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Thread: Zinc Wheelweights

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy 38 Super Auto's Avatar
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    Zinc Wheelweights

    I did some sorting and smelting yesterday. I have found a new supplier for free wheel weights. It's fairly small, but regular. I was surprised about the number of zinc and steel wheelweights that I found. Anyway, I learned a few things and I wanted to share with some photos.

    These photos are all zinc or steel wheelweights - all but three of these WWs are ferrous. Some of this has been reported before - my observations are:

    1) Zinc or steel wheelweights are perceptibly lighter
    2) When you scratch a steel WW, it only removes the paint. With a Zn WW, there is minimal penetration. With Pb alloy WWs, a screwdriver will penetrate deeper.
    3) Zinc or steel WWs produce a higher pitched ring when dropped on concrete. Lead WW make more of a thud
    4) A couple of them are marked with a Zn - some have a Fe (steel) with a number
    5) Some of the Zn and steel WWs use a different method to attach weight metal to clip. I think due to zinc or steel's higher strength, they don't always bury the end of the clip into the WW metal. This is evident on the RH column of weights in the middle picture.
    6) When you squeeze them with pliers, lead alloy WWs deform easily and Zn or steel WWs do not. refer to the RH photo

    I think item #6 is the most important for me. I usually do other stuff during smelting and I check on the pot every 5 min or so. I use a slow flame on my cooker and I'd rather not hang aroung and suck up the noxious fumes emanating from the cauldron.

    So what I did is spend about 20 min for 50# of WWs, checking each weight to make sure it deforms when squeezed with combination pliers. I slipped the jaw to the larger setting and squeezed each WW on the wire cutting (inside) jaws of the pliers. (see RH photo) As I mentioned the lead WWs deform easily and the Zn or steel WWs do not deform at all.

    I know this isn't earthshaking, but I wanted to share for those casters who haven't encountered Zn or steel WWs in the mix. This test requires a little time, but it keeps me from worrying about ruining a batch of ingots with zinc.

    Obviously, is is important to remove the zinc WWs before the smelt reaches the melting point of zinc ( approx 780F).


    [IMG]http://castboolits.gunloads.com/newattachment.php?f=8&poststarttime=1203898850&*** thash=32adee6e8c62462adf1a8460b5557972[/IMG]
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Zn1 small.jpg   zn2 small.jpg   zn3 small.jpg  
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    Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms." (Federalist Paper #46) - James Madison

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  2. #2
    Boolit Master & Generous Contributor

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    I counted 19 Zinc WW out of one bucket full of WW last week. There may have been a few more. I found the 19 skimming off clips.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy opentop's Avatar
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    I for one appreciate the information as I’m just getting into scrounging for wheel weights. So far my casting has been for BP only and I used lead pipe.

    So thank you for posting so some of us newbies can learn a thing or two………or three

  4. #4
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    so can we sticky this? as it's commonly asked and this is a good thread!

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I've yet to run into a certified zinc wheelweight, but I have found quite a few steel ones. They are marked "Fe", and are easily verified with a magnet. Place the magnet on the end of the weight, because the clips are all steel.
    You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

  6. #6
    Boolit Master Whitespider's Avatar
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    I run into quite a few zinc, steel and plastic in the WWs I get from the GM dealership, but rare in the buckets I get from the independent tire stores.

  7. #7
    In Remembrance


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    fe is the atomic symbol for iron, and that's what they are made of. DALE

  8. #8
    Boolit Master The Double D's Avatar
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    Don't forget to save your zinc wheelweights and send them to me... When I get home in April I will start casting them in my golf ball diameter mould for your mortars and cannons. 50/50 you pay postage.
    Douglas, Ret.

  9. #9
    Boolit Bub
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    Any way of getting zinc out of smelted lead ingots? Came up with new source only to find lots of zinc weights in it. Lucky, I saw something was wrong and stopped there. The top of the molten metal was FLUFFY, so I fluxed and skimmed only to remove half of what I had to begin with. It also had a deep purple color to it. Time to put Glasses on and inspect more closely before adding.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master & Generous Contributor

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    I just dump all of mine in the smelting pot. I do pick out the stick on WW and if I see a suspicious WW, I’ll pull it out of the mix. I smelt at a low temp. Just as soon as the melt liquidifies I start skimming the clips off. This is where I find my zinc WW's still unmelted. The Zinc WW melts at a higher temp and I keep my temp just hot enough to keep the regular WW liquid. I’ve even run test by throwing known zinc WW’s in the mix and watching them. They never melted.

    Oldfartz, I’m new to casting and so far have never contaminated my melt with Zinc. I’ve read on this forum that the best way to remove zinc from the lead is to keep the melt at a temp just above what it takes to liquidfy the mix. Leave it undisturbed and the zinc crystals will float to the top and can be skimmed off.

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    The zinc ones (and steel) float, just skim them off. Has worked since they first turned up over here some 10years ago.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Andy_P's Avatar
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    Melting zinc wheelweights is the Grand "Boogie Man" of casters, but even with the most casual of care is completely avoidable.

    They melt well above the temperature of lead-based wheelweights and can easily be skimmed off. All you have to do, is skim as soon as the "slush" has gone to liquid - the zinc WW will be intact, and floating among the steel clips and other trash. Skim, and add more, or skim and ladle out into ingots and add more. Don't crank the heat up and go inside for a nap, because then you might melt some zinc.

    I say might, because I once tried to melt some zinc wheelweights and was only able to do that after putting a handful of zinc and a handful of lead into an empty pot and cranking it to high for 20 minutes. 10 minutes after the lead had melted the zinc finally went slushy and five minutes after that had melted - barely.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    That is wishful thinking!!
    Once the Zinc is melted, you are screwed!! It becomes part of the alloy.
    Would be akin to trying to separate the whisky from the ginger ale after it was poured.
    Pepe Ray
    The way is ONLY through HIM.

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by dale clawson View Post
    fe is the atomic symbol for iron, and that's what they are made of. DALE
    Yes, Fe is the symbol for iron, but put one of them on a grinding wheel and you'll see by the sparks that it is steel.
    You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy 38 Super Auto's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 454PB View Post
    I've yet to run into a certified zinc wheelweight, but I have found quite a few steel ones. They are marked "Fe", and are easily verified with a magnet
    454, you make a good point. I went and checked: of all the WWs in the photo, only three were zinc (two of these three had a 'Zn' in raised lettering on the WW.

    I will go back and make some clarifications in my original post.

    Thanks for the tip.
    .
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    Americans have the right and advantage of being armed, unlike the people of other countries, whose leaders are afraid to trust them with arms." (Federalist Paper #46) - James Madison

    Heard on the street about our current POTUS: he is inebriated by the eloquence of his own verbosity...


  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    [QUOTE]I for one appreciate the information as I

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    I for one appreciate the information as I’m just getting into scrounging for wheel weights. So far my casting has been for BP only and I used lead pipe.

    So thank you for posting so some of us newbies can learn a thing or two………or three


    so can we sticky this? as it's commonly asked and this is a good thread!
    I'll second the thanks regarding the pictures and information.

    I picked up an additional source of WW, and so far, I kid you not, almost HALF of the two buckets are zinc weights. I'm starting to get a nervous twitch every time I toss something in the smelting pot--wondering if it is zinc in drag, or some tranveszinctite wheel weight just waiting to ruin my batch.

    And I'll WHOLEHEARTEDLY second the motion about making this particular thread a sticky. I'm in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and thanks to all the flakes that have moved here, our tire shops and dealerships are becoming more flake-conscious.

    We're gonna see more zinc wheel weights. Just a matter of time.

    Jeff

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Brand new here. Just wanted to say hello to everyone.
    I've been casting for about 4 years. Currently I'm casting for a .45 Colt, .45 ACP, and .357/.38
    Hate to ask fool questions, and I'm sure it's on another thread somewhere, but what does zinc, melted in with your alloy, do that is so terrible?
    I smelt down about 20lb at a time, I pick out the valve stems, used wads of Red Man, etc. beforehand. Then melt it at high heat on a coleman stove, then clean off the clips, plastic weights, etc. But I'm sure (looking at the pics above) that I've melted zinc in with my alloy.
    Does zinc just cause consistency problems, or will it harm anything?

  19. #19
    Boolit Master copdills's Avatar
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    Thanks for the information , Great Help

  20. #20
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    Welcome aboard Potsy, and all the other new guys. Enjoy yourselves, You will probably find more info than you know what to do with here!
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check