How do you clean wheel weight lead?

[BEN BODEY]

Who has figured out how to clean wheel weights before melting? I live in fear of the police showing up to investigate that smelly smoke. And we all know how that kind of situation can rapidly get unpleasant.

[Tom W.]

Let them look. And if that curious, let them touch....

[beanflip]

just tell them you are getting ready to barbeque!!

[docone31]

Hehehe. I know what you mean. Aside from picking the crud out before melting, have you considered inscense?
It does not really smell that much, and if anyone objects, you are not burning anything.
We got a neighbor who has a nose to the county line. He tattles on everyone, and everything. Seems like years ago, he got caught dumping a bunch of waste oil in a creek on a sanctuary. He been mad ever since.
Once it is melted, there is very little smell. Smelting, there is an odor although I do not find it real strong, unless a valve stem, or label gets hot. I would suspect a simple wash would wash off the tire crud to a large extent.
I melt mine on the range top. I installed a ventilation system directly over it. I shield the range top with lumber. Not on the burners, where the ingot mold goes, and the drip line from the pot.
Unless you are careless, I doubt the odor will travel far. When you pick the zinc, and steel weights out, toss the crud, drill an hole in the select bucket, and wash it down. Let it really dry before melting. Make sure of that.
Sounds like you are from a neighborhood like I am. They all know what I am doing, but they do not know what they are doing. I remodeled my house, and they called code every day I was out there. Code got sick of coming out and threatened them with arrest if they did it anymore.
What is the matter with people? We even got hassled over pine needles on our car last year. I just hadn't driven it yet that day. Sheesh.

[wolfspotter]

Unless you live close to some fussy neighbors there shouldn't be a problem. Years ago when I lived in an apartment complex, I'd take my casting equpiment with me camping and cast boolits over the camp fire.
:castmine:

[357maximum]

When/if the fuzz show up dance around like a native at the campfire. When they ask about it ... tell them you are trying to please the great goddess GALENA, then ask them if they are trying to mess with your religious rights and belief system They will likely say have a good day and leave....:mrgreen:

[Duckiller]

Don't clean your wheel weights. All that oily, greasey crud makes a good flux. Do remove valve stems ,candy bar wrappers and other assorted non-lead or oil related junk. If worried about neighbors wait til after dark when a good breeze is blowing then smelt. If they can't see the smoke it is hard for anyone to report you.

[randyrat]

You have to "cook" WWs on an evening when there is very little air currents or when smoke goes straight up. Then they won't bother anyone. Or de-grease them - very slow process

[RP]

my 2 cents flux with something that smells good walnut media is ok maybe even a sented candle but wood is alot better for smell then transmission fluild.

[uncle joe]

one suggestion like Duckiller you will want to look for anything like rubber in the batch. The last bucket someone gave me I dumped into the dutch oven and turned it on. wasn't long before I figured out that he had dumped some valve stems in with the junk. STUNK bad.
I vote if it'll burn up leave it in rake it off the top
have fun
JE

[xr650]

I sort all the junk out first.
I smell the paint burning more than any thing else. Don't know how you would get away from that.

[jhalcott]

Be care full doing the sorting! I've heard of guys finding NEEDLES in the bucket. I found the Mechanic's wallet once. He never even knew it was gone. I keep the WW's in a different bucket and use the ones with handles to swap out.

[Echo]

Thirty years ago I bought some stuff from a going-ouy-of-business gun store. Picked up a SAECO furnace, a 6-gang H&G 38 RN mold that had seen better days, and a 6x8x6 box full of solder snippets. I showed some rare good sense and went through the snippets - and found 8 small rifle primers! Seems old Chet had prepared a surprise...

[Dale53]

I smelt on my driveway. First, I put down a salvage sheet of 4x8 plywood. I just pour out a bucket of ww's on top of the plywood, gently sort through removing suspect ww's and crap. After smelting is over, I just shovel (small fireplace coal shovel) the junk in the trash. I then take the trash to the local "trash recycler" on "trash day".

It works well, takes VERY little time and is safe (no cuts from dirty razor blades).

Dale53

[Kraschenbirn]

I've got an 18"x18" wire mesh screen that I use for sifting out dirt and crap from range salvage. I dump about a quarter bucket of WWs on the screen and wet 'em down with "Simple Green" from a spray bottle. Let 'em sit for 5-10 minutes, rinse off with a garden hose, and leave them in the sun to dry (to keep the tinsel fairy away) before dumping them into my smelting pot. I've found this really helps to reduce smoke/funes during smelting.

Bill

[dragonrider]

I wear gloves and scoop them out by the handfull into the gas fired smelting pot, checking for junk and zink as I go. See no reason to clean them before smelting, they go in dirty at the top come out clean at the bottom.

[kir_kenix]

I like to wash all the dirt, mud, and blood (seriously, there was a pool of blood in the last bucket i scored) out down the large sink drain in my basement after I have pulled out all the junk. Then I leave a box fan on and let them dry out. Simple green seems to work pretty good for this, as Krashenbirn already said. I only have one pot at the moment, and I dont like junk getting into that pot.

I scrape out all the left over wax from the smelly candles that my wife likes to cover the odor as well. Seems to work very well for me.

[docone31]

Have you tried soaking them in gasoline?

[Sprue]

I throw mine into a 20# hot lead furnace and sort out the obvious junk then.

I don't know about your issues but if you cast ingots like these then it might be a little easier to understand your concerns LOL

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh266/spilihp_2007/lbigeadingots.jpg

[357maximum]

I just know that if a few people here had that stash....they would still seek out free lead sources[smilie=1:......we alls sick...idnit great?:-D

[rigmarol]

I sort using a hand scoop and mechanix rubber gloves (I hate "bakky shaws") and fill my cast iron dutch open to heaping overflowing. By the time I get smoke, It's rendered down so I can put the iron lid on it. That keeps a LOT of the smoke down.

I've thought of tossing handfulls of sawdust in to mix in a wood smell but haven't tried it yet.

What's worked best for me is to talk to my neighbors and tell them what I'm doing and to warn them when I'm smelting. If it's a bad day (they have a party or company planned that day) then I reschedule my smelting day and they appreciate it. I don't get any complaints so far.

Good luck, I hope you can work it out.

[Ed K]

If someone shows up complaining you could offer them a bucket of water to throw on the melt. Don't imagine that would ever happen again :evil:

[azrednek]

I got a visit apx 10 years ago from the police after smoking wheel weights. Seems somebody called and complained about the meth lab!! Before one cop left we struck up a deal for some 9MM and 38 reloads but he never came back.

[eli]

I keep a fan going to blow the smoke/odor away as I work on my carport. My wife has asthma and the smell does linger.

I also have a thick section of pressure treated wood that, together with a sheet of aluminum foil, I use as a cover to keep the heat in and smoke at a minimum. My electric hot-plate and steel pot usually stays in the range of 290 - 330ºc and takes a while to yield a pot of clean melt but then I can just scoop away the zinc, clips and even some rubber parts without trouble.

Since I found a live .32 round in a bucket of ww when I first started casting, I always hand-sort. Wednesday and yesterday I made about 120 plus of melt and a bunch of .44 stuff, from some old buckets of ww. After I found several single-edge razor-blades in one bucket, I slowed down my hand sorting to a more leisurely pace. I don't wear gloves when I sort and don't always feel when I cut myself, so I try to watch what I'm doing and trust I'll see a danger before it's too late.

[UweJ]

Hi
I place a 2nd burner(the one´s for roofing) so it fires into the pot once it starts to smoke. No fumes or smoke. Never had any hassle in my Neighborhood.