Bugger Smelting Scrap.
I got 2 x 500KG skids of 2.6.92 delivered today.
Sweet....
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Bugger Smelting Scrap.
I got 2 x 500KG skids of 2.6.92 delivered today.
Sweet....
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Australia
That sure is the easier optionOriginally Posted by Ausglock
The scrap is cheaper, but does take quite a but of time to be cleaned so it's usable again. Yours goes straight into the pot and turned into cash.
Tazza,That sure is the easier option
The scrap is cheaper, but does take quite a but of time to be cleaned so it's usable again. Yours goes straight into the pot and turned into cash.
Re-cycling scrap is OK, but you also need to know a lot more details on metal that was reclaimed such as composition and hardness. Hardness is easy to test, but metal composition requires sophisticated analysis.
I am always a bit concerned about a mix being recycled as to what is in the final product.
I have seen many problems over the years with problems occurring with trying to coat mystery metals.
Tell me about it.
My Niobium contaminant is very interesting : it causes random,unpredictable problems that differ from colour to colour. Even with properly HCL soaked bullets, I can't get perfect Zombie Green using my Nb alloy. Clean alloys coat ZG just fine.
TMG Gold doesn't seem to mind Nb much at all... did I ever mention how much I like TMG Gold?
i believe 90+ % of it will be factory ammo as there is a butt load of copper jackets in the mix, so hopefully it's not too much of a mystery, yet hardness does need to be altered as the jacketed projectiles are not hard cast, just softer lead. So far i have had no issues with it, hopefully it will stay that way too.
The biggest issue i have is getting all the lead from the dross. I get quite a bit of powder that is very heavy. I have fluxed like a psychopath and it still will not come out. I was getting ready to dump a few buckets worth and felt how heavy a ladle full was, so i hit it with my oxy torch, and saw shiny metal appear, not sure if the extra heat from the flame was burning off the rubbish and leaving the lead behind or not. Or of it just melted all the small beads into one big blob.
Tazza,
heating with Acetylene torch may be a good idea, (aside from Lead fumes) especially if flame is deprived from adequate Oxygen. The Acetylene rich flame would result in being an anti-oxidant reducing flame that would probably strip Oxide off the Lead to release the Lead. To try and release Lead from Lead Oxides, you really are better to use powdered Steel or iron filings. The Iron will strip off the Oxide to release Lead. The iron will become Iron Oxide which will float on molten Lead.
Petander,
can you tell me with as much details of what you get, or what actually happens, when trying to coat Nb metal with Zombie Green?
If it is a colour change, there may be an explanation for colour change. Aside from heat, turning the Green to Tan , please describe what actually happens?
Dansedgli,
Yes, it is available in 500g Jars, smallest pack.
This is very unscientific but using contaminated alloy my ZG looks 'dry" no matter how I bake. And even when overbaked long and/or hot, it will release lots of green colour in wipe test. Even bronze bullets leave green wipe. It won't bond good,being rather paint-like.
My clean alloys bake more elastic,tough,proper ZG.
I started out with mostly ZG, lots of failures until I got my alloy tested and started HCL soaking.
If you are keen on separating lead from dross.
Get a sheet of Stainless steel 18 inches long and 12 inches wide.
Mount it on a 45 deg angle.
Heat it with a propane burner from below.
Have a collection pot etc about 6 inches below and to the side of the bottom of the plate so there is an air gap.
Pour your molten lead/dross on the top of the plate and let it run down the plate. The molten lead will speed down the plate and jump the air gap and fall into the pot. the dross will meander down the plate and fall through the air gap into another collection pot.
You don't need huge heat to separate it.
Simples.
BTW... this is how Northern Smelters cleans their lead.
Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor.
Australia
Very interesting, i think i'll have to give this setup a try when we can make fires again. Sounds like a fairly simple method to separate the two.
Joe - Never thought about the composition of the flame, but does make sense. Years ago at high school we turned lead oxide into a bead of lead with a match, it used the carbon from the wood to do it under heat. I have a metal lathe that always has many metal chips under it.
I use a coke-fired forge, so lots of smoke and flame, not a good idea where I live in the Adelaide Hills (makes people nervous!).
My range scrap is 99% commercial (coated) pistol ammo, the rest is a bit of .22 and pure muzzleloader stuff. I'm not worried about the quality. And yeah, my dross feels like there's more in suspension but I can't be stuffed trying to salvage it.
One of my last rang scrap batches had a lot of 9mm jacketed hard ball in it and they were a brass colour, was told by one of the pistol boys they were some Chinese cheap rubbish I don't know what was in them but the alloy was a lot like aluminium and would not cast properly or accept coating. It made great sinkers though. Regards Stephen
yup sorted and sent...happy days.
Don't worry about life, no-one gets out alive.
Last time I ran range scrap to ingots I got near as much useless dross as I did usefull ingots.
RS is a horrible lead, bhn varies from batch to batch. I am happy to stick with WW for now.
Range scrap be good if you could do a whole large cauldron full to help even out the BHN variance.
I need to take a run to Northern smelters in the new year, I am near out of antimony and tin ingots.
total cast over the last 2 sessions 42.54 punds of 126gn Conical 8mm or 2363 if you like individual count.
Cleaned and tumbled, now to rinse and pick a colour to coat them..
Happy Xmas to all. Mike.
Last edited by Gremlin460; 12-20-2019 at 02:15 AM.
Don't worry about life, no-one gets out alive.
Thankfully this scrap is indoor range scrap, so not full of the dirt garbage. I'm with you on the equal amount of rubbish to ingots, that's about what i get from my local range when i pillage the mound on the 50m range.
With the indoor range scrap, i get about 80% recovery i think, i will need to work out if it's worth my time to try and process the dross further to try and get the lead out or not. I know there is a fair amount in there, but how much time and materials will it cost me to get it, it may not be economical to do so.
As fro variations, my pot is generally pretty full, i cant remember exactly how much it holds, but it has to be 200 or more kg, so it gives a decent consistency. I then check the BHN and add some lino to give it tin and bring the hardness up a bit. Even a small amount helps a lot with filling out the mould better, they just seem to cast so much nicer than pure range lead.
200kgs is a big pot. Mine is like 30 when full.
My range scrap is off an indoor range with a steel backplate. I bought home 366kgs after shovelling for 15 minutes and got 242kgs of lead ingots. The rest is sand or busted sticks.
Apart from loading and unloading the car it's pretty easy work.
Thanks Joe, ill order some blue in the new year.
My pot is made with an end of an old 40kg? LPG bottle, the size that you see on houses that use LPG. Welded inside a section of a 44 gallon drum, fueled by dried out trees.
Not a bad score for 1 minutes work collecting. I spent about 6 hours at my local range digging through the berm to get 300 odd KG......
Wow,this is bad when mixed with proper lead.
I didn't think aluminum alloys melted at lead alloy temps?
Pure aluminum melts at something like 1220 F. Alloys tend to melt at lower temperatures, but the. Lowest I could find on a quick search had what I think was a solidus temp of 890 F.
Maybe zinc? Regardless, whatever the alloy is in those slugs, if it messed up the alloy it still bites.
Last edited by kevin c; 12-22-2019 at 11:44 PM.
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