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Need some more advice on rendering my WW. I read a post somewhere on this forum that stated stick on weights would deposit an undesirable mess on one's pot. A quick use of the search feature here didn't uncover any further warnings pertaining to melting them. Do I need a separate pot for melting these or what? So far all I've come across in my buckets have been lead and I know to segregate the zinc out should I run across any. I appreciate the forebearance with my newbie questions.
You need a pot that is not your casting pot for initial melt and cleaning of all raw WW. Using that same pot for initial melt and cleaning of stick on and clip on is just fine.
I've never noticed anything different between the clip on WW or the stick-on's, I always melt them together. As imashooter2 stated do your initial melt in a different pot than the one you cast your boolits from, that helps keep crap from getting in your clean lead.
Third the vote. Big cast iron pot and a ladle to 'smelt' or refine your scrap into ingots of some kind. Those ingots are what you want to put in the pot from which you make your bullets.
Most use a big dutch oven for that first job. Mine is a 4 qt I got at Big Lots!.
Beyond that, whatever I want in the ingot goes in the big pot. When melted I flux with sawdust and used motor oil, and flame it. Stir it up good while it burns, then skim the dross off the top. When done you will have beautiful liquid lead.
This thread caught my eye because I have the same question and don't think it's been answered yet. When I first started melting WW's into ingots I heard a local caster say he didn't like messing with stick-ons because of the gummy mess they made on his melting equipment. Since then I've been sorting the stick-ons and have a couple buckets full.
I know the stick-ons are pure lead and know NOT to put them in a CASTING pot. Thanks for any insights on this.
There are guys here that will buy stickons. I am waiting to get enough to get a little of my ww money back. Thought you may want to know. TomQuote:
Originally Posted by doghawg
I've smelted lots and lots of dirty, grimy, greasy wheel weights and lead. I always flux it heavy and if there is a residue left on the pot sides it comes off very easy with a pass of a wire brush.
Larry
I sort out the stick ons and melt them down by themselves and have never had a large sticky mess in my cast iron pot. Now I don't melt them in my 1000 lb. bottom pour furnace simply because I have never had enough to melt down in the bigger pot but I think I would if I could ever ger enough to use it..
I think the sticky stuff burns off and may work somewhat as a flux along with all the other grease and grime. I still do flux good though....Wes
Thanks for all the replies. I assumed the glue would burn off but assumptions have not been good to me over the years. I've a 6 qt CI dutch oven for my rendering pot and picked up a 2qt SS pot at the salvage store today to cast from. Also picked up another bucket of WW this morning. Unlike the 1st bucket which had few stick ons, this one had ~ 40-50lbs in it. It also had more steel WW than my 1st bucket did - about 10lbs worth. Found ~ 1lb of Zn stick ons and several Fe stick ons in the mix. Guess buckets of WW are like boxes of chocolates? (Didn't Forest Gump said something like that?)
Happy Trails...RR
When melting down the stick on WWs you will get more smoke than normal as the glue and foam burn. It is pretty nasty stuff and will leave a black residue on the inside of your pot (think burning plastic). Flux with sawdust. It will bind with the sticky dross and make it easier to remove.
The stick on weights melt at a higher temp than clip on WWs. If you melt them with clip on WWs you will be tempted to think that they are zinc. Give them the side cutter test to be sure.
There is a gooey mess from the tape, but in a smelting pot, not a big deal, just skim it off. In a casting pot, I could see an issue. I either smelt them separate & pour into 1# ingots, they are near pure lead & grat for LHP, or I melt them into clip ons or range scrap for a 50/50 mix.Quote:
Originally Posted by doghawg
OK -
More questions have arisen. Will sawdust fluxing remove all the slime or will it stay on the pot forever? Its a dedicated pot but I'd rather not have plastic fumes going off each time I melt WW. Think I'll wait till I'm done rendering the clip ons and save the stickies till last. Maybe I can just throw the pot into a campfire afterwards and burn the remainig glue off?
Sorry I wasn't clear above about the purpose of the sawdust, motor oil and flame. It is to reduce anything that isn't lead to ash and cinders.
I have a bunch of strips of sheet lead about .125" thick, 3" wide and 16" long with double stick tape on both sides. They were used at the university as the center of some kind of sandwich.
They create a nasty hunk of bubbling goo in a pot of lead. But after about 1/2 cup of sawdust, 1/4 cup of used motor oil, and the 5 minutes it take for everything that will burn to go out, all there is left is cinders and ash that comes right out. I find the key to be lighting that pot on fire, and letting anything that will burn to burn off.
The inner sides of the pot will be black from the soot of the burning plastic. I use a 3 quart stainless pot to melt mine in and don't get an accumulation, just the black soot. If you continue applying heat to your melt, the plastic from the tape will eventually burn to ash. I don't care to wait that long. As soon as the metal is liquid, it's ready to be fluxed, and poured. I use sawdust to bind with the plastic crud to make it easier to remove. The soot eventually wears off or can be removed with a wire brush (use a dust mask).
Putting the pot in a campfire to burn off crud may damage your pot. It will get it even hotter than the temps we use.