Lead from X-ray rooms.

[ScottJ]

I've seen that mentioned here often. Are they required to replace it every so often?

[qajaq59]

I'm not sure if they have to do it, or they just remodel once in a while. But an hour ago I got 55 lbs of it locally for $20. That was all he had left, but he said that originally he had quite a bit from a hospital job.

[Tom W.]

Be careful... it makes your boolits glow in the dark!:bigsmyl2:

[LostSoul]

What does x-ray shielding look like? I've got a friend with a small amount of scrap sheet lead, it's about 1/4-3/8" thick. He doesn't know where it came from. Could this be where it's from?

[qajaq59]

That sounds like what I got today. I think it usually has bits of sheet rock or fiber board stuck to it as well.

[richbug]

What does x-ray shielding look like? I've got a friend with a small amount of scrap sheet lead, it's about 1/4-3/8" thick. He doesn't know where it came from. Could this be where it's from?

What I get is between 1/8 and 3/16". It folds really easily, and you can scratch it with you fingernails.

[sqlbullet]

I picked up lead from my source about two months ago, and in addition to the normal vials from the radio-pharmacy, they had about 600-800 lbs of lead strips, about 1/16" thick with adhesive on both sides. They were in strips about 2" wide and 18" long.

They are nasty to refine, as the adhesive is smelly and gooey. But, the XRF analyzer says they are 2.5% Sb, 2.5% Sn and 95% Pb. I will take that any day!

[Lead Fred]

Nope, they can use the same ones for years. I bet the ones in the VA hospitals are Korean war vintage.

There is zero radioactivity in any lead plates, zero

[tackstrp]

I purchased a roll of sheet lead once for soundproofing in an engine room on a boat. Was abotu 36 inches by 25 feet on the roll.
I would guess about 1/16 thick. was more than three sheets of note book paper thick., been a long time

[Leftoverdj]

Over the last 50 years, the amount of radiation emitted by x-ray machines has decreased considerably. I would guess that the older the installation, the thicker the lead.

Some of our members have also reported scoring isotope containers. I've seen them, but the s**** yard was unwilling to sell them. Several pounds of lead to an isotope box, but I don't know the purity.

[XWrench3]

be careful... It makes your boolits glow in the dark!
__________________


i am not worried about my boolits glowing in the dark. But what about mr winkey??? Lol!

[Hardcast416taylor]

The only time they would change it is if they decide they want bay windows in the lab! Installed once - stays till they remodel the lab. I got 175 lbs. about a month ago from a recycling place. It was going fast as I got what I did. Yes the sheetrock and adhesive is a bummer, but that is why you smelt it down in a different pot than the one you cast with. My lead was a full 1/4" thick.Robert

[qajaq59]

I guess I could say that the stuff I just got was "self fluxing" since it has bits of partical board stuck to it rather then sheetrock. lol

[sqlbullet]

Several pounds of lead to an isotope box, but I don't know the purity.

I have not tested individual samples, but I have dealt with a bunch of the isotope lead. Container I have seen range in weight from a couple ounces up to 32 lbs. Very few are pure lead, but I have encountered a few that are.

I sort them into pure lead and everything else. I refine the 'everything else' in 90lb batches that consist of 1 32lb container, and 2 30 lb buckets of misc other stuff.

Recently I had access to an XFR analyzer and tested my samples. The lead I though was straight lead read 99.9% lead, and listed as pure. The ingots made from the 'everything else' pile read 3% antimony, 1% tin, 96% lead.

I have worked with about 5 tons in the last year, and about 10% has been straight lead, the rest the antimony alloy. On discussion with a pharmacist who works at the radio-pharmacy, he pointed out that the composition of the container is FDA approved along with the drug, and that therefore, a given container is unlikely to change much over time, because it would be expensive to re-certify the medicine.

[Char-Gar]

In 1984 a contractor friend of mine was remodeling an x-ray room in one of the El Paso Hospitals and asked me if I wanted the old lead from the walls. Isaid sure. He asked how much and I said, all you have.

It was delivered on a flat bdd truck and off loaded into my garage. It was in large 4 foot by 8 foot sheets. It had been attatched to the wall studs with screws. I had several tons of the stuff and me and a friend rolled it up, beat it flat with a nine pound hammer, rolled and beat it again, and again until we had long 4 foot bars of the stuff. Lots of work.

I then gave most of it away to all of the muzzle loading and bullet casting friends in El Paso. I think I still have about 100 pounds left. It was/is 100% pure Pb.