Dirty WW

[SP101]

I have a couple hundred pounds of WWs, they are very dirty and muddy. What is the best way to clean them? How clean do they need to be for flux to work? Any other helpful information is welcome! Thanks in advance for your help.

[milkman]

I don't bother with cleaning ww. I just dump them in my melting pot and all the dirt floats to the top. After skimming I stir with a wooden stick for awhile to flux and they are ready for the ingot mould. mm

[mooman76]

If you do clean them with water that have to be absolutely dry, not even damp when you melt them or they will explode. They don't need to be clean at all, I've melted range scrape before with rocks and dirt. If you wash them down just let them dry a couple days at least! If you want to do it sooner melt as is.

[mto7464]

I cleaned some last night by filling a 5 gallon bucket about 1/3 full soaking over night. This morning I kicked the bucket several times to get it to tip and fall back down, this seemed to dislodge the mud. I then repeated this three times and they were fairly clean. I had a lot less crap to skim.
dried in the sun then smelted this afternoon.

[imashooter2]

How is that procedure less work than skimming off the additional dirt?

Wasted effort.

[MT Gianni]

I hate to keep giving away his secrets, but I bought some lead from Dan- Bullshop before he moved back to AK. The 5 gallon buckets were all deliberatly cracked or hit with a pick so you could have any water drain out. Wash them and store them under a roof for a month in our Montana climate and they are dry. Others may have different results but a cracked or holed bucket makes sure the garage you left it at to fill with weights doesn't use it for something else. In a humid climate you may not get away with it but it works great here. gianni.

[mto7464]

imashooter2 you're are right, haha. I never thought of it that way. I am new at this so still learning.

[Bullshop]

MT Gianni
Does this mean I have to name you as coauthor when the book comes out?
Just kidding bud. I am beginning to see how obzervant you were in our short visit. My secrets realy are not worth much as I dont think anyone else will be willing to work for the wage I get. I do it for love and money but heavy on the love.
BIC/BS

[Sundogg1911]

cleaning wheel weights is an excersize in futility. :-?
Toss'em in a cast iron dutch oven over a turkey fryer. The crud (grease, valve stems, etc.) actually will work as flux. It takes about 5 minutes longer in my experience, but trying to clean 'em first takes days! :roll:
I just melted down a five gallon bucket of WW's that I forgot I had. They were so bad the clips were all rusted together. they came out of the bucket in a few big chunks. I picked out the lug nuts, wheel studs, and the rest of the junk that I could easily pick out. then threw 'em in the pot and turend up the heat. filled a metal bucket with all of the clips and dross, but I got some nice ingots in no time :drinks:

[Lloyd Smale]

sundogs got it! They come with free flux!

[cast-n-blast]

Dump them in the back of the pick-up, no buckets, loose pile, and go to the car wash. Let dry a few days, re-bucket them.

[kodiak1]

Moisture and Molten lead scares the bejeezers out of this old man.
What's a new face selling for these day's?
I might be ugly but I sure don't need face full of 800F lead.
I'll keep skimming plus it's probably good exercise for me.
Ken.

[snowtigger]

If you start with a cold pot it doesn't matter if the pot is half full of water. It will boil off long before the WW melt.
Never add WW to a pot that is already melted, water can be trapped between the clip and the lead. THAT will cause an explosion!! Water expands 1700 times on it's way to becoming steam! You don't have to wait for the pot to cool completely, just long enough for any boolit metal left in there to "freeze" Again, any trapped water will boil off before it gets hot enough to explode.

[dagamore]

one thing you can do is put a layer of clean Kitty Litter on top, it will float, and since it is mostly clay, it will hold alot of heat, if you slowly add WW to the top, they will dry off long before they meld down/sink in to your pot.

but to be fully safe, dry all your ww before smelting, or always start with an empty pot.

[Cayoot]

It might be a waste of time, but I just feel better with them clean. I built a 24 inch x 48 inch frame. To this I attached (to the bottom) a single, full size piece of 1/4 inch hardware cloth. I then ran re-rod every 12 inches across (the 24 inch span) as support. This sits (out in the sun) on 6 cement blocks (placed one at each corner and one at the middle of each long side).

When I get a bucket of wheel weights, I just dump them in this frame, spread them out and pick out the cig. butts and other crap. Next I hose the entire bunch off for a couple minutes (with my garden hose and spray nozzel).

I then let them sit in the sun for a day or two and they are dry and reasonably clean. I pick up one end of the frame and pour the clean/dry WW out from the other end into a 5 gal bucket and pour them into a large bin that I use to store clean WWs. That way, when ever I want to make ingots, I just scoop out what I want from the bin.

The process takes me about 10 minutes of effort and I always feel much better about what I'm putting into my smelting pot.

Like I said, it maybe a waste of time, but I feel better about it.

[truckjohn]

1-giant advantage of getting most of the mud and dirt off 1st is that you are not loosing as much lead when you dross.

Think of it this way -- 1lb of dirt melted into the lead will pick up a bunch of free lead before you scoop it out. Now, you have to figure out where to store it as dross.... not to mention the 1lb of lead you lost too. (Volume wise, 1-lb of dirt is about 2-cups. 1-lb of lead is like 3-tablespoons.)

Get most of the dirt and rocks off 1st -- not even close to as much lead lost from your pot.

Drying them off -- an old junk oven works fine. Heat at 300F for 1/2 hour. Water is gone.

Best regards

John