First Time Melting - Observations and a Question

[popper]

Don't think the muffin pans are tin coated, mostly Al. coated steel. Usually the problem is the contraction of the steel when cooling - holds on to the ingot tight. turn over on concrete when lead is solid but not cold and they usually drop right out, May need to 'drop' the pan a couple times to get the difficult ones out. As you are smelting, temp of lead is higher than casting temp, steel expands, then contracts when cooling. I don't fill to the top and most are right at 2#.
Leather work gloves are great for casting, along with long sleeve cotton shirt, ball cap - you choice of shield or glasses. Even casting can create lots of little 'spatters' that will not be fun. Lee bottom dripper is notorious.

[OTShooter]

Don't think the muffin pans are tin coated, mostly Al. coated steel. Usually the problem is the contraction of the steel when cooling - holds on to the ingot tight. turn over on concrete when lead is solid but not cold and they usually drop right out, May need to 'drop' the pan a couple times to get the difficult ones out. As you are smelting, temp of lead is higher than casting temp, steel expands, then contracts when cooling. I don't fill to the top and most are right at 2#.
Leather work gloves are great for casting, along with long sleeve cotton shirt, ball cap - you choice of shield or glasses. Even casting can create lots of little 'spatters' that will not be fun. Lee bottom dripper is notorious.

Nope, this one was tinned. Which is why I was so amazed. I went through a goodly amount of propane heating ONE of the cups to make it “let go” without any change in the grip. And there’s a characteristic grainy finish on the bottom and sides of the ingots once I beat them out - it is identical to what you see with a solder joint that failed because the wire or lead wasn’t mechanically secured to the pad or terminal.

Not that it matters now. I recycled what was left of that tin, and on Friday I got the Lee ingot mold I ordered. If the weather had cooperated - at all - today, I’d have tried the mold out already.

Now I’m going through the big old pile of wheel weights I haven’t yet melted, and finding the occasional zinc weight. I’m using a combination of scratching with a carbide scribe, squishing with a pair of pliers, and bending (the long ones, anyway). The bigger ones are easier to verify as lead (or not), but I have a bunch of small ones - even tiny ones. I wonder what the absolute smallest wheel weight is, since I found one that looked like they dipped the steel clip in liquid lead...twice.

[OTShooter]

Here are a couple of pictures of those tiniest weights. They're on generic paper towel for scale.


They're all (as far as I can tell) 0.25 ounces or 7 grams. Which must also include the weight of the clip. Wow.