Are these INGOTS okay?

[MO Fugga]

I did my first smelting yesterday, and had some concerns. I set my pot (Lee 4-20) to 680*F, and ran off the rest of the clean lead I had. In the following pictures, they are the 3 ingots on the left. I then began smelting mixed weights, sorting out the steel and what appeared to be zinc. They do look different, kind of frosty. They were poured slow, so that may affect their appearance. The really ugly one was before I started keeping the pot almost half-full before adding more, and the spout got stuck. I did find some weights skimmed off that were steel and a few zinc, as a magnet didn't stick to them. Just hard to believe that out of 30#, I only had a few zinc.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz13/MO_FUGGAZ/20140719_102512.jpg?t=1405783619

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz13/MO_FUGGAZ/20140719_102436.jpg?t=1405783593

[IraqVet1982]

Did you use a thermometer or just rely on the pots indicator?

[MO Fugga]

I saw a few pics of ingots ruined by zinc, and there are no brown/orange stains or any foreign-looking objects in them. I used my PID to control the temp, and can't imagine it being 100* off. I need a thermometer.

[MO Fugga]

I was hoping to get them all cast today, but not if they're ruined. Is there a reliable way to test them without wasting time? Thanks. I should add that I used a 4x2 muffin pan, and 2 of the molds were sprayed with graphite release a few years ago. Those would be the ones with the pitted appearance.

[s mac]

Look ok , just inconsistent temp. Cast away. Your not smelting in you casting pot are you?

[MO Fugga]

Look ok , just inconsistent temp. Cast away. Your not smelting in you casting pot are you?
I did. No other choice. It's a new pot, only 700 boolits poured through, and then all this. Looks pretty clean.

ETA: I did flux with gulf wax on a full pot, as well as before and after adding more weights.

[500MAG]

They look fine to me

[jayjay1]

Sure they are good, they are just ingots, so.

[C. Latch]

I smelt in my casting pot, too. I don't have two pots - I'd like to, but it's just not a priority right now. Your ingots look fine to me.

[bangerjim]

I did. No other choice. It's a new pot, only 700 boolits poured through, and then all this. Looks pretty clean.

ETA: I did flux with gulf wax on a full pot, as well as before and after adding more weights.


The pot may HAVE been clean, but no you have possibly messed it up by melting dirty WW's in it. It is highly NOT recommended to use your casting pot to melt garbage in. Buy a turkey fryer and a CI dutch oven!

Although I am not a psychic, your ingots look OK from the pictures If you are worried, drip some HCl acid (pool acid) on it and check thru a high power magnifier to see if there is any reaction. HCl will react with Zn.....the more Zn the better the reaction. Pure Pb/Sn/Sb will do nothing. A bit of Zn does NOT "ruin the whole pot"!!!!!!! If you have a bit of Zn, just add more Sn when you cast. Also your boolits will be a tiny bit lighter due to the % of Zn.. I have tested up to 5% Zn and had no problems......just add Sn to decrease the surface tension.

Do NOT throw out your ingots! Send them to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If Zn really bothers you, search on here for removing it with sulfur or copper sulfate. Those will leave you Zn free......and Sn and Sb free also. Get sulfur at plant stores and sulfate at Lowe's in the plumbing department as sewer root killer. (for those of you with swimming pools, it also is a very inexpensive algae killer!. Same chemical as commercial algae treatment.)

bangerjim

[fishnbob]

I started out smelting in my Lee pot and it didn't take long to realize how handy it was to have a dedicated pot for smelting and fluxing wheel weights and other trashy, dirty lead. I bought a fish fryer on sale at Bass Pro for $29 and a stainless pot at Big Lots for $10. I haven't had to stop casting boolits or crappie jigheads to clean out the Lee or the spout since. Time is money!

[Zymurgy50]

To test for zinc put a drop or two of hydrochloric acid on the ingot. If it bubbles it indicates the presence of zinc, no bubbles is good to go...

[bangerjim]

That's exactly what I just said in #10. Muratic/hydrochloric/
HCl/ pool acid.........all the same thing.

It take a considerable amount of Zn contamination to "bubble". That why it is best to oboserve the reaction under a magnifying glass. There will be a very mild reaction with about 5-7% Zn. Pure Zn will "bubble" violently, but not a weak alloy with lead. Watch for darkening and tiny bubbles forming after about a minute. That would indicate Zn contamination. Remove as stated in #10.

