Testing Ingots For Hardness

[RUDY850]

What hardness tester would work best for checking the hardness on a ingot

Thanks Rudy

[Sundogg1911]

probably a cabin tree, but the Lee tester works well on the cheap

[fourarmed]

If you have some ingots of pure lead, you can do the job with a ball bearing and a caliper. Just put the ball between flat spots on the two ingots, and whack the top ingot with a hammer. Measure the diameter of the two impressions as precisely as possible. Divide the larger by the smaller, square the result, and multiply by 5 (the Brinnell hardness of lead).

[McLintock]

When I wanted to know the hardness of two different ingot batches I got off E-bay recently, I melted down one of each and poured 3-4 bullets and used my Seaco Hardness tester. If you're working with big chunks, make some smaller ingots first and then do the same. If you're doing much casting you probably need a Seaco Tester anyway. I"ve never used a Lee setup but the threads I've read about them indicate they're a little iffy in their results.
McLintock

[dromia]

Cabine tree is a great tester and works well on ingots, its what I use now.

I've tried the ballbearing method in the past and does work, my only problem is I'm never sure how pure my control lead was.

Great, cheap and simple for relative hardness though.

[dromia]

BTW welcome to these forums Rudy. :drinks:

[GLL]

Another Welocme !

I have several hardness testers and the Cabine Tree is in my opinion the easiest to use on ingots !

Jerry

http://www.castingstuff.com/

[RUDY850]

The Cabine Tree seems to be what I'm looking for

Thanks for the information and the welcome

[runfiverun]

if you just want an idea of the hardness.
take your staple-gun and shoot some known lead [pure] and lino.
measure how far they stick out from the ingot.
remember neatness counts here.
then you can guage what you are testing by shooting and measuring.....
use the bottom of your calipers to measure the staple height.