FISH4BUGS
11-27-2006, 09:22 AM
I started smelting my score of 5 buckets of WW yesterday and came across way too many zinc wheel weights. These were just collected WW's from the shop, and were probably taken off cars in the last month or less.
Square ones marked Zn, long skinny tape backed ones NOT marked ZN, standard WW styles marked Zn, standard ones NOT marked Zn.....there were all kinds.
Two buckets got done yesterday, probably about 120 or so lbs net ingots. I came up with over 20 zinc WW's in those 2 buckets......way too many for my taste.
I did NOT have a thermometer, rather I just added a BUNCH of WW at a time (probably ten pounds or so at a pop) to the melt and those that didn't melt right away were zinc ones. As the temp started to come back up in the cast iron pot, the regular lead weights would melt before the zinc. You get this big ball of stuff, then slushy lead, then all except the zinc is melted. Skim and move quickly and you can get the zinc out of there before they melt. I think I'll get a thermometer some day to watch even closer.
Score another one for the tree huggers! They don't even know that we recycle the WW's! I even recycle the steel clips left over. Oh well......only 1300 lbs to go.
Square ones marked Zn, long skinny tape backed ones NOT marked ZN, standard WW styles marked Zn, standard ones NOT marked Zn.....there were all kinds.
Two buckets got done yesterday, probably about 120 or so lbs net ingots. I came up with over 20 zinc WW's in those 2 buckets......way too many for my taste.
I did NOT have a thermometer, rather I just added a BUNCH of WW at a time (probably ten pounds or so at a pop) to the melt and those that didn't melt right away were zinc ones. As the temp started to come back up in the cast iron pot, the regular lead weights would melt before the zinc. You get this big ball of stuff, then slushy lead, then all except the zinc is melted. Skim and move quickly and you can get the zinc out of there before they melt. I think I'll get a thermometer some day to watch even closer.
Score another one for the tree huggers! They don't even know that we recycle the WW's! I even recycle the steel clips left over. Oh well......only 1300 lbs to go.