shop.
The last time I got hold of any "lead" it was actually linotype, melted down into ingots. That stuff is perfect for making bullets. I usually use a mixture of two to one of wheel weight ingots to linotype ingots.
About that water, I've got a scar right above my left eye, under the eyebrow, from bending over a pot of molten lead. A drop of sweat plopped into the pot and a small "explosion" happened. If I did not wear glasses, I would probably be blind in my left eye now.
One time I dropped in the pot a bunch of plastic coated Tarpon weights. Apparently there was water under the plastic coating. I had an amazing splatter pattern. Lucky for me none got on me except for my shirt which is now air conditioned. (holes)
On the Cast Boolits web-site, a lot of the posts say to flux the melted alloy with pine sawdust and bee's wax. When I melt wheel weights, I pick the clips out with needle nose pliers and discard, I haven't tried the sawdust yet and only use bee's wax.
I save any "birthday" candles from my kids cakes and now my grand kid's cakes and I use that for flux. I read about the sawdust in a thread here a month or so back. I had not heard of that until then!!
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