bdgackle
09-16-2008, 05:46 PM
I had about 120# of indoor range backstop material that I wanted to get the lead out of. I used a screen to sift through the material and get the big chunks of lead out, yielding about 60# of lead chunks and jackets clean enough to smelt.
I now have about 60# of material that consists mostly of lead powder, rubber powder, small lead chunks, and small rubber chunks. Based on the density of this (the material is only about 3 gallons in volume), I suspect that much of the remaining mass consists of lead.
I can't separate the lead with heat because the smoke and oder would be unacceptable -- I'm doing this on an apartment balcony. I need to find some way to get to the lead powder mechanically, which has led me to the brine solution. I've seen many posts on this board that suggest the use of a dense concentrated brine solution for the separation of lead from rubber backstop material.
Assuming I go this route, I will be left with a bucket of lead powder damp with brine. I can of course dry this out, but that leaves the salt.
My questions are:
1) Does anyone know of a good way to get the majority salt out of the resulting lead/salt powder?
2) Will the salt react chemically with the lead, either at room temperature or melt temperature and produce any sort of toxic compounds I should be concerned about?
3) Does a remaining trace of salt represent a threat to my barrel metal? How much salt can be left and still have the alloy be usable (since any method of rinsing won't be perfect)?
4) Finally, if an adequate method of separation cannot be found, any ideas on how to dispose of this material? Seems like a bad thing to put in the dumpster, for both environmental and economic reasons. Perhaps there is someone here who is able to handle the smoke and would be interested? I'd be happy to send out a sample, and if it turns out to be useful, I'd be willing to give it away for the cost of shipping.
I now have about 60# of material that consists mostly of lead powder, rubber powder, small lead chunks, and small rubber chunks. Based on the density of this (the material is only about 3 gallons in volume), I suspect that much of the remaining mass consists of lead.
I can't separate the lead with heat because the smoke and oder would be unacceptable -- I'm doing this on an apartment balcony. I need to find some way to get to the lead powder mechanically, which has led me to the brine solution. I've seen many posts on this board that suggest the use of a dense concentrated brine solution for the separation of lead from rubber backstop material.
Assuming I go this route, I will be left with a bucket of lead powder damp with brine. I can of course dry this out, but that leaves the salt.
My questions are:
1) Does anyone know of a good way to get the majority salt out of the resulting lead/salt powder?
2) Will the salt react chemically with the lead, either at room temperature or melt temperature and produce any sort of toxic compounds I should be concerned about?
3) Does a remaining trace of salt represent a threat to my barrel metal? How much salt can be left and still have the alloy be usable (since any method of rinsing won't be perfect)?
4) Finally, if an adequate method of separation cannot be found, any ideas on how to dispose of this material? Seems like a bad thing to put in the dumpster, for both environmental and economic reasons. Perhaps there is someone here who is able to handle the smoke and would be interested? I'd be happy to send out a sample, and if it turns out to be useful, I'd be willing to give it away for the cost of shipping.