Radiator solder drippings

[odinohi]

Went to a radiator shop today (not many around, but there are a few). The guy had one bucket 3/4 full. My first time ever checking this crap out. To me it looked like a bunch of dirt. He said that it was about two years worth of crap. Felt around in it and felt a little bit of something (like I said, my first time). Ended giving the guy 8.00 and took it home. Scooped a little in a strainer and took the garden hose to it. Out of the 3/4 bucket full I ended up with maybe a quarter bucket of washed crap. Got most of the dirt and sand out of it anyways. Still all kinds of crap like rust,paint chips, and more crap. I start scratching my head and wondering what the hell am I doing with all this crap, nasty ass job. Then all of a sudden I wondered WHY I DONT EVEN MIND DOING IT. I think this boolit thing has me all screwed up. Thanks guys, Tom

[686]

now that you got it wet, let it dry good. pot it crap and all in your pot and melt it. the crap will come to the top . dip it off. flux good and what is left is good 60/40 soder. new would be baout $12.00 per lb. i got about 150 lbs that way once.

[high standard 40]

I'd bet you washed away a lot of usable solder. Some of the solder drippings I get are of a very small particle size. I use a cast iron pot and place the drippings just as I get them to a depth of about 4-6" and start to heat. It takes more time than wheel weights. I skim when this melts and add more drippings. No fluxing yet. Once I have melted as large a batch as I want to work with, I begin fluxing and skimming to clean the melt and then pour into ingots. I tried several processes to clean and sort before I try to melt. Takes less time and trouble to just start in melting it. Of course you need to be sure it is fully dried first. I spread mine out on large sheets of paste board on my shop floor with a fan blowing on it. Takes a couple of days to dry.

[Onlymenotu]

he he fun ain't it..... I just dumped mine in the rendering pot,,,, sand and all and just let it cook out,,, and dipped it off the top of the tin ....... for 8 bucks you'll get several lbs of tin..... you did ok

[Lead Fred]

I have a bud that owns a radiator shop.

What BHN we talking about here.

I could be sitting on a lead mind

[runfiverun]

not the bhn it's the tin content.

[Lloyd Smale]

most of it is 60/40 solder and like a few others i smelt it just like it comes. Its messy but it sure is nice to get free tin!

[high standard 40]

My radiator shop uses 40/60, not 60/40. And there is no way of knowing what is used originaly in the radiators they repair. Whatever it is, it's worth it.

[GLL]

I ran a specific gravity test on these ingots I made from the radiator shop.

They use 60/40 and the Sp.G. = 8.42

40/60 would be = 9.28.

Jerry





Here is another thread posted about the same topic last week !

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=61190

[high standard 40]

The thing is, what a particular radiator shop uses to repair radiators is less of a factor than what the radiator was first assembled with. Most of the solder drippings result from what the shop removes from the radiators they recieve for repair. The original solder could be 40/60, 50/50, 60/40, 63/37, or even 95/5. So the specific gravity test is a far better indicator than knowing what the shop is using. It's good stuff at any rate.

[felix]

True what you say when the state and federal laws are ignored. It is supposed to be 60/40, or more exact 63/37. ... felix

[GLL]

HS40:

I agree with you that anything could get in there ! The actual Sp.G of 60/40 = 8.4-8.5 and my shop uses 60/40 (spools available with Sp.G marked). I am fairly confident my ingots are pretty close to 60/40 ( Felix's 63/37 eutectic solder).

[felix]

The shop that says he is using 40/60 and if he is entirely legal via his supplier, then he is really using 60/40. Most folks don't realize that the largest number always comes first in the nomenclature. So, never assume that the first number is lead. ... felix

[felix]

Also, you really don't have to weigh it for specific gravity, unless there is some valid doubt after the following test. You got the good stuff when remelting a clean bar of your mess and it goes from solid to liquid in a NYS (New York Second). In other words, there is no slush created between solid and liquid (and vice versa). That is what the term "eutectic" means to us. Consider yourself lucky if you got the pure stuff, but usually some tin evaporated into thin air, and/or other metals got into your mess during its origional use and/or during your refining operations. ... felix

[high standard 40]

Far more knowledgeable people here than me. I was not aware of any laws applied to what solder a shop has to use. I do know that I looked at the spool of solder on a dispenser at the edge of his tank and it is factory marked 40/60. I always thought the first number was Tin and the second was Lead. But you know what they say about that word "assume" so I won't. I'm always open to clarification on any false assumtions I have.
Thanks for the knowledge.

[GLL]

I must admit I always thought the Sn % came first but my background is in natural silicate melts not metals!

Jerry

[RoyRogers]

40/60 solid core solder is 40% tin / 60% lead. 40/60 is not as strong as 60/40 and the heat/cool cycles a radiator goes through can cause a repair made with 40/60 to fail.

[SciFiJim]

I am with the pot is all and heat it up crowd. I don't wait for mine to dry first. I start with a cold pot and fill it to mounded over. The heating process dries it out. The last 5 gallon bucket I processed weighed about 150 lbs of water, sand, trash, and solder. I finished up with about 70 lbs of solder. Not bad for the $10 I gave for it. The shop I get it from fills up a 5 gallon bucket every six months. I need to go do a pick up run in a couple of weeks.

[dale2242]

Radiator solder drippings have to be the cheapest source of tin. I mix 1 ingot of solder with 9 ingots of WW for a 18-1 mixture or approximately Lyman #2 alloy.----dale