Can you separate tin and antimony from range scrap?

[mallen]

Can you separate tin and antimony from range scrap?

[quilbilly]

Maybe but I doubt it. Leave it in and cut the proceeds with pure to get a softer alloy if that is what you want.

[mallen]

not sure what "cut the proceeds" means.

if i can separate the lead, then I could use the tin and antimony for special batches, and pure lead for most of what i make, which gets powder coated and doesnt need tin or antimony.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Not with the normal hobby caster techniques that we use.

[Yodogsandman]

I did it by mistake, I heated the range lead up too much during initial smelting. Don't know what the temperature was that it happened, maybe 800 degrees. It showed as a metal oatmeal-looking pudding on top of the melt. I really thought it was zinc. The guys here on the site have convinced me that it's tin and antimony separated from the lead by overheating. Skim it off and save for later.

I cast some boolits from what was left and a week later, could scratch them deeply with my thumbnail. I threw them back in the bucket and didn't use them. I'll try to get the tin and antimony to melt back into the lead next time I fire up the pot.

[btroj]

I agree with Jon. Smelters have the ability to do things we really can't do, or at least not safely.

What is wrong with range scrap as is? In many cases it is about ideal, or at least it is for me.

[mallen]

I have experienced that, and wanted to ask about it.

i try to flux before the pot gets hot enough to light the wax on fire. not sure if that is a good idea, but lately iv noticed a lot of silver sludging to the top and mixing in with the dirt and such, i skim it off and put it with the rest of the dross i have. not sure what it is coming up. its not a lot.

[mallen]

I agree with Jon. Smelters have the ability to do things we really can't do, or at least not safely.

What is wrong with range scrap as is? In many cases it is about ideal, or at least it is for me.

nothing wrong with it persay, i just don't need the hardness since im powder coating, so if i can recover the tin and antimony and use it in batches that arnt going to be powder coated, its like free tin/antimony.

[Quiettime]

I did it by mistake, I heated the range lead up too much during initial smelting. Don't know what the temperature was that it happened, maybe 800 degrees. It showed as a metal oatmeal-looking pudding on top of the melt. I really thought it was zinc. The guys here on the site have convinced me that it's tin and antimony separated from the lead by overheating.

It probably was antimony, but you probably didn't have it hot enough. It goes through a slush stage where it does that, maybe <600 but once you reach the liquidus of the alloy it all goes together again.

Get a thermometer. Some work without it but to me it's like not having a tachometer in your truck. I want to know what rpm, not just what it sounds like.

[Yodogsandman]

I'm going the PID route for about the same $$ as a thermometer, pretty lights too.

I suspected my old pot, new one's on the way. But, no problems with COWW, just that batch of range scrap.

[Shiloh]

Can you separate tin and antimony from range scrap?

Not without smelting and refining it.

Shiloh