Lead extruder.

[kutil]

My new lead extruder.

[jrdztech]

Pardon my ignorance, but what in the world is that contraption?
I admire your craftsmanship, the device looks very solid and well thought.
Congratulations on your build Sir.


Got Brass

[uncle dino]

Nice build Kutil, how many kilos (lbs) per stroke of press? D

[kutil]

Lead dia 36mmx110mm/7,2mm, hydraulic cylinder dia 178mm, press 180 bar.

[runfiverun]

7.2 mm wire is what @ .280 American?

[guywitha3006]

Does your extruder work pretty well with only 180 bar (which, if I calculated right is only about 2600psi)? I was under the impression it would take a lot more force; I was worried a 20 ton press would be questionable.

[uncle dino]

Well, at 2600 psi on a 6.85 (174mm) inch cylinder@ 2600 psi pushes over 95000 lbs..nearly 50 tons. It'll run an ingot that size like butter...Psi is only part of the equation..the larger the cylinder the lower the psi needed. D

[PaulG67]

Impressive to say the least, would you have a video of it in operation??

[guywitha3006]

Uncle Dino, Thanks for the clarification. I figured I was missing part of the equation.

[Sasquatch-1]

It's a wire extruder to make lead wire for cutting cores while swaging.

To the OP...What diameter wires can you extrude with it and how many feet of each out of one of your ingots?

[kutil]

Last post for me is incomprehensible.Sorry.

[aaronraad]

Forward extrusion, not reverse extrusion?

Do you pre-heat the die and/or lead billet to get the extrusion started, or just go from a cold static start?

Do you operate the coil winder manually, or do you use a limit-switch with a pivot arm to maintain tension? I always thought a MIG welding wire spool feeder would be easy to adapt as a coil winder.

Design looks more robust than the average 50t log splitter, nice work kutil!

[Outpost75]

As FYI which might be helpful, at the arsenal we used to "back-extrude" 96-pound, 5" diameter billets pre-heated in a boiling water bath before being loaded into the extruder, set into the concrete floor and pressed down with a large hydraulic jack.

"Back-extrusion" forces the wire upwards through the die head, in the opposite direction of the piston whereas "direct" extrusion works on the same principle as a cake decorator.

When extruding hard 6% antimonial lead wire for cal. .50 and cal. .30 AP base fillers, soaking the billets in boiling water for 4-6 hours would reduce the extrusion force needed by about half. Hard alloy wire would be cut and stacked into 4 ft. lengths before being hoisted upstairs to be cut and pre-formed into bullet cores. Soft wire used for 5.56 mm and 7.62 Ball ammunition was wound onto ~50-lb. reels.

Pre-heating and back-extrusion also reduces the incidence of laminations in the wire, which is important if you want to produce match grade bullets, such as the M72 or M118 in cal. .30 or 7.62mm.

[runfiverun]

Kutil.
I think he was asking if you can do other diameters.

and how long of a wire do you get from each chunk of lead.

[kutil]

Ingot pushes cold - about 2.5 meters. It is necessary lubrication. Vegetable oil or soapy water. The wire is very hot.
D1=36mm/D2=7,2mm - 180 bar
D1=36mm/D2>7,2mm < 180 bar
D1=36mm/D2<7,2mm > 180 bar
Attachment 187766Attachment 187773Attachment 187774Attachment 187775

[runfiverun]

try some lanolin as your swage lube.
I cut mine with castor oil.
2 parts lanolin to 1 part castor oil.

[kutil]

My new smelting furnace

[uncle dino]

Very nice!

[woodbutcher]

Now that Sir is one sweet set up.Thanks for posting.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[midnight]

Boy, I thought I had a nice setup til I saw yours. My HydraSwage has a 3.5 inch cylinder with a .817 forward extruding punch. At 2000 psi on the cylinder I can get over 40,000 psi on the die. I can supply all my needs but yours is big enough to supply lead wire commercially to a lot of swagers. Plus it looks like you can extrude much harder wire than my setup. Pure or almost pure lead is all I can use.

Bob