An Explanation of The Plus Metal Buy
I have been working with a custom lead fabricator (makes all kinds of stuff for hospitals/nuke plants etc) to come up with an alloy that could be used to enrich the readily available alloys and produce some others that are either hard to get, costly, or both.
Most of us can find Lead and / or Wheel weights at reasonable prices. Any other alloy can be scarce or pricey.
I started out looking for a way to turn Lead into WW alloy. I used the assumption that Wheel weights were 95% Pb, 4.5% Antimony, and .5% tin. My own preference is to add tin to bring the total to roughly 2% as I think it improves casting and is still cost effective. I started out looking at an alloy of just tin/antimony/arsenic but was told by the foundry that it wasn't an alloy they could do. They also suggested that any alloy with the percentage of Antimony I was requesting would have a melting point above the maximum I had specified (approx 700). The best alloy for this purpose turned out to be the 47% Antimony ,37% Lead, 18% Tin (with trace (.2%) arsenic). It would melt within the temp range specified, would add sufficient Antimony and tin to match WW+1% and had arsenic so heat treating would be possible.
Combining 1 lbs of the Metal+ alloy to 10 pounds of lead yields an alloy with 94.3% lead, 4.3% Antimony, and 1.4% tin. I ran some initial tests and there is enough arsenic in the alloy to allow hardening when used in this manner. So we now have a way to make WW alloy from pure lead.
I then looked at using the same alloy to enhance WW.
1:10 yields an alloy with 89.7% Lead, 8.3% Antimony, and 2% tin. A quick check of alloys shows this to be equal to Taracorp's Magnum Alloy.
2:10 yeilds an alloy with 85% Lead, 3.4% Tin, and 11.6% Antimony. An alloy that should sound suspiciously like Linotype (2.25:10 makes an almost perfect Lino).
6:10 Makes Monotype and if you really wanted to carry this to extremes 1:1 makes roughly Foundry type.
As you can see, the metal is useful to enrich scrap range lead, WW, or soft scrap into the harder to find and more expensive alloys.
This means you can use whatever is available and not have to swap lead for WW or pay high prices a pound for lino.
I think we got a heck of a deal on this as the foundry certifies the %s and casts it into bricks. I can pick it up from his dock so we pay no shipping except from me to you guys. The cost on it is $4.00 a pound which I think is exceptional with lead alone being over $1 right now.
