Lead alloy calculators

[bumpo628]

ok getting back to smelting and alloy mixing.... new computer.
I cant get the calculator to open again. down loaded http://www.openoffice.org/download/ and still tells me I cant open the calculator?

Try Google Sheets.
https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

You should also be able to access it when logged in to your Gmail account.

[mac1911]

Try Google Sheets.
https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

You should also be able to access it when logged in to your Gmail account.

Ugh more down loads and emails...

[mac1911]

Try Google Sheets.
https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

You should also be able to access it when logged in to your Gmail account.

thank you finally got it to work..... now to figure out what I want to do with the 63/37 solder I have and wondering if I should add any to my range scrap?

[Chris C]

I must be the dumbest of the dumb because I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to use this calculator!

I want to make a 20:1 alloy. I think I figured it out by the percentages shown on the calculator, but I did it by countin' fingers, toes and whatever else I could find. I had 14# pure lead I wanted to use. My figures came up with 14.08 oz tin. First off, tell me if my "hill-billy" calculator worked. And then, explain to me how to use that durned calculator. Lets just use a starting point of, lets say, I've got 50# Pb I want to turn into 20:1. How do I find out how much tin the mix needs using the calculator.

[62chevy]

I must be the dumbest of the dumb because I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to use this calculator!

I want to make a 20:1 alloy. I think I figured it out by the percentages shown on the calculator, but I did it by countin' fingers, toes and whatever else I could find. I had 14# pure lead I wanted to use. My figures came up with 14.08 oz tin. First off, tell me if my "hill-billy" calculator worked. And then, explain to me how to use that durned calculator. Lets just use a starting point of, lets say, I've got 50# Pb I want to turn into 20:1. How do I find out how much tin the mix needs using the calculator.

You put any number you want in the arias with yellow. Find the row with Pure Lead and in the yellow are add 14 then arrow up to pure tin and add .7, this will give you 20 to 1.

[Chris C]

I still don't get it! If I've got 14# of lead and need to know how much tin to add, how does the calculator tell me what that amount would be? Or do I just keep guessing at weights until I get the right percentage?

[62chevy]

I still don't get it! If I've got 14# of lead and need to know how much tin to add, how does the calculator tell me what that amount would be? Or do I just keep guessing at weights until I get the right percentage?

That is what I do. Your 14 pounds of pure lead plus .7 pounds of pure tin will get you 20 - 1. not sure what 20 - 1 is in percentage then delete all numbers in the yellow and add 1 to the 20 to 1 row, look down at the bottom where the percentages are for tin and that should be 4.76%.

[bumpo628]

I still don't get it! If I've got 14# of lead and need to know how much tin to add, how does the calculator tell me what that amount would be? Or do I just keep guessing at weights until I get the right percentage?

In general, you do have to guess and then make adjustments to find the mix you want.
For lead-tin alloys like 20-1, it is a bit easier since the name itself is the ratio.
You just need to add 20 lbs of pure lead with 1 lb of tin.
For your example with 14 lbs of pure lead, that is 30% less pure lead than the 20-1 ratio, so you just need to add 30% less tin (0.7 lbs).

For more complicated alloys, I set most of the ingredients to even numbers and then adjust the last ingredient to see if I can make what I want. If not, then adjust one or more of the others and try again. After a while you get a feel for what needs to be done.

Maybe I can make this easier on my next update.
Another idea would be to use the 'goal seek' function in excel.

[OS OK]

Using the percentages like this is close...but, to get it exact you must adjust the Pb weight also. ( You say you have 14# of Pb that you want to turn into a 20:1 mixture. ) Meaning after all is said and done you need to end up with a 14# total weight mixture... ( I use the # symbol to represent pounds ).

Example...

14#'s total of Pb+Sn mixture and 4.76% is Sn. ... 14# total mixture X .0476 = .6664# of Sn. ................. .6664 X 16oz. = 10.66 oz. <( converting decimal # to ounce # of Sn. )

*Since 10.66 oz's. of the 14# total is Sn ( reflecting a 20:1 mixture )... Subtract the Sn from the 14# total mixture ( the remainder must be the weight of lead you put in )....
14# of Pb+Sn total weight - 10.66 oz. of Sn = 13# 5.34 oz. of Pb. <( this is now how much Pb you put into the blend. )

*To plug this new Pb weight back into the calculator you must convert it back to decimal pounds... What is the decimal value of 5.34 oz's? so... 5.34 / 16 = .33375 pound , ( meaning 5.34 oz's divided by 16 oz's. ) Add that to the 13#'s and we have a converted total of 13.33375 # of Pb. <( same as 13# 5.34 oz's. )

