Antomony in Dross

[moon]

We cast a lot of sinkers today. Skimmig lead pot I think brings out antomony from the melt. I have pile of dross ,how do you re-melt and work the antomony in to the mixture?? Thanks

[John Boy]

Skimmig lead pot I think brings out antomony from the melt. I have pile of dross ,how do you re-melt and work the antomony in to the mixture??

Antimony has a melting point of 1,167°F. In addition, an alloy with base metals does not separate

So, throw the whole 'antimony dross' and melt back into the pot and raise the pot temperature to about 700°F and stir vigorously. Your dross should be nothing but gray colored ash

[felix]

In addition, an alloy with base metals does not separate.

John, that is true at the same temperature and pressure, constantly mixed, and then dropped into a mold uniformly. That's why PIDs work as well as they do. Different elements have different affinities amongst themselves, and there is no guarantee they are ALL in proper portion to make a uniform composite amongst ALL the elements therein. Yeah, things like Lino work well without a PID because they are a genuine solution and stay thataway from start to finish. ... felix

[44man]

Antimony has a melting point of 1,167°F. In addition, an alloy with base metals does not separate

So, throw the whole 'antimony dross' and melt back into the pot and raise the pot temperature to about 700°F and stir vigorously. Your dross should be nothing but gray colored ash
Antimony does have a high melting temp itself but it will melt into lead at 600* with the right flux.
It is why you can cast an alloy with tin and antimony at lower temps then pure lead.
A proper alloy will not separate and all that should form on the surface is oxidation.
The thing is, we don't know what is in the dross.
Zinc tends to float at the point the alloy just melts and flux will alloy the junk in.
The bond between antimony, tin and lead is not broken easily if in the right proportions.
A total lack of tin might have antimony rise.