Anyone else stop fluxing?

[Oldbrowngun]

The last few batches of wheel weights i've processed, I stopped fluxing. I just stir the lead and pull out the dirt that comes up. When using my bottom pour pot I can say i've noticed no difference in castings of bullet accuracy ect. Anyone else find this? Im fairly new and still learning, so if im being stupid, feel free to let me know.

[earlmck]

I'm with you browngun -- haven't fluxed in years. I figure that is why God invented bottom-pour pots. That said, I do appreciate the beautiful clean double-fluxed ingots produced by some of our vendors.

[toallmy]

I'm not shore if what I do would be considered fluxing when I'm cooking down scrap lead , a shot of old used motor oil burned off makes a nasty fire but a nice ingot .

[lightman]

I'm just the opposite. I probably flux even more now than I did years ago. Especially when smelting scrap.

[toallmy]

I have never had a problem with impurities in the mix after stirring and skimming , I ladle out from the middle of the smelting pot into muffin pans . A small piece of bee's wax in the bottom pore when refilling cleans up the top of the casting pot nicely as well .

[jmort]

"I'm just the opposite. I probably flux even more now than I did years ago. Especially when smelting scrap."

^^^ This
More fluxing
More better
What quality alloy do you want in your melting pot???

[RU shooter]

For the wee little bit of effort it takes why not throw a little flux into the smelting pot or give it a stir or two with a piece of wood. I probably flux more than is needed but it makes me feel better about the finished product.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The last few batches of wheel weights i've processed, I stopped fluxing. I just stir the lead and pull out the dirt that comes up. When using my bottom pour pot I can say i've noticed no difference in castings of bullet accuracy ect. Anyone else find this? Im fairly new and still learning, so if im being stupid, feel free to let me know.

Unless your wheel weights are cleaned and paint-free, you "ARE" fluxing.


Saw dust is an excellent flux for COWW (bonus, it's free)... it's what I use.

[reddog81]

You might be able to get by without fluxng. Is there some benefit to not fluxing? It takes less than a minute and gets rid of crud you don't want that could cause problems.

The few batches of wheel weights I've processed were pretty dirty so I'd consider fluxing a must with them.

[Gtek]

Keeping the heat as low as possible and stirring with a piece Cedar shim has been working pretty well for me.

[SwampShooter]

Okay let me preface this by saying I Just finished my first smelt of COWW last weekend. I have however been involved in casting metal (brass/bronze/aluminum) to some extent for a long time. Since this was the first time working with lead specifically for bullet casting I was paying very close attention to what was happening. I noticed that before fluxing with paraffin the clips floating on top were partially covered with alloy, afterwards they were covered in soot and totally alloy free. I also noticed that there actually was material to scrape off of the walls and bottom of my crucible (okay it was just a pot), that material was not there before. Since I certainly did not add enough flux to generate that much material I would have to say it was in the alloy before but not attached to the walls. Now this is a single data point from someone who was doing this for the first time but it seemed pretty cut and dry, fluxing not only keeps the more alloy in the pot but removes a bunch of junk. Unless I was inside where the smoke and fire could be an issue is see no reason to not flux. From a safety/health point of view I won't be doing this in a place that I can't make some smoke anyway so that is a moot point.

Now just to play devils advocate, what are the potential consequences of not fluxing?
Ive read that some of the tin is more likely to be removed. I'll bite, that makes sense. Now assuming I don't mind that what else can happen? These are wheel weights, mine have a fair amount of dirt and brake dust on them. Realistically can those, even in small amounts, cause cylinder/barrel damage? There are lots of ceramic disk brake pads out there. Ceramic is rather abrasive (as a potter I can attest to that), but I don't know if if the amounts involved would have a measurable impact. Kind of like having sand in your shoe, a grain or two shouldn't rub you raw, but a tablespoon certainly can. Are we talking "grains or tablespoons" here?

[Bigslug]

I gave up on sawdust fluxing, concluding that it's hokum. I didn't see the sense in trying to stir super-light carbon ash into a deep pot of super-dense lead for the purpose of it basically doing. . .nothing?