The calculator wants to see decimal pounds inserted into the yellow cells where we monkey with the mixture. We need to convert back and forth between decimal pounds and ounce pounds. ( I have to do this because my 24# digital kitchen scale weighs in #'s & oz's. [ or grains, grams or kilograms ])

Are you even more confused now...sorry if I mucked it up further but this is how I have to deal with the calculator, what I want to do and what tools I have to work with.

charlie

[Chris C]

Are you even more confused now...sorry if I mucked it up further but this is how I have to deal with the calculator, what I want to do and what tools I have to work with.

charlie

Yup. I've got 24# of lead I want to turn into a 20:1..........so how do I ask the calculator to tell me how much tin to put in with the 24# of lead to make it a 20:1? (I don't care what the total poundage adds up to) I've finally figured it out on my own, but I misunderstood, thinking the calculator was supposed to fill in the information when I didn't have all the figures myself. (my mistake)

[OS OK]

You can't ask the calculator anything...you can suggest what you think will do it and the calc. will figure it and show you what you have...that's it.

Plug your values in above and you'll see that a little pencil work is necessary first if you want to hit the percentages right on the nose.

[Chris C]

Yup, that's what I meant by figured it out. It's a guessing game..............but it works in the long run.

[mac1911]

I must be the dumbest of the dumb because I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to use this calculator!

I want to make a 20:1 alloy. I think I figured it out by the percentages shown on the calculator, but I did it by countin' fingers, toes and whatever else I could find. I had 14# pure lead I wanted to use. My figures came up with 14.08 oz tin. First off, tell me if my "hill-billy" calculator worked. And then, explain to me how to use that durned calculator. Lets just use a starting point of, lets say, I've got 50# Pb I want to turn into 20:1. How do I find out how much tin the mix needs using the calculator.

nope not dumb I cant get the calculator to work 99% of the time....just went to use it again and I cant open it on my PC need windows office. It worked few months ago.
I don't know why it just cant work with out all sorts of accounts being made , special emails and such....? confused as always with this one. Now on those fluke times the calculator opens I have no problems using it.

I simply went to my downloads section clicked it to open and now im back to square 1 ...say I need office to open ? I don't have a clue how or what I did to get it to run before?
im tired of needing to log in , creat accounts and needing new emails to open a file.

When I click on ballistic caalculators or any other thing on any of my devices I seldom need anything special to get them to work ? I don't have office and im not buying it for the little amount I use my computer....

I am stupid when it comes to the functions of my computer....if its not plug and play im lost....it took me over a year to figure out how to post pictures!

so what are we missing?

[62chevy]

I use LibreOffice on Linux and it works everytime. OpenOffice is the same thing for windows and it's free.

http://www.openoffice.org/download/


EDIT:

LibreOffice is also available for Windows. https://www.libreoffice.org/

[mac1911]

I use LibreOffice on Linux and it works everytime. OpenOffice is the same thing for windows and it's free.

http://www.openoffice.org/download/


EDIT:

LibreOffice is also available for Windows. https://www.libreoffice.org/

just down loaded open office..... I can open the calculator now but its read only. I cant input any data ?

add also it takes aprox 30 seconds now to open anything from my icon screen? ugghh

5pm uninstalled openoffice PC back to light speed again....
Im actually shocked at how hard this has been. I hate to have to pay for office ?

[alamogunr]

Back in 2003, before I retired, Microsoft offered employees of the company a full set of Microsoft Office for use at home. We were supposed to take it off of our home computers if we left the company. I retired 3 years later and, being the honest person I am, I called Microsoft and asked about keeping it on my computer since I wouldn't be working for anyone. The person I talked to told me he couldn't authorize leaving it on my computer but "what they didn't know wouldn't hurt me". I've been using it ever since.

I also have Open Office. It is enough different that I get easily confused with the spreadsheet and the word processor because I'm always trying to treat it like Excel and Word. Since I don't use either one very much, I just soldier on with Excel and Word 2003.

I have been using the alloy spreadsheet that bumpo628 posted. It works every time for me. I've got his version with 17 custom alloys and the same version with my alloys entered for ease of use.

[JAbee]

Open Office works for me. It has slower performance than Microsoft Office but hey its free.

I cant say Thank You enough times for this Calculator. It has saved me many of frustrations dealing with different lead mixes.

[Chris C]

What, exactly, does the term "Antimonial Lead" mean? And is it something RotoMetals sells?

[alamogunr]

Roto Metals does sell "Antimonial Lead". Web page says antimony content 3%-5%. I've never bought it but would hope that they would specify the antimony content in whatever they send. If not, I could probably still live with it. The alloy calculator makes a stab at hardness if that is what you are after.

At one time I considered buying since I have a large stash of solder but decided that I have enough other alloys to mix whatever I want.

[mac1911]

anyone figure out a alloy calculator app for phones yet?