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View Full Version : Whats the largest WW you've melted?



4296
07-16-2005, 07:27 PM
Just got back from the local scrap metal yard with some wheel weights and in the buckets found a single weight about 6" long and the girth of a large cigar-marked 16 ounces! No telling the size of the rim this baby balanced! I need more of these and I'll be able to remove the steel clips with needle nose pliers! :grin:

Willbird
07-16-2005, 07:31 PM
That is a truck weight, I got a bucket of those once, and 16oz was the biggest I'v seen yet, next one I get I'm gonna keep for a trophy hehe

the tire stores buy them by the lb I think, the large ones must cost quite a bit.

Bill

Johnch
07-16-2005, 10:37 PM
I get WW from a semi tire place .
I have gotten some of the 16 oz but non biger

It is nice with the larger WW ,you get more lead compaired to the clips and junk.

Johnch

buck1
07-17-2005, 12:50 AM
16oz. !! heck thats a pound!! I got to find me some of those!!..........Buck

NVcurmudgeon
07-17-2005, 01:28 AM
On the way to one of the Winnemucca shoots, Hollerman and I stopped for lunch at Denny's in Auburn, CA. I had to stop for a light and saw a big weight in the middle of the street. I threw it in park, jumped out, grabbed an 8 oz. truck weight, and was back behind the wheel before the light changed. Hollerman was amazed!

Ricochet
07-30-2005, 04:09 PM
I melted down a soft lead weight that came out of a locomotive. It felt like about 75 lbs, but I didn't weigh it.

Ron
08-05-2005, 06:46 AM
I recently ran out of my store of ingots made from recovered range lead and as a result, decided to try my hand at casting with wheel weights. Went to a local tyre place and asked to buy some old ww's and was given a bucket full for free. Wouldn't have done it but I read here that you fellows do it all the time and with sucess, so nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I didn't want to melt all that metal junk off them in my lee electric pot to bought myself a castiron pot and stuck it on a single BBQ gas ring. Dumped about 4 pounds of ww into pot, lit gas and stood back. Two hours later I was still waiting for the lead to fully melt. It got to a sort of half melted state but wouldn't go to fully melted. Is this just a problem with not enough heat or am I missing something else.

Ron

Wayne Smith
08-05-2005, 07:03 AM
I don't know what the "BBQ gas ring" is, but my Coleman propane stove will melt a pot full of ww's in a half hour, I think. I've never really timed it, just read until they were melted and the clips needed to be scraped. That's from a cold pot, when the pot is hot with some melt in it it's almost instanteous. However, four pounds isn't much in my pot. I'm using the round bottom Lyman 20 lb pot.

Usually all I see is the clips floating on the melt, I don't even see the melt until I've got most of the clips out. I know it's melted when the clips bounce when I push on them. Seeing that nice electric blue sheen on them is a good sign, too!

wills
08-05-2005, 09:07 AM
" a single BBQ gas ring." whatever that is ought to melt four pounds in an hour. must be some impurities in your metal

carpetman
08-05-2005, 10:18 AM
Ron---4hours to melt 4 pounds on a BBQ ring????? You aussies must cook them roos very slow. You need more heat. Your idea to not use your casting furnace for rendering wheel weights is a very good idea. I dont know if Coleman stoves are available in your neck of the woods,if so,try one.

carpetman
08-05-2005, 10:37 AM
Largest wheel weight---that's easy. The wheel weights used on Waksupi's pick up are too big too melt. They use them for heat sinks on volcanoes to cool the volcano down. They used 1/32 the size of one of them as a ballast on the Titanic---it was way too big---and now you know the rest of the story.

wills
08-05-2005, 10:39 AM
Ron---4hours to melt 4 pounds on a BBQ ring????? You aussies must cook them roos very slow. You need more heat. Your idea to not use your casting furnace for rendering wheel weights is a very good idea. I dont know if Coleman stoves are available in your neck of the woods,if so,try one.

When I was a kid I thought Coleman stoves were made in Coleman.

Ron
08-07-2005, 04:05 AM
Thanks for the input folks. Don't knock it till youve tried it. Roo makes a terrific steak, especially if cooked on a Coleman stove :) using our local propane gas., yes we have colemans in Australia. Does that prove that we really are part of the world?
I think my problem was not enough protection for the flame under the pot. Must make a shield of some description and try again. By the way Roo is like deer and other game, tastes a bit strong and some people can't take to it. It is also has the reputation of being the lowest cholestorol content of any other meat and has very little fat. Some people won't eat it because it appears on our Australian Coat of Arms. I suppose they would if they were hungry.

Regards,

Ron

"FESTINA LENTE"

drinks
08-07-2005, 09:41 PM
Ron;
I use a Coleman gasoline stove, will not do with any wind, but will melt a 20 lb cast iron pot full in about 20-25 minutes if protected from any wind.
I use a 1x1x2" magnet clamped in visegrips to remove the clips, just scrape them off with the other hand with a welding glove.
Do not ever melt anything but cleaned ingots in your casting pot, a sure cinch way to get in trouble.
Don