Crud in melter after first casting

[RugerSP101]

I cast about 200 bullets today. The melter was one about 1 hour total.
This crud seems to have built up already.
It was floating around on the lead but any that got on the melter surface is sticking like epoxy or something.
Am I doing something wrong ?
http://pix.web77.org/albums/userpics/10001/DSCF3909.JPG

[mold maker]

What are you using for flux? What you have left in the pot is not a part of the lead alloy you melted.
My first guess is residue from a flux like Marvelux. I've got 3 jars of the stuff left that will never be put in my pot again.
The best flux is free. Saw dust, candle butts, even used motor oil, will work, just do it outdoors, and light the smoke by tossing in a kitchen match.
Your gonna have to clean that crap out of your pot or it will cause real trouble. Depending on its source, you can desolve, wire brush, or burn it loose.

[snaggdit]

In your other post you mentioned some store bought cast boolits. Is that what you melted down? The residue might be from the lube if that is the case. As mentioned, you can use a variety of free stuff as flux. I was told to try charcoal for a fluxing issue I was having with monotype and it worked well. Now I use it for all my casting as well. I just take some mostly burned wood from my fireplace and crush it with a hammer. I use this as flux and leave it in the pot to stop oxidation from forming. If I cast until the pot is empty, I will scoop off the ash residue a half an inch before it is empty to avoid clogging my bottom pour, otherwise I just leave it in for the next casting session and add more along with the additional lead. Try scraping the crud out with a putty knife. Any that doesn't come off easy, try a wire brush or sandpaper. Last resort, get the pot hot and see if it loosens that way. Carefull not to burn your hand! A little crud stuck to the sides is normal, so don't get too crazy. It will never look like it did new...

[RugerSP101]

What are you using for flux? What you have left in the pot is not a part of the lead alloy you melted.
My first guess is residue from a flux like Marvelux. I've got 3 jars of the stuff left that will never be put in my pot again.
The best flux is free. Saw dust, candle butts, even used motor oil, will work, just do it outdoors, and light the smoke by tossing in a kitchen match.
Your gonna have to clean that crap out of your pot or it will cause real trouble. Depending on its source, you can desolve, wire brush, or burn it loose.
I used a very small amount of a beeswax/candlewax mix that I saw someone suggesting elsewhere :)
It shouldnt have been enough to do all that. I mean it was about the size of a pencil eraser that I used

[RugerSP101]

In your other post you mentioned some store bought cast boolits. Is that what you melted down? The residue might be from the lube if that is the case. Nope. Those are copper plated and I use those for reloading already.

I bought 50 lbs of pure lead from an ebay seller that pretty much only sells lead throughout a lot of Ohio to about 170 different companies, so Im pretty sure his stuff was clean.

I did have 9 ingots of lead I got from a gunstore that I just started going to that I cant be sure wasnt wheelweights or something.
I think the pot was actually pretty clean until I added more to it and it may have been the stuff I got from the gunstore. Ill be more observant next time for sure.
http://pix.web77.org/albums/userpics/10001/DSCF3883.JPG



As mentioned, you can use a variety of free stuff as flux. I was told to try charcoal for a fluxing issue I was having with monotype and it worked well. Now I use it for all my casting as well. I just take some mostly burned wood from my fireplace and crush it with a hammer. I use this as flux and leave it in the pot to stop oxidation from forming. If I cast until the pot is empty, I will scoop off the ash residue a half an inch before it is empty to avoid clogging my bottom pour, otherwise I just leave it in for the next casting session and add more along with the additional lead. Try scraping the crud out with a putty knife. Any that doesn't come off easy, try a wire brush or sandpaper. Last resort, get the pot hot and see if it loosens that way. Carefull not to burn your hand! A little crud stuck to the sides is normal, so don't get too crazy. It will never look like it did new...
Thanks for the help :)
Id go out and heat it up now but I had to shut down pretty quickly earlier because i have to do this outside and I saw that rain was coming in.
It says rain up till weds here so Im going to have to figure out if I can use someones garage tomorrow or something.

The stuff was floating on top of the molten lead but I couldnt get to all of it because of the bar there in the pot.

[RugerSP101]

I have a question.
Ive read somewhere that having things too hot can cause that lead oxide problem...is that the case ?

I do remember having the temp on the highest setting for a bit when I think that could ahve happened.
I had started it on about 60% and it was doing fine but someone suggested starting at full power and then dropping it back after the lead melts. I may not have turned it down soon enough if thats the case.

