Cleaning a zinc pot.

Lent out an older rcbs pro to a friend of mine.
Late 60's gentleman, retired, bored, yada, yada, yada!

Being the cheap *** he is, he got a bucket of scrap alloy from who knows where?

The majority of the bucket cantained Zinc ww's, silver solder, soft unknown alloy and very little real lead.

Well he smelted this concoction (used his torch to pre-heat the mixture while the pot was heating up) and started pouring, no fluxing, just straight into the pot and pour, the spout plugged up on him several times, his fix, heat the spout up with a hand torch to get it to flow. The top of the melt was fluffy, blue hue to it, clips, dirt and unidentifiable junk! The smelt did not look much better!

He did manage to cast several rb's for some of his cap and ball revolvers with this junk! And yes he plans on shooting his zinc boolits in them!

Of course I find this all out after the fact and the day I went to bring the pot back home. It was chocked full of his junk melt.
Told him he needed to empty it out completely and I would be back to get it in a day or so. I just really wanted to strangle him right there and then, I really thought he knew what he was doing, his talk was good but his methods???
Not a happy camper at this moment!

So with that what do I need to do to make this pot useable for clean lead again?
I'm worried that the spout is toast due to the applied heat, have no idea as to how long he heated it up with his tourch? Not sure how clean he will get the pot?

Ideas?? Kind of a spare pot but would like it to do its job when called upon.

Valuable lessen learned, Old people need adult supervision and there very own smelting pot!!

A brand new pot from RCBS is $30 and they will give you the valve rod. You would need to remove the valve lever supports (2 allen screws) and 4 pop rivets on the pot rim. The pot will slide up and out with no further disassembly. I put mine back with screws instead of rivets.

Worth $30?

A sharp wood chisel will take the heads of the pop rivets off easier than drilling.

This is the reason that I don't like to loan my stuff. I'm not much on borrowing either. If someone really needs to use something I try to encourage them to come to my house and use it.

I doubt he hurt the spout by heating and it may need a lot more heating to empty the pot. Once empty, a good brushing with a wire brush to get the remnants off the pot walls should do it. When you melt some decent metal in it, any other remnants should leave with fluxing. Trace zink is not going to hurt anything.

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Originally Posted by Dan Cash

I doubt he hurt the spout by heating and it may need a lot more heating to empty the pot. Once empty, a good brushing with a wire brush to get the remnants off the pot walls should do it. When you melt some decent metal in it, any other remnants should leave with fluxing. Trace zink is not going to hurt anything.

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+1
if there is any 'stuff' left heat the pot and pour it out. scrape/wire brush the sides and bottom and go from there

as said above same amounts of zinc won't hurt and as you keep casting and refilling the % will keep dropping

the replacement pot a good "Plan B"

I have purposely experimented with a lead alloy with a small percentage of zinc.
https://www.artfulbullet.com/index.p...let-alloy.589/

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"what do I need to do to make this pot useable for clean lead again?"

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If your friend didn't empty the pot, the first thing I would do is empty the pot of the contaminated alloy.
Then, the easiest way to remove any residual Zinc is dilution (you've probably heard the old saying? Dilution is the solution to pollution).
If you see my post #6 in the above link, it took a few pot full's of alloy to make the pot usable with clean (Zinc-free) alloy.
Hint: Zinc likes Tin, so using a lead alloy with plenty of Tin, should pull out the Zinc residue from the pot more efficiently.

Sulfur or Zep will take the zinc out after you dump the contaminate and fill with something good. Sulfur stinks! Make a few ingots with the bottom pour and it probably will clean the spout.

I just went to Lee last week to order a new pot/seat rod, coil....and some other odd/ends to rebuild my 20+ yo pot. ALL parts were free...I just had to pay shipping. For me it cost $18 for shipping and I can completely rebuild my pot.

Its the way I'd go if I were you.

[EDIT] - ooops...sorry...I just re-read that you have an RCBS. My error...I'd heat it up, dump it, and brush it the best you can. If there is any Zinc left in the spout area...it won't be there for long if you heat it up to say 800 and run some material through it.

redhawk