Tried melting WW today...

[autopilotmp]

I had out my camp stove and a cast iron pan. Fired it up and put some WW in and let it go for about an hour and a half, no melting waited another half hour and the pan was really hot but still no melted led. Don't know if my burners just dont get hot enough to melt the led or what but after that I gave up. I had some lead bullets that wouldn't feed in my 1911 so I put them in my pot and melted them down and cast a few bullets. First time at this and some of the bullets turned out good (filled completely and were shiny) others had voids and wrinkles but were still shiny. Not sure what my problem is there but I can't wait to get some more lead so I can cast some more it was a blast. Was thinking I might use my old grill and build a wood fire to melt down the WW to get all the trash out and make ingots.

[Jal5]

YOu could try a lid on that pan to get the temp up hotter. Lots of guys melt WW using a coleman type stove. Search the old threads on this type set up.

[WILCO]

YOu could try a lid on that pan to get the temp up hotter.



Yep. I've got a lid for my chinese cast iron skillet. Another thing you might want to try is a wire coiled hotplate. I got mine from Walgreens.

[sffar]

I'm a bit new to this, but it was pointed out to me last week during a lesson in smelting that it's helpful to leave enough lead in a smelting pot to cover the bottom. Doing so gives a head start on the next casting session, as the heat is more readily absorbed by the solid layer of material, and contact with the heat is better when WW or whatever other raw stuff is added, as it gets immersed as the initial layer melts into a puddle. Thus, you get molten material much faster. I suppose you could pour a bit from your pot to get the layer, or try a torch directly on some raw stuff. Just be sure you're not unintentionally melting zinc at high torch heat into the puddle.
Maybe that'll help.

[autopilotmp]

was thinking a torch might have helped some too, didn't have a lid readily available will have to see if I can find one. Otherwise I think I'll borrow my dad's turkey cooker and use a cast iron pot I've had for 3yrs and haven't used.

[sffar]

That'll do it, though the same advice holds true, even with the bigger equipment. Lead formed in the bottom of the pot is a good practice. Doing so also keeps zinc from getting super heated under a pile of raw material and melting into your alloy, and still gets things started much more quickly.

[nwellons]

I've had trouble with wind interfering with the flame enough to keep from reaching the melting point. Had to move my equipment out of the wind to get it to work.

[imashooter2]

I smelted and cast thousands of pounds off a Coleman stove before I got a turkey fryer. How big was your pan? In my experience, 2 quarts (40ish pounds) is about all a Coleman will handle before melt time gets unreasonable.

[SciFiJim]

I had out my camp stove and a cast iron pan. Fired it up and put some WW in and let it go for about an hour and a half, no melting waited another half hour and the pan was really hot but still no melted led. Don't know if my burners just dont get hot enough to melt the led or what but after that I gave up. I had some lead bullets that wouldn't feed in my 1911 so I put them in my pot and melted them down and cast a few bullets. First time at this and some of the bullets turned out good (filled completely and were shiny) others had voids and wrinkles but were still shiny. Not sure what my problem is there but I can't wait to get some more lead so I can cast some more it was a blast. Was thinking I might use my old grill and build a wood fire to melt down the WW to get all the trash out and make ingots.


So, the know lead (the boolits) melted, but the WWs didn't? Make sure the check the WWs for hardness with a pair of wire cutters. If they are very hard, you have zinc WWs. The BBQ side burner I use to render WWs won't generate enough heat to melt the zinc, but does fine with lead.

[autopilotmp]

The wind was probably a major contributing factor it was rather gusty yesterday, maybe I will try it again. I was using a small like 8" cast iron pan. I'll be sure to leave a layer on the bottom of the pan when I finally get them to melt.

ScifiJim: I melted the boolits in my pot since they were already a clean material, just didn't want to put the WW in my lee pot.

[SciFiJim]

The wind was probably a major contributing factor it was rather gusty yesterday, maybe I will try it again.

Try making a windscreen of a double thickness of heavy duty foil wrapped around the base of the pot and extending downward.

[autopilotmp]

here are some pics of the bullets that i did cast (about half looked perfect and half looked like this). Not sure what my problem is...mold not hot enough?
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/autopilotmp/Picture013.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/autopilotmp/Picture012.jpg
thanks for the help guys

[xtpshooter]

I just use a lee pot to melt wheelweights. I only use this one for that purpose. I have been using it for 15 years and it still does the job.

[SciFiJim]

here are some pics of the bullets that i did cast (about half looked perfect and half looked like this). Not sure what my problem is...mold not hot enough?
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/autopilotmp/Picture013.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/autopilotmp/Picture012.jpg
thanks for the help guys


Yes, those show a cold mold. You said that half were perfect, and half were not. Did you notice when the perfect ones started showing? That would have been when your mold got up to the right temp. You might try preheating your mold more before you start.

Ooor, just cast some to preheat it knowing that those will be rejects and dropping them in a different pile. I enjoy the act of casting so don't mind getting rejects to heat my mold. It gives me a chance to get warmed up to the rhythm of casting as well.

[bandmiller2]

The small amount of lead left in the bottom of the pot is called a skull,it helps with a new melt.I have an outside wood furnace and a big cast iron pot,sort wheelweights and in a short time a potfull ready to skim and flux. Frank C.

[RKJ]

I tried my Coleman stove but found I was using more propane canisters than I wanted to (and didn't want to spend the $$$ for a large tank) I had read about the Walgreens hot plate and got one of those. I've since melted a bunch of WW and range lead with it. I have also had to use a wind break and a make shift lid to keep in the heat. I also use a small (cheap) candle to add to the heat, the melted wax seems to help separate the clips from the lead and pulls the dirt out. The hot plate sells for $10.00 or a little over so it's a pretty inexpensive investment.

[Upstate Matt]

This sounds like one of my first attempts. A shallow pan gets hot and then gives it right off. A cover was mentioned, this helped me. Also, the more ww's the better, the mass absorbs the heat more readliy. A deeper pot has less surface area and doesn'r give