If thats it Im going to just stick to starting at 60% power like I preferred doing to begin with.

Thanks again...

[Slow Elk 45/70]

That is some ugly stuff, I would take some clean lead and melt it , at a higher temperature and scrape the grunge off the sidewalls, skim it throw/ it away.

Then I would give the pot a through cleaning, with some abrasive[mild] if necessary, to make sure I got it all out. Be sure to get all of the abrasive out of the pot before using again
I hope you figure out where it came from so you don't repeat this process again.
Good luck

[arcticbreeze]

I have had that but not to that degree and not that fast. I think it is just carbon residue from flux and other impurities. Do you Scape your pot bottom and sides when fluxing. If you do that stuff should of floated to the top and easily skimmed off.

[RugerSP101]

I have had that but not to that degree and not that fast. I think it is just carbon residue from flux and other impurities. Do you Scape your pot bottom and sides when fluxing. If you do that stuff should of floated to the top and easily skimmed off.
This was the first day out and I only ended up being out a short time so I only got to flux once before I realized the rain was coming and had to unplug and shut down.
I did try to mix it as much as I could but one irritation with the bottom pour that I can see already is having to work around that rod going thru the pot. Im sure I missed a few spots
:)

[Shiloh]

What is that crust?? Never seen anything like it.

Like Slow Elk said, it has to come out of there.
Is this the same stuff you made the boolits in the pics from??

Shiloh

[anachronism]

It kinda looks like calcium deposits. Is it water soluble? Failing that, try filling the pot about 3/4 full & melting it again. When you get to full temperature, fluz the heck out of the pot, over & over, taking care to scrape the problem areas. LEEs casting ladle isn't good for much, but it is the best pot scraper I've found. See if it comes out this way. Just for information, when I finish casting, I refill & reflux the pot & leave the alloy in it. This seems to prevent rust from forming.

[RugerSP101]

What is that crust?? Never seen anything like it.

Like Slow Elk said, it has to come out of there.
Is this the same stuff you made the boolits in the pics from??

Shiloh
The bullets were made with the ingots in the picture a few posts back
Most of them were purchased from a guy who supplies lead to a lot of companies in Ohio here, so Im pretty sure nothing was in his lead.
The smaller batch I bought was from a gunstore and I did use some of it. Im wondering if it was made of wheelweights and not cleaned well or something because the guy sold it to me at less than current lead prices (which I didnt know the day I bought it or I might have been a bit suspicious).

Anyhoo, Im going to see if it cleans up once I melt some more lead in it. Hopefully it will and the lesson will be learned. :D

[oneokie]

As others have suggested, fill the pot with lead and melt it. Use a wood stick to scrape the pot walls. If you have some charcoal briquettes, crush a couple of them up to use as flux. Add about one crushed briquette to the pot before adding any lead. When the molten alloy covers the crud on the walls, add the rest of the charcoal and stir and scrape with the stick. A paint stiring stick works well. If no charcoal, use some sawdust as flux.

[RugerSP101]

It kinda looks like calcium deposits. Is it water soluble?
Good question. Ill see.
If I dont come back call 911 :D



Failing that, try filling the pot about 3/4 full & melting it again. When you get to full temperature, fluz the heck out of the pot, over & over, taking care to scrape the problem areas. LEEs casting ladle isn't good for much, but it is the best pot scraper I've found. See if it comes out this way. Just for information, when I finish casting, I refill & reflux the pot & leave the alloy in it. This seems to prevent rust from forming.
I did purposefully leave enough lead in so that that crud couldnt get into the pouring mechanism after I saw it wasnt coming out entirely.

Thanks for the help guys.
Im sure this will work out but being new to all this reloading stuff Ive apparently got a few mistakes to make :D

[RugerSP101]

.......

[RugerSP101]

Ok. Doesnt seem to dissolve in water exactly. I mean, it breaks up and flows into water if I use something to break it up, but to doesnt seem to be any easier in water or out....so Im not sure.



Actually, after going back over and messing with it after the water soaked it a bit more it may actually be water soluable. It does seem to be coming off now.

[yodar]

What are you using for flux? What you have left in the pot is not a part of the lead alloy you melted.
My first guess is residue from a flux like Marvelux. I've got 3 jars of the stuff left that will never be put in my pot again.
The best flux is free. Saw dust, candle butts, even used motor oil, will work, just do it outdoors, and light the smoke by tossing in a kitchen match.
Your gonna have to clean that crap out of your pot or it will cause real trouble. Depending on its source, you can desolve, wire brush, or burn it loose.