Good luck with your ingots.

banger

[leeggen]

If you think they are contam, by zinc just put a drop of muratic acid on each and see. If it bubbles quickly then zinc is present, if it doesn't you are good to go. Quick and simple test.
CD

[MO Fugga]

Well, all is good fellas. Poured off over 400, and no issues, other than tripping the breaker and getting a few finned. Used almost pure lead before, and these came out so much better. Only had to reject a few. Almost no wrinkles in any of them, and 95% fell in the weight range I wanted 182.0- 186.0 grains. Viva la Tin!

[lightman]

Your ingots look fine. As you gain more experience, they will look even better. I'm with the others, find something else to smelt in besides your casting pot, whenever you can. The trash is not friendly to a bottom pour pot.

[kryogen]

Your ingots are fine they look cratered because you used a new nonstick coated mold that gassed when you poured lead in it. After a few ingots the nonstick is burned off and ingots are smooth. Same thing happened to me. Other option is to pre burn the coating with a torch on new molds

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I saw a few pics of ingots ruined by zinc, and there are no brown/orange stains or any foreign-looking objects in them. I used my PID to control the temp, and can't imagine it being 100* off. I need a thermometer.

Zinc contaminated COWW alloy has a higher liquidus temp, I needed to crankup the heat to get these Zinc contaminated ingots to pour as good as they did, but still look like there is oatmeal in there. Your ingots look fine for what they were poured into. if you want good looking ingots, get a ingot mold with some 'heft' to it and once it's up to temp (just like a boolit mold), you'll get perfect looking ingots.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?155778-my-first-Zinc-contamination-in-WW-smelting&highlight=

[dondiego]

My ingots look terrible but I don't shoot those. My bullets look great and shoot well.

[mdi]

Well, I'll take them ugly ducklings of yer hands! The main problem with smelting in your Lee pot is it's really easy to get a speck of trash in the needle valve and you'll either get the dreaded drip, or the orfice will get clogged...

[bangerjim]

Well, I'll take them ugly ducklings of yer hands! The main problem with smelting in your Lee pot is it's really easy to get a speck of trash in the needle valve and you'll either get the dreaded drip, or the orfice will get clogged...


Sorry.......I got 1st dibs on them (post #10)!!!!!!!!

HA.....ha!


banger

[MO Fugga]

Thanks for the help, guys. And I did clean the pot before pouring boolits. Took like 5 minutes .

[JohnH]

As ridiculous as this may sound to you, if you have a place to burn yard trash (limbs, leaves and such) get an iron pot, set it on a fire and Walla! Instant smelter:bigsmyl2: You can do this with charcoal in an urban setting. It would be expensive but for a short term, it would work just fine.

[Mk42gunner]

My ingots look terrible but I don't shoot those. My bullets look great and shoot well.

Mine too.

My driveway isn't level, so my ingots usually have a bit of tilt to them. It doesn't matter as long as the lead alloy is clean, they all melt the same in the casting pot.

Robert

[mdi]

Do yer boolits cast sideways/lop sided when yer inguts aren't leevel?

[Mk42gunner]

Ah ha, a new excuse for fliers -- "My ingots were tilted."

Na, I don't think it will catch on.

Robert

[Boyscout]

Dittos on the pitted ingots and non-stick pans. I get the same result when I use a shallow muffin pan for my ingots. I've been using it for over 3 years and still get that texture on occasion. I have 3 Lee, one Lyman and the muffin pan. I do a lot of small batches when I cast and it is helpful to have a variety of sizes to get the right ratios when I need to load up up my 20lb bottom pour Lee.

[trixter]

All of those ingots are really UGLY, please forward them to me and I will dispose of them for you. LOL

Really the first ones went into a cold mold, and that is why they look a little different. They all look very respectable. Good Job.

[plainsman456]

Looks good to me,Keep it up!

When done with the smelting just be sure to clean your pot real good and all will be well.

And nope i wouldn't want you to send me any because i have a few of my own that look like that or worse.:bigsmyl2:

[jonk]

I have gone through many hundreds of pounds of wheel weight lead. I usually just dump them all in a pot and crank up the heat to full on the turkey burner, with a lead thermometer in there. I cut the burner when the stuff is melting down to minimum and keep temp below the melting point of zinc, and call it done. Whatever doesn't melt is zinc or steel or something else useless to me.

Only once have I gotten ingots contaminated by zinc. Cut with 50% pure lead and a little tin, they made ok bullets, still had a bit more in the way of rejects than normal though.

[TXGunNut]

You just joined the ugly ingot club. No biggie as long as your boolits are purty. If you want to see some really ugly ingots check out my stash. [smilie=l:

[kryogen]

my ingots are all ugly, really, and uneven, and guess what, I don't care....