How Can l Get The Stickem 0ff

[sw282]

LEAD stick on wheel weights without melting them?? l want to remove all the glue WITHOUT damaging or marking the lead itself

[Jeffrey]

Have you tried acetone? WD-40 is a fantastic solvent. It is great on that oily stuff that accumulates on hoods above stoves. Spray it on a paper towel, wipe the stuff off.

[waksupi]

Mineral spirits, lighter fluid.

[I'll Make Mine]

Unfortunately, stick-on wheel weights I've seen have foam double-sided tape on the sticky side (greatly improves their ability to stay stuck on the wheel); to get that off, you'll probably have to scrape. You may be able to slip a single edge razor blade (sold in hardware stores as refill for window paint scrapers -- some dollar stores have 'em, too, at 8 or 10 for a buck) between the foam and the metal and get a corner started in order to peel off the foam; if so, then lighter fluid (like what you'd use to refill a Zippo lighter) will remove the residue from the metal.

Not sure why it would matter if you mark the lead, unless you have a use for the weights other than remelting them to cast bullets or sinkers...

[454PB]

You can soak them in solvent (mineral spirits, paint thinner, stoddard) for a while and soften the adhesive foam enough that it will wipe off, but it's messy and a fire hazard. I've tried several methods and found it's easier to just smelt them outside.

[John Boy]

.... A Hair Dryer

[Blammer]

goo gone, at the local auto parts house

[**oneshot**]

2nd vote for goo gone.

[smokey496]

Lacquer thinner. Stack em up side to side cover let sit a short time. Just slip the tape off in the thinner, and wipe them off. No problem. They look pretty nice all stacked up in a box.

[308Man]

Zippo Lighter Fluid Works Well TOO

[alamogunr]

I used an environmentally safe machinery cleaner. The company I retired from had a couple of 55 gal drums they needed to get rid of and offered it to employees. I got a 5 gal bucket. Apparently it was derived from orange waste. Smelled pretty good and was non flammable. An overnight soaking in this stuff and the foam tape slid right off. Still messy but not dangerous.

By the way, I gave a lot away and still had more than a lifetime supply. Ended up disposing of it.

[SciFiJim]

I've used gasoline in a bucket overnight before. Now I just melt them down as is, and flux with sawdust to combine with the glue and scoop it out.


Is there a reason you don't want to damage or mark the lead?

[Tatume]

I drop them into molten lead. They float to the surface where I skim them off.

[45-70 Chevroner]

The guy must have a top secret use for these stick ons with out the stick on, and maybe, just maybe he will let us in on the secret when he figures out what that secret is. I have not tried this but how about using a propane torch to heat the stickum and it should be easy to pick it off with a sharp pointed tool. I think the stickum will start to melt much sooner than the lead.

[GLL]

If you are doing a few soak in acetone overnight. Too expensive if doing a bucket full though!

Jerry

[alamogunr]

I too, am curious why the OP wants to preserve the stick-on wgts.

[Certaindeaf]

Smoke em if you got em. Ashes to ashes and all like that.

[MBTcustom]

It seems to me that trying to remove the sticky residue without just melting them is a waste of time and money? Why not just melt them down and cast them into bigger ingots?
If you are working with a Lee bottom pour pot, and you just want to keep the sticky from getting into the pot, then I can totally respect that.
In that case, use a propane torch and melt them on the bottom of a scrap dutch oven. Better yet, turn the dutch oven over and set it on top of a turkey fryer. Crank up the heat and melt those babies! take the shiny stuff and leave the gooey stuff.
However, if you throw some sawdust into the pot, the goo will stick to it, no problem.
I had a stick of Lynotype that was given to me a while ago. It was actually like a bunch of strips glued together. Anyways, I melt this stack of strips into my pot and it turns out that they were hollow, and full of what looked like hot-melt glue! You wanna talk about a mess! Well, I just reached and got a handful of saw-dust and in a few minutes I had a few gobs of char-coal stuck together with that goo, and the pot was just as clean as ever.
Sawdust is a casters friend! Give er a try!

[I'll Make Mine]

Occurs to me, maybe he's using them as *weights* and wants to keep the little cut lines and section weight markings intact -- but doesn't want them sticking to stuff (like the pan of a scale or balance). Wonder whether the backing is figured in to the marked weight?

[gwpercle]

The last time I did it, I used my pocket knife to remove most of the tape, what remained, I got off after soaking overnight in mineral spirits. It seemed most of it came off with the knife and only a bit of adhesive was on the weights. The old weights leave a bit more residue on them and require a bit of brushing to make totaly clean. I was only cleaning the majority of foam tape off so they wouldn't smoke so much when melting.

gary