=================
Marvelux is a good flux but if not used right it makes stuff like this. It leaves corrosive residues in the pot that with humidity will cause rust. After using marvelux I unplug the pot, pour in water and plug it in and bring it to a boil

Then when I am sure the pot is clean, and dry, I spray it with Midway Dropout. I will NEVER use dropout for molds but it serves me well keeping pots clean

Switch from Marvelux when you have used it all up, to 20 mule team borax,(or boric acid) sprinkle it on with a salt shaker, let it crystallize into glass and then remove your crud and reflux with your waxy agents, old bullet lube, beeswax, parafffin, candles, etc

yodar

[geargnasher]

(Quote) Switch from Marvelux when you have used it all up, to 20 mule team borax,(or boric acid) sprinkle it on with a salt shaker, let it crystallize into glass and then remove your crud and reflux with your waxy agents, old bullet lube, beeswax, parafffin, candles, etc

yodar


I make an appeal, once again, for sawdust. It does everything boric acid does plus a lot more except one: It REDUCES oxides of tin instead of REMOVING it like boric acid does, so less precious tin is wasted. I also have found that sawdust is good for physically soaking up calcium chloride from range lead (where I live everything is caliche or rock more than 2" down, so all the range berms including my own have a lot of yellow clay and calcium salts to contaminate boolits). Might help clean up that junk in the pot you have there, too. Charcoal or crushed bbq briquettes work fine too, and crushed match-light really "burns off" surface junk, just be careful when it poofs.

Yodar, I used to use a shaker and borax for fluxing, too, and also sprinkled a little on the carpenter ants when they showed up in my shop from time to time, but that went away when a buddy almost used it on his breakfast taco one morning he came by to bs with me in the shop :shock: and I only noticed and stopped him in time because he asked me where was the pepper!

My 2 shiny pennies,

Gear

[Slow Elk 45/70]

OK SP101, you got your ear full , now tell us what you found out, what you did that works etc. . That is still some bad looking crapola . I'm impressed....[smilie=1:

[R.Clem]

I saw this thread the other day and got to thinking about a batch of lead I got from a guy some years back that left some real nasty, hard to remove crud in my pot. (I was on a Coleman then, so I got the pot real hot and dumped it into cold water, problem solved. NOTE:
DO NOT DO THAT WITH CAST IRON, IT WILL EXPLODE.)
I ask the guy what was in the lead, he said he didn't know but had gotten it from an old range that had closed down a few years earlier. I knew of the range and went and checked it out. Remember those bullets that came with the plastic cases, most for 38 specials? Those bullets were coated with molybdenum, there must have been a couple ton of those things laying around the range. Now, I didn't pick any up, but always figured that crap would float off when you fluxed. According to a metallurgist I talked with, some will flux off but the rest mixes with the lead and leaves a very stubborn residue. If any one can make this claim false or true it would be much appreciated, cause there is still a whole lot of those bullets laying there.

Ray

[RugerSP101]

well, Im not sure what it was but its gone now.
I got to cast about 2000 rounds today. I filled up the melter with lead and let it heat up. with the molten lead near the top of the melter I fluxed and mixed everything up nice and a bunch of stuff floated to the top which I removed. I kept filling the pot up before it could get low to keep anything from getting further down in the pot which seemed to work really well.

The only thing Ive put into the melter has been lead ingots that Ive bought from one gun store and one lead supplier here in Ohio, so I unless one of them lied to me its most likely something I did (I had the pot on full heat for a spell which is when the problem was going on. Betting that had something to do with it since no repeat today even tho Im using the same lead).

When I finished up I left a full pot of lead in the melter. I figure it cant rust if nothing can get to it.

Turning lead into gold...
http://pix.web77.org/albums/userpics/10001/DSCF3917.JPG

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Glad to hear you got er done!!

[R.Clem]

Lead will shrink a certain amount when it cools in the pot, and if you left the pot full of lead it will take a longer time to melt it the next time you cast. A couple pounds or so in the bottom of the pot is some pot manufacturers recommend.

Ray

[RugerSP101]

Lead will shrink a certain amount when it cools in the pot, and if you left the pot full of lead it will take a longer time to melt it the next time you cast. A couple pounds or so in the bottom of the pot is some pot manufacturers recommend.

Ray
Thanks. Ill keep that in mind :)
The big thing for me is not wanting that floating crap to end up in the spout.