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I just finished my first range lead melt. I don’t think I got my lead as clean as I thought I had. Still, it’s a start. Should I Melt them in bulk and try to clean them better, or can I finish cleaning them before casting in my bottom pour melter?
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You got a ton of carp in there, pardner!!!!!. Did you flux 3X with sawdust like you are supposed to do? And stir and skim all the gunk off the top? Does not look like it. You may/do have inclusions of impurities all thru that Pb.
And it looks like your re-melt temp was too low. The surface should be smooth and shiny.
My ingots are clean smooth and shiny. The above pix look a lot like the dross I skim off the top and throw away!
If you, I would re-melt the whole batch and flux 3x and re-cast them. You do not want to make boolits with garbage in the lead! And you will spend more time cleaning out your bottom pour pot and spigot!
This is a learning experience.
good luck.
bangerjim.
I fluxed twice with sawdust. When I started casting, it looked nice and shiny like a mirror. I think I didn’t have the pot clean enough and was scraping stuff up.
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I'd melt them again and flux with candle wax, then sawdust. That is some pretty dirty stuff. I've seen some people say that they tap on the side of the pan with a spoon or ladle while they are cleaning their lead to get dirt and debris to release from the pan. Make sure you are thoroughly scraping the bottom and sides of the pan too. If you don't have access to sawdust you could use some twigs, just break them up into small pieces.
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I would be really careful about using twigs in a hot lead melt due to the moisture and the tinsel fairy. Not one of the better suggestions without the warning for moisture. Dry material ONLY!
Good advise! I was assuming he understood dry twigs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister
I have plenty of dry sawdust. Right now I’m using a bag of pine bedding that’s been packaged since the 80s left over from when my gf’s hamster died.Quote:
Originally Posted by ThomR
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go to Lowe's or home depot buy a small bucket n ask em to fill it with saw dust & you can buy parrifin wax on the cheap in quantity if you want & use plenty I've had many times over crud come out of my range scrap from what looked beautifully clean atop I like to drill small holes in the lid of my saw dust bucket to help it dry & from my understanding atleast, you want to let it sit atop the lead a minute to dry then before it all burns start fluxing it in the carbon monoxide gas is part of the fluxing with paraffin wax included I've had excellent results there can be all sorts of gunk in our range scrap. also scrape the sides & bottom of the pot the burnt saw dust likes to stick. I liberally use the saw dust & wax after I mix in the saw dust just be careful ive had it catch fire many times but it always comes out clean
whether thats the technical method idk but i always have good results doing it that way
Looks like you may have used a coated muffin pan and and it was burning off causing the bubble effect on the bottom of the muffins. That will take care of itself.
To get an idea of what clean ingots look like. You need to get a Stainless Steel slotted spoon and scrape the sides/bottom when you flux. I use sawdust and bees wax. First the sawdust...let it sit on top...wait a few minutes...then I light it with a match until it burns and goes out (charcoal)...then start mixing. I mix about 5 minutes...then start skimming this off. Scrapping the sides and bottom as you go. All the garbage floats to the top....then I put a small marble size bit of bees wax in...let it just cook on the top and melt then mix it in when it turns brownish grey...then skim the top again...scraping the sides and bottom as you go. Do this three times.....The top will be a mirror finish when all the garbage is out of your lead.
redhawk
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be careful if your using a turky burner type it's easy to get 2 hot & burn off the precious tin that you do have & at my range I have come across zinc bullets you can buy them I saw the box called z clean if I remember correctly. wondered why I had a few bullets that didn't even begin to melt luckily I keep below the 780 mark
also if I understand it correctly the hotter your melt gets the more it can expose you to toxins
try to get any oils out of your muffin pan aswell I got small bubbles like that my first time from trapped oil burning setting the pan on my pot until it smoked fixed that it was well seasoned
these are all things that helped me with harvesting range lead in my area
JM, you actually did well for your first go around, you notice something out of whack (whatever whack is) and voiced concerns about it
You ALWAYS want the alloy to be as clean as possible BEFORE putting it in your casting pot
With range lead, you need some kind of way to get all the lead out of the jackets I agree with above, smelt and flux at least 2 more times with wax. (I just stick a candle in the melt and count to 5 or 10 depending on how much is in the melt and wear glove if you want to keep the hair on the back of your hands :))
There are some contaminants that pine sawdust will not do a good job on thus using both while smelting is highly recommended.
Getting it out of the jacket isn’t a problem. I get it from an indoor range with a steel backstop so they’re all pretty well smashed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grmps
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That picture above is really loaded with garbage. It needs extra care when re-melting by fluxing several times with pine sawdust and the final time with some wax. I prefer beeswax. That will reduce any Sn back in.
But melting carp like that is a really tough task to get pure clean shiny ingots. Takes a lot of work. That is why I avoid range carp....inside and outside. Too many Pb oxides and junk. I get all my Pb and alloys from local scrap yards that is darned near pure from the start. The work that elimiates is well worth the $1/# I pay.
Good luck.
Bnagerjim
This was my exact thought.Quote:
Originally Posted by dondiego
Thats not bad for a first effort. The bubbles are probably from the coating on your muffin tin and it will eventually cook away. The ingots are pretty dirty and I probably would remelt them. Get a couple of large cooking spoons from Walmart, a slotted one and a solid one, and dedicate them to your smelting operation. Stir the melt well and scrap the bottom and sides of the pot well. Flux with sawdust a few times and once with wax. Either candle wax or beeswax. Dirty lead can cause problems with a bottom pour casting pot and make it difficult to cast good bullets. Some scrap yards will buy the bullet jackets so save them until you get a bucket full.
First hand experience--Be very careful with scrap like that. Got a KABOOM from stuff that looked exactly like that... After skimming and sifting with a slotted spoon l found ruptured 22RF case.. People at lndoor ranges have a bad habit of tossing live rounds that wont feed DOWNRANGE :-(
You can put up with the bubbled ingots until the coating on the muffin tin burns off, or you can help it along.
I first used a propane torch, which worked but was kinda slow. The next time around I used a weed burner, which went fast. Either way, just brush out the burned off residue out of the cups. You can let them rust a bit, which seems to help dropping the ingots.
A couple points: try not to breath the fumes as the coating burns off. I don't know how toxic the stuff is, but I do know that I had a lingering cough after I did a few pans; and don't lean or lay the pan to be blasted against any concrete or brick unless you want a nice "distressed" look from the spalling that will occur from the over blast from the burner (don't ask me how I know).