Anything you want to get out of your wheel weights and range lead is considerably lighter than the lead and will float to the top provided you do the stir and scrape sufficiently. It doesn't need an additional life jacket to make it to the surface, and your carbon-ash (being a highly buoyant life jacket), can't be forced deeply enough under the surface to reach what you want to grab, so why bother with it? Between a bottom pour smelter and a bottom pour casting pot, you've floated your crud to the top away from the spigot TWICE before you make a bullet. Ponder it logically - what's going to be left in the lead after that?

The sawdust is handy to help burn off grease & lube puddles, but as far as cleaning the molten metal, I let gravity do that for me.

[waksupi]

I still stir my pot with a stick. It frees up any kitty litter sticking to the inside of the pot, and it seems there is always some sort of other contaminants that surface. A stick goes all the way to the bottom. No way will any light substance applied to the surface do that.

[TaylorS]

I had been scraping the top stirring and scraping again before fluxing as not to loose tin content but maybe I need to stir flux into the pot to get full benifits


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[mdi]

When I "smelt" I flux to get clean alloy. I use what ever is handy like sawdust, candle wax/old lube and charcoal, etc.. When I'm casting stir (vigorously) with a rough cut wooden stick.

[redhawk0]

If you have Dirty WW...then the oils, greases, dirt..etc is all carbon based...Carbon makes a great flux...that's why sawdust, sticks, leaves...etc make good flux. So in essence..you really are fluxing without even knowing it.

redhawk

[FLINTNFIRE]

I throw some sawdust and wood residue in when melting any scrap along with a good blast or 2 of used oil makes the lead flow easier , in casting pot (bottom pour ) I use cat litter and stir with a stick easy enough to do , use whatever you like or however you find works for you.

[Oldbrowngun]

You might be able to get by without fluxng. Is there some benefit to not fluxing? It takes less than a minute and gets rid of crud you don't want that could cause problems.

The few batches of wheel weights I've processed were pretty dirty so I'd consider fluxing a must with them.

Having to try and bum some sawdust from lowes or home depot. Having to store a bucket of sawdust along with my other dozens of items for casting/reloading ect. When using parafin, even the goodwill seems to want a hefty price for it. And I end up with a black wet substance on top thats harder to skim out then the crud that floats to the top. I've simply not noticed a difference then stirring several times and skimming the top my lead looks just as clean and performs the same either way. So why bother?

[Oldbrowngun]

If you have Dirty WW...then the oils, greases, dirt..etc is all carbon based...Carbon makes a great flux...that's why sawdust, sticks, leaves...etc make good flux. So in essence..you really are fluxing without even knowing it.

redhawk

Maybe this is why I dont have to flux lol. I dont know, I just know that I honestly notice no difference so I dont bother any longer.

[Oldbrowngun]

Okay let me preface this by saying I Just finished my first smelt of COWW last weekend. I have however been involved in casting metal (brass/bronze/aluminum) to some extent for a long time. Since this was the first time working with lead specifically for bullet casting I was paying very close attention to what was happening. I noticed that before fluxing with paraffin the clips floating on top were partially covered with alloy, afterwards they were covered in soot and totally alloy free. I also noticed that there actually was material to scrape off of the walls and bottom of my crucible (okay it was just a pot), that material was not there before. Since I certainly did not add enough flux to generate that much material I would have to say it was in the alloy before but not attached to the walls. Now this is a single data point from someone who was doing this for the first time but it seemed pretty cut and dry, fluxing not only keeps the more alloy in the pot but removes a bunch of junk. Unless I was inside where the smoke and fire could be an issue is see no reason to not flux. From a safety/health point of view I won't be doing this in a place that I can't make some smoke anyway so that is a moot point.

Now just to play devils advocate, what are the potential consequences of not fluxing?
Ive read that some of the tin is more likely to be removed. I'll bite, that makes sense. Now assuming I don't mind that what else can happen? These are wheel weights, mine have a fair amount of dirt and brake dust on them. Realistically can those, even in small amounts, cause cylinder/barrel damage? There are lots of ceramic disk brake pads out there. Ceramic is rather abrasive (as a potter I can attest to that), but I don't know if if the amounts involved would have a measurable impact. Kind of like having sand in your shoe, a grain or two shouldn't rub you raw, but a tablespoon certainly can. Are we talking "grains or tablespoons" here?

Im still fairly new to this but i've done it off and on for a few years and if you had alloy still sticking to the clips then to me it sounds like your alloy simply wasnt up to tempature yet. Once it hits tempature, it doesnt stick to anything.