flux

[dragonfire]

I plan on turning my ww's into ingots ,do i need to flux if i'm just making ingots? ,i have bar solder i plan on adding at a later date ,i'm new to this so any info is most helpful ,thanks.

[wiljen]

It is a good idea to flux as you smelt so as to remove as much **** as possible. I'd rather remove the stuff early when working in a dutch oven than wait and try and get it out of my casting pot. Anything carbon based will work. I've used waxes, transmission fluid, sawdust, and recently have been stirring my pot with a 1.5" diameter dowel. Commercial fluxes work fine too, they just tend to cost more than sawdust, wax, etc and don't necessarily do anything the homebrew varieties don't do just as well.

[dragonfire]

How much wax would you use to flux a 4 quart dutch oven?

[Bret4207]

Welcome to the clan Dragonfire. It's not a matter of how much flux is needed to do a certain amount of alloy, but rather how much will it take to clean the alloy you have. A really dirty batch will take a lot more than a really clean batch. Essentially you flux and stir and skim the **** off the top. Then you flux some more and keep going until the batch seems clean. Be advised, there will be a dull gray almost oatmealy type of stuff that floats to the top at first, once you're past the real dirt stage. Get the mix hot and try fluxing this back into the alloy. Stir with a wooden stick and keep stirring. A lot of this stuff is tin/antimony alloy and will remix. Some is dirt and dust and lead oxide. Fluxing a batch of WW into usable alloy will take 20-30 minutes more or less. It takes time to get the stuff hot enough to flux well and then time to get whatever will remix back into the alloy. You will probably find specks of black stuff that keep floating into the mix from someplace. I think a lot of that is rust from the cast iron pots we all love. Since I went to a stainless pot I get a lot less of that, at the cost os a little less efficient heat transfer, or so I'm told.

[dragonfire]

So i just need to take my time and eyeball it ,i have worked with the solder baths at work so it shouldnt be to hard for me ,we didnt have to flux those , the fluxing has got me kinda looped but it seems simple enough ,with a little practice and the help of good people on this forum i just might become a decent boolit caster yet,thanks

[Wayne Smith]

The few times I've done it the ww were so dirty with oil and grease that they were self-fluxing. One or two experiences will tell you all you need to know.

[Duckiller]

What Wayne said. Never clean wheel weights, the oil, grease ,etc is self fluxing. Never hurts to add a little sawdust to the mix and stir with a wooden dowel. Really clean ingots are a joy to cast with. Have never heard of anyone overfluxing. Enjoy and avoid the smoke and bad smells. Duckiller

[crowbeaner]

I use pure beeswax and flux the H*** out of the first melt and stir until the flames go out(watch your gloves). After that I flux when the tin scum floats enough to make getting a clean dipperful difficult. The flame from the flux actually raises the melt temp anyway; at least on the top. Type of flux varies by whim, and the beeswax doubles as a film lube for my SG slugs. If you have a heavy tin mix you'll have to flux more often depending on the casting temp. CB.