Not zinc?

[Tatume]

Hi Folks,

Yesterday I got a couple of buckets of wheel weights, and today I was melting them and casting ingots. There were a lot that felt heavy, but didn't look like lead, so I was throwing them into the zinc bucket. They appear to be painted with a silver-grey paint. The more I worked, the more suspicious I became that I was wasting good lead. Finally, I got out my pocket knife and cut a sliver off one of the weights. It curled off as if I was cutting a bar of soap. I threw that one in the pot and it melted very quickly, but not quite as quickly as the lead weight I threw in with it. I think the paint insulated the weight for a few seconds.

My question is this: are those weights lead or zinc?

Thanks, Tom

[birddog1148]

I squeeze all mine with the wire cutter portion of a pair of pliers. If they squish, I melt em, if not, in the bad bucket. But I have just started casting myself.

[williamwaco]

A lot of them are painted with that grey paint. They are fine.

Drop them on a concrete slab so they hit on their end, not on the clip.
If they "thunk" they are good.
If they "ping" they are not.

[jeepyj]

I squeeze all mine with the wire cutter portion of a pair of pliers. If they squish, I melt em, if not, in the bad bucket. But I have just started casting myself.
I use this method (wire cutters) for my sorting if it will penetrate it generally lead. I clip a magnet to the side of my bucket to to test for the steel ones and the rest go into the zinc bucket
Jeepyj

[mikeym1a]

You should have a lead thermometer. You should run your pot at about 600 degrees for smelting WW's. Zinc melts at 787degrees F. So, if you have your temp set at around 600 - 650, any zinc that makes it into the pot will float on top. I was smelting some WW's this afternoon, and the pot looked a little strange, but when I checked the temp, it was around 625, and toward the end, I did have a couple of floaters. The were not marked zn, but, they did not melt with the rest of the lead alloy weights, so I am presuming that they are zinc. :D

[Der SchizKoph]

I got some of those painted ones from a car dealership and sat on them for almost two years cuz they looked like the zinc weights i have gotten. Finally put some linemans pliers on them and realized I had twenty somethin pounds of coww I didn't expect. Happy days.

[BNE]

I'm relatively new also, but the plier method mentioned above works well for me so far. I "Calibrate" my hand with known Zinc weight. Zinc is so hard, I am hardly even able to make a dent. Lead will squish or bend. I have NOT been able to tell a big defference when I cut a slice off.

The grey paint can be pretty tough. I have swished one end of a long weight into the melt and the lead melted out, but the paint held on for a while!

[mikeym1a]

I'm relatively new also, but the plier method mentioned above works well for me so far. I "Calibrate" my hand with known Zinc weight. Zinc is so hard, I am hardly even able to make a dent. Lead will squish or bend. I have NOT been able to tell a big defference when I cut a slice off.

The grey paint can be pretty tough. I have swished one end of a long weight into the melt and the lead melted out, but the paint held on for a while!

Yeah, the paint is tough. It insulates the lead alloy inside, and it takes almost twice as long for one of them to melt as a bare WW. I know about what temp my pot is from the settings, but, I always check with a thermometer to be sure.

[Bzcraig]

Finally, I got out my pocket knife and cut a sliver off one of the weights. It curled off as if I was cutting a bar of soap.

That being the case, it wasn't zinc or iron!

[Down South]

I never try to sort Zinc out. I do sort out as much stick on WW that I see. I watch my temps and scoop the Zinc off the top with the clips. If you watch your temperature close, Zinc won't be a problem.
if you keep the temperature below the melt point of Zinc and just above the melt point of your COWW, it will work. I have cleaned more than two tons of WW's this way finding many Zinc and steel WW's in the clips that I've scooped off.

[lwknight]

Sometimes you get lucky. Stick on WWs could even be recycled berm ore with tin and antimony in it.
Maybe that's why they melted easier?

[MarkP]

I never try to sort Zinc out. I do sort out as much stick on WW that I see. I watch my temps and scoop the Zinc off the top with the clips. If you watch your temperature close, Zinc won't be a problem.
if you keep the temperature below the melt point of Zinc and just above the melt point of your COWW, it will work. I have cleaned more than two tons of WW's this way finding many Zinc and steel WW's in the clips that I've scooped off.

I do the same watch temp and time in pot: I try to leave 2" of molten Pb in my pot and put a few handfuls of raw WW in put lid on and wait 3 to 5 minutes stir and skim out clips repeat, then pour some Pb off into angle iron molds. Always checking temp and making certain it is does not get above 600 ish.

FYI - at work we maintain are galvanizing kettles at 840 F and it is molten.