1st smelt - Photo

[t_dickinson]

Thanks for all the advice over the past few weeks. I did my first smelt yesterday and while I have room for improvement, I think it went okay.

I did 50 lbs of 60/40 solder and got about 45 lbs of ingots. Most look frosted and just a couple were shiney. Some even had swirls of color. Is all this variation okay?

Thank you RayinNH for the awesome ladle!! Extremely accurate pour with no drips.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=31744&stc=1&d=1303597559

[454PB]

Your picture link is bad.

[t_dickinson]

How about now?

[clodhopper]

The pictures are good.
Your ingots may have been shineyer if the metal were not quite as hot.
But that doesn't matter the alloy is unharmed.

[t_dickinson]

CH, you are pretty keen. The pot got up to 800 and then down to 400. Finally got it stable at 600. I wasn't worried because I knew there was no other metal in there.

The fryer is tough to dial in. I learned that you have to anticipate temp. I turned it way up and when it went to 600 I turned it down but it was too late and the temp kept climbing.

Small adjustments and patience are key.

I will practice the next batch with range scrap because I know it will be zinc free.

When I can control the heat better I will move to the WW.

[gray wolf]

Am I reading that correctly ?


I did 50 lbs of 60/40 solder and got about 45 lbs of ingots.

You got 50# of 60/40 solder, if so good on you.

[lylejb]

Congrats on the first smelt.


I did 50 lbs of 60/40 solder and got about 45 lbs of ingots

I'd say you did very well.:bigsmyl2:

If my math is right, that's 27 lbs of tin. Your set for quite some time. Many people add 2% tin to the melt, so at that rate your good for 1350 lbs of boolits.:drinks:

I would suggest you mark each and every one of those ingots, so no mistakes or confusion happens. The tin is too valuable to waste.

[man.electric]

Your melt looks just like solder should. Color variation with medium to high tin alloys is common and sometimes unavoidable. I melt many large batches of 99% tin and as the level of the dutch oven gets lower and the temperature increases the color goes from shiny silver to yellow/gold to a gold/purple mix. The dull silver look to your melt looks perfect for 60/40 solder. Nice work!

[t_dickinson]

Am I reading that correctly ?



You got 50# of 60/40 solder, if so good on you.

You are indeed reading correctly. I called 5 radiator shops. The first uses a tank and said I could buy it for .50/lb so I may go to him if I need to. The second guy told me ha had a bucket full and would just give it to me.

I toured his shop. He solders over a steel pan and empties it into a bucket after the drippings cool. He only does radiators and only uses 60/40 (showed me the 25lb rolls) so I can trust that there are no unknown metals in the mix.

He told me to call every couple months and he would just give it all to me.

Yesterday, a service mgr at a dealership told me he would GIVE me all the WW I can handle from now on.

I'm lovin life!

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Thou shall not covet....... thou shall not covet........... dang, if I gave myself a second I've be envious also.

[fredj338]

I like the ingot mold. Good score on the solder, now go find some pure lead ot mix it with.

[Papa Jack]

I found several of those Cast Iron molds in a junk store a while back. I thought they'd make really nice ingots, I picked one up and flipped the price tag over, quickly replaced the mold where I found it ...
Price tag read $75.00 ! EACH....

Interesting about the 60/40 Solder, I have a bunch of it too from an industrial circuit board soldering operation. It's in dripped masses and spillage, I need to smelt it down into ingots. Think I'll just use the Muffin Pan molds or my small bread pan molds... PJ

[fredj338]

I found several of those Cast Iron molds in a junk store a while back. I thought they'd make really nice ingots, I picked one up and flipped the price tag over, quickly replaced the mold where I found it ...
Price tag read $75.00 ! EACH....

Interesting about the 60/40 Solder, I have a bunch of it too from an industrial circuit board soldering operation. It's in dripped masses and spillage, I need to smelt it down into ingots. Think I'll just use the Muffin Pan molds or my small bread pan molds... PJ
If you don't mind buying one, the Lee ingot mold has 2-2# & 2-1# ingots. The 1# would be just about right for solder.