ingots

[quiknot]

being relatively new to casting....i see alot of you make ingots before you cast....

question is:...do most of you smelt the lead and make the ingots for future casting because it is easier then casting right out of the block with lead and tin...just think making the ingots, makes the smelting a secondary operation.....am i right or wrong?

making the ingots then makes it quickier to cast the bullets?

[Dale53]

The principle reason we "smelt" is to render dirty, stinkin', wheelweights to bright, shiny, metal that we want to put in our casting pots. We mostly smelt outside where the burning rubber, grease, tobacco chaws, and only God knows what else inhabits our Wheel Weight containers can be carried away by the wind:mrgreen: . Then we can, in comfort in our snug little casting huts (basement, garage, or in my case, my utility barn with dedicated, heated and cooled, casting area) without breathing noxious fumes or passing out:mrgreen: :castmine:

Putting dirty metal in a nice bottom pour pot is an invitation to dripping and clogging bottom draw valve, also. Wheelweights smelted in nice ingots also store in a much smaller space after all of the crap including but not limited to steel clips are removed. Yes, most of us use more wheelweights and recycled metals as opposed to clean metals from a refinery (its the cost, you know[smilie=1:).

Dale53

[wills]

Some good introductory discussions.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6774

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6520

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6203

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6108

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=6059

[mike in co]

ALSO IT allows you to alloy....add a little something.... i do 100-120 lbs ww with about 5 lbs of dental lead.......all i know is the mix works well. i also have some lino/ww mix and some pure lead. all are marked. i typically use muffin tins that produce "rounds" which are about 1.1 lbs each....easy to mix an alloy from. preheat on top of the pot to minimize temp drop when adding to the pot.

[Leftoverdj]

As has been mentioned, most of us start with absolute crap we don't want in our homes or our casting pots. Dale got most of it, but missed the most noxious of the lot, used toilet seals.

Besides being nasty, a lot of this stuff is of unknown content. Smelt it all together, and you still don't really know what is in it, but you do know that it is the same from bar to bar. Your alloy does not change everytime you top up the pot.

[quiknot]

so...if i were to sum up the ingot portion of smelting...it would be to purify the lead to make it castable...am i correct?

[454PB]

Yes, and it also allows you to create an ingot size that fits your needs. Some of us are smelting very large chunks of lead. Some of mine weighed 50 pounds.