flux question

[russ1986]

I am very new to casting.I had a problem the first time I went to pour my bullets. I went to add my flux lyman alox bulletlube which says it can be used as a flux when i added this it caught on fire while in my smelter. I added the flux once all the lead was melted down. What did I do wrong,or can this item not be used as a flux?

[jcren]

Relax, it's all good. Wax/parifin fluxes will burn off if the temp is a little on the high side, for the guys that cast cooler, they usually ignite the smoke. The combustion of the flux removes oxides from the surface and improves the blend of the lead. Congrats on a first step and rest assured that it is harder to seriously screw up than you think!

[JWFilips]

Wax and in your case Alox( soap) will catch fire at lead melt temps This is normal. These are "reductants" not really fluxes. If your alloy is clean a reducatant is all that is needed. If you have dirty alloy you would be best to smelt & flux ( pine sawdust is king) until you get clean ingots then use these ingots in your casting pot ( then you can use reductants to get a homogeneous mix)
If you are in luck the "Great ones here" will chime in....Good Luck
Jim

[badbob454]

old candles and sawdust both work too i have used a chipper pile for flux before , i think it is the carbon leftover and the crud on top you mix and remove ,... if you remove a lot of metal , save it and re melt it all later ,when you have a good pile of the scrapings ..., usually the crape off the top contains little metal if it is hot enough , but not too hot , this is where the flames are good ..., candle wax is my favorite for this , it ignites and melts the dirty metal on top and drops it back into the bottom melt....

[leeggen]

Read some of the past postings about fluxing of lead. Do a search and read chpt. 4 in the writtings called From ingot to target, this will answer all your quetions on the subject.
Welcome to the addiction.
CD

[bangerjim]

Welcome to the fun! Wax will burn! I have never used Alox for flux....too costly.

Fluxing with pine sawdust 3X works for me and MANY on here in the re-melt pot. I add a piece of paraffin wax the last time to reduce also.

In my casting pots, I use only beeswax as it reduces the clean (should be, you made the ingots!!!) Sn back into your mix, has a lower flash point than plain old wax, and smells great. Sawdust in my bottom pours generally finds it's way down into the spigot, so I do not use it any more.

Lots of good info on stuff listed for fluxng! Read up.

banger

[russ1986]

thanks for the info I wasn't really sure where to look this question up so thank you for all the input everyone

[cbrick]

Relax, it's all good. Wax/parifin fluxes will burn off if the temp is a little on the high side, for the guys that cast cooler, they usually ignite the smoke. The combustion of the flux removes oxides from the surface and improves the blend of the lead. Congrats on a first step and rest assured that it is harder to seriously screw up than you think!

Uh no not really, if the lead is hot enough to be molten it is plenty hot enough to ignite wax. Combustion of any fluxing doesn't "remove" oxides. It removes (uses) oxygen from the surface and it is the oxygen that causes oxidation.


old candles and sawdust both work too i have used a chipper pile for flux before , i think it is the carbon leftover and the crud on top you mix and remove ,... if you remove a lot of metal , save it and re melt it all later ,when you have a good pile of the scrapings ..., usually the crape off the top contains little metal if it is hot enough , but not too hot , this is where the flames are good ..., candle wax is my favorite for this , it ignites and melts the dirty metal on top and drops it back into the bottom melt....

No, that is not an accurate description of fluxing or reducing.


thanks for the info I wasn't really sure where to look this question up so thank you for all the input everyone

Welcome to CastBoolits russ1986,

Here is an accurate description of fluxing, reducing and what, why and how to go about it. Extremely well written in simple easy to understand language that gives the scientific explanation without needing to be a metallurgist.

From Ingot to Target (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf) By Glen E. Fryxell

Chapter 4 is on fluxing. I highly recommend the entire book, download it and print it out, it is a valuable resource for all bullet casters.

Rick