Can you use solder for lead casting?

[Mach_Cat]

I have a bunch of solder. Many lbs. Can the rosin core solder be used for casting? will the rosin core burn off?
What is the typical mixture of solder as far as hardness would go? Is there any solder that should not be used.
I also have some solid wire that is labels 1/2 and 1/2. is this 1/2 lead, 1/2 tin?


Thanks Ed

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

you only need 2% or less tin in your boolit alloy.
Tin is expensive, so save your solder.

I've smelted rosin core solder, to eliminate the rosin flux, then poured the solder into ingots for future use in blending specific boolit alloys. Do this outside and have lots of dry saw dust. The Rosin will be liquidus on top of the molten metal and will smoke, the saw dust will absorb the flux and help to burn it off.

[mikeym1a]

I presume the '1/2 1/2' refers to 50%tin-50%lead, referred to as 50/50. The Lyman #3 manual says to mix 1lb of 50/50 to 10lbs of COWW for a number 2 equivalent alloy. I've a bunch of it I've gotten from place to place. I melted down a 5lb roll once, won't do it again. Made a real mess in the pot. Next time I do it, I'll use about 12 - 13lb of WW, and a pound of the rosin core, and get my #2 equivalent and use the rosin as the flux to clean the alloy all at one time. Hope this helps. mikey

[Hardcast416taylor]

"Liquidus"? After being a plumber for over 35 years I thought I`d heard all the terms that apply to the liquid state. But I kinda like the ring it has?Robert

[milkman]

Yes rosin core solder can be used to cast boolits, however...... it would be much more economical to sell the solder or trade the solder for alloy. The tin in the solder is very expensive to buy, lead not so much so.

[gray wolf]

"Liquidus" It's the UP-id-e way of saying:
WOW man, like it's all melted.

[Smoke4320]

"Liquidus" It's the UP-id-e way of saying:
WOW man, like it's all melted.
correction ... like wow man, like it's all melted, you know man

[bangerjim]

"Liquidus" It's the UP-id-e way of saying:
WOW man, like it's all melted.


It is not "up-id-e"......it is scientific! It means more than "just melted". Check out an encyclopedia or Wikipedia.

banger

[bangerjim]

Use your solder to alloy with pure and some COWW alloy. Sn is very expensive and lowers the surface tension of molten lead to allow it to flow in the the nooks and crannies of your mold better.....better fill-out! You need 1-2%.....that is all. It is NOT used to impart hardness to your mix. That is what Sb (from the COWW's or hardball) is used for.

Conserve you solder, get some lead!


Download the spreadsheet on here for alloy calculations......will give you some help.

bangerjim

[theperfessor]

Perfectly acceptable technical term. On a "phase diagram" it is used to distinguish the melting point temperature at which a specific alloy composition (example, 60% Pb, 40% Sn) turns completely into a liquid. Any point above this temperature is the liquidus zone. "Solidus" refers to the area on the diagram where all the material is a solid. In some alloys a slush zone or mixed phase zone can exist at certain temperatures where part of the material is solid and part is liquid.

Imagine salt water vs fresh water. Pure water only has one type of molecule in it and so it has a single melting/freezing point at any pressure. Salt water is a solution (solutions in metals are usually called alloys) so at certain temperatures below 32F you can have both frozen water (which squeezes out some of the salt molecules) and a liquid salt-rich brine. As the temperature continues to drop more water freezes and the volume of brine is reduced but the salinity goes up until a minimum temperature is reached and the whole thing freezes. (Natural and man-added salt is why the water in the gutters turn to slush in the winter.)

Lead and tin or lead and antimony are solutions, just like water and salt.

[rollmyown]

If it was mine, I'd sell it or swap it for 50/50 stick solder. No fluxing issues and easy to alloy with.