linotype smelting

[XWrench3]

ok, last week, i made up my first batch of linotype bullets. i did this just in my lee pot, and only did a few pounds. today, i smelted the rest of the 50 pounds that i bought. is it normal to have a LOT of silver froth when you smelt this stuff? i fluxed it, and as it was flaming and i was stirring the heck out of it (i used parafin). the froth seemed to settle out and i got a LOT of dross which was really dirty. what was left, was nice and clean for the most part. but i did notice that with every ladel full, i had to scrape off more dross. i kept stirring it all the way through, until i was down to so little i had a hard time removing it with the ladel. i then just picked up the pot with pliars and poured directly from the pot. the last bit of it was still fairly dirty, as i can see spots in the lino from contaminants after the mold hardened and cooled. is all of this normal??? i WILL triple flux this stuff when i go to alloy or use it to make boolits with.

[semtav]

I've been using monotype with ww and pure lead. I get the same thing. Was blaming it on the new flux I tried. But not sure now. Keep thinking its all the antimony and tin coming out, but I have no clue why there is so much dross.

[stubshaft]

I just cooked some down last week. It was lino spacers and strips. I was too lazy to set up my smelting rig so I used my Lee 20lb pot. I was getting only about one tablespoon of dross per pot. This is about what I normally see on the average. I use PMWFCFF (Pat Marlins world famous Kalifornia flake flux) however even when I throw a bit of boolit loob in to flux I don't get as much dross as you say you did. What did the lino look like before you smelted it?

[mto7464]

How hot are you getting it?

[Calamity Jake]

ok, last week, i made up my first batch of linotype bullets. i did this just in my lee pot, and only did a few pounds. today, i smelted the rest of the 50 pounds that i bought. is it normal to have a LOT of silver froth when you smelt this stuff? i fluxed it, and as it was flaming and i was stirring the heck out of it (i used parafin). the froth seemed to settle out and i got a LOT of dross which was really dirty. what was left, was nice and clean for the most part. but i did notice that with every ladel full, i had to scrape off more dross. i kept stirring it all the way through, until i was down to so little i had a hard time removing it with the ladel. i then just picked up the pot with pliars and poured directly from the pot. the last bit of it was still fairly dirty, as i can see spots in the lino from contaminants after the mold hardened and cooled. is all of this normal??? i WILL triple flux this stuff when i go to alloy or use it to make boolits with.

Lino has a slush stage(the froth) when melting, as you found out fluxing returns the froth back into the alloy.
When everything is melted then flux real good(2-3 times) before removing any dirt/dross then try to get only the dirt, what dross you see is oxided tin and needs to be left in the alloy.
Melted lino will oxidize on the surface fairly quickly, do not skim it off just pour it in with the ingots.
As you get toward the bottom of the smelt flux again and remove any dirt then ingotise.

[XWrench3]

How hot are you getting it?
not all that hot, just over the slush state.

When everything is melted then flux real good(2-3 times) before removing any dirt/dross then try to get only the dirt, what dross you see is oxided tin and needs to be left in the alloy.
Melted lino will oxidize on the surface fairly quickly, do not skim it off just pour it in with the ingots.
As you get toward the bottom of the smelt flux again and remove any dirt then ingotise.

i am glad i waited to try to mix it in after fluxing. i wasn't sure if i should or not. next time, i will continue to "cook" the lino for a little while in an effort to mix it back in better, and flux it several times. so, i wonder how much tin i accidentaly scraped off. no way of kowing, i know. live and learn i guess. maybe i will add a little tin/antimony back into the mix when i cast with it. that is one really good thing about having stuff laying around like that. i bought 4 rolls of 95/5 tin/antimony solder a few months back. initally i bought ti to add to my wheel weight alloy to help with mold fill out. which i do sometimes. but also my casting skill has improved some, so i dont need quite as much as i originally thought i might. in any case. it is good to have some of everything i am finding out. now, if i could find a couple of hundred pounds of pure soft lead (without paying $1.00 + a pound), i would be in decent shape.

[454PB]

This same problem has been discussed here before.

Yes, leave the melt alone and let that "froth" reabsorb. Don't even flux it until it's settled down.

[lwknight]

Lino is entirely too much antimony for any average application. Cut it in half with pure lead and get double the milage.
Anything with that high antimony content will have a slushy dross. I recently remelted some 30% ingots to smaller ingots and had to use a dipper instead of the bottom pour.
6% antimony with 3 or 4 percent tin makes a really hard boolit.

[Bloodman14]

Guy at school has a 550 pound block of lead he wants to get rid of at current prices. Anyone in for a group buy? I'll honch. Let me double check to-nite in class, BEFORE you lose your minds!


O.K., just got back from class; guy says he has a buddy who wants it for fishing sinkers(?!!?). What a waste of lead.