Thought i'd add a little WW smelting/trouble saving tip in here.

[Ole]

When melting WW's into ingots, my least favorite part of the job was always skimming the steel clips.

A few months ago, while doing a batch of WW's, I thought of using this old fryer basket:

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh280/Ole1830/DSC00093.jpg

Basically you add WW's as they melt down, then when the pot starts to get full (my pot is around 100-120lbs) you pull the basket out and the clips, zinkers, and junk go out with the basket and you're ready to flux! [smilie=p:

Just wanted to share. :drinks: Cheers.

Matt

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Very good idea! I like that.

[Catshooter]

Oh how slick is that! That there's thinking by George, good show.


Cat

[hoosierlogger]

I use an old basket out of the 1 gallon can of carburetor cleaner.

[Houndog]

That's a good idea!

[qajaq59]

That's the beauty of this forum. Someone is always thinking.

[Edubya]

If you throw in some candle wax prior to pulling the bsket out you'll leave more of the molten led in the pot and have less lead clinging to the clips, etc.

EW

[crappiejig]

I learn something new everytime I log on here!

[geargnasher]

If you add a cup of diesel oil to the whole mess and light it just before you light the burner, it cuts your smelting time by half, saves propane, melts all the klingon dross from the clips, creates lots of soot to help flux the oxides, burns off the paint, cigarette butts and dog pee, and creates a low-oxygen enviroment in the pot which preserves the base metal. When the diesel burns out the fluxing is done for you and you're ready to pull the basket.

Gear

[lwknight]

+1 geargnasher.
If you do not use flux before raising the strainer you will be tossing a lot of stuck-on and oxidized lead.
The fluxing during the end of the smelt releases the goody from the junk before you toss it.

[sagacious]

+2. Flux before removing the clips. Flame fluxing right as the ww's melt fluxes the lead at the temp where it's impurities/crud/etc are least soluble, and most easily removed. Does save appreciably on melt time and fuel, too. Good luck.

[a.squibload]

A great idea! I used to pick the clips out so I could tap 'em on the side,
the basket and flux method looks like a winner.

PS: I noticed a rubber valve stem in there, pew!

[RKJ]

PS: I noticed a rubber valve stem in there, pew!

Nah, that burning rubber smell gives your smelting session ambience. :)

[ghh3rd]

I'm sure that I've wasted a few lbs of lead as the result of clingons. I think I'll try the flames in the basket technique.

[PAI-Scott]

I tryed that a while back, had a problem keeping the strainer hot enough. I'am using a Coleman stove for my heat, I may have to step up to a turkey fryer and try it again.

[lwknight]

The valve stem aint nothin. Wait till ya get some chaws in the melt.

[a.squibload]

I sorted more WWs tonight, glad I did, found chewing gum, plastic tire labels, a broken ½" socket extension,
paper towels, busted flat washers, lots of valve stems & caps, lots of dirt clods...
At that tire shop the WWs are cheap at $5/box (maybe 50lbs), but the boxes are already taped up.
They load 'em in the truck for me, that's a plus.

I have a wire fry basket I've been using to separate walnut shell from brass,
I suppose it could be used like Ole's basket, will give it a try.

[qajaq59]

Boy, you guys know messy mechanics. I never get anything but the ww in my buckets. LOL

[geargnasher]

Boy, you guys know messy mechanics. I never get anything but the ww in my buckets. LOL

Hey, beggars can't be too choosey!

Gear

[qajaq59]

Hey, beggars can't be too choosey! Ayup, and if my buckets were full of junk I'd take them too!!!!!

[DukeInFlorida]

Hope that broken socket was a sears lifetime unit. You'd really make out on that batch.

[Rocky Raab]

Ole, I borrowed your photo to answer a question on another website. Hope that was okay.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I admit to having found a variety of items in my white plastic 5 gallon jugs over the past few years. Along with the usual clip ons, stick ons, valve stems, end caps, lug nuts, cigarette butts, gum wrappers, used chewing gum and tobacco I have rescued a few strange items.

Two pairs of eyeglasses and a working blackberry unit. These I returned to the tire shops and my efforts were amply rewarded and I still have these 3 shops on my list of donors. One shop, located in downtown Las Vegas, hires recently released residents of our state lockups. The guys get hired and stay on a few months or less, either falling back into their anti social ways or finding a better job after satisfying their parole officers basic requirements for attendance and such.

One day I picked up 4 pails of weights with the usual assortment of non alloyable metals therein. Today we had a bonus. A flip top box of the Marlboro brand which contained one cigarette and 8 fat joints of MJ along with a half dozen dime sized pieces of rock cocaine. It must have been secreted therein and then as the miscreant was hauled off to the hoosgow it was not retrieved by the owner.

I had a friend in the employ of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police who is in the K-9 unit. I donated the social drugs to him for use as training aids for his drug sniffing doggies. When I told him where I obtained them he laughed and that is when I learned of the first stop in the freedom train for our recently incarcerated felons and their long path to redemption etc.

By that sharing of the spoils, so to speak, I now had 18 members of the K-9 Unit across the city checking out tire shops on a reqular basis for ww's for my harvesting. They pave the way for me and when I come in to ask about ww's I have been told that my arrival has been expected and the pails are saved for me. It makes my job a lot easier. I have been getting emails on a reqular basis from the unit and I believe my lead scrounging days are looking pretty good from here on out.

Nowdays I just take home the treasures and dump them out onto a thick layer of newspaper and carefully rake out the stuff I do not want nor need. After a careful selection process I put the good stuff in a pile to the side and dispose of the refuse, garbage, tire labels, uneaten lunch and other refuse and motor on.

Life is an adventure, ya never know what is around the bend or over the hill until you get there.

[pistolman44]

That sure is a nice smelting set up. I have been using a electric burner and a cast iron pot for smelting but a little too slow. I like to have a set up like you got using gas. I've been checking out local flea markets for a gas burner of some type.

[Rusty Shackleford]

If you add a cup of diesel oil to the whole mess and light it just before you light the burner, it cuts your smelting time by half, saves propane, melts all the klingon dross from the clips, creates lots of soot to help flux the oxides, burns off the paint, cigarette butts and dog pee, and creates a low-oxygen enviroment in the pot which preserves the base metal. When the diesel burns out the fluxing is done for you and you're ready to pull the basket.

Gear

Nothing smells as sweet as burning diesel and dog pee.[smilie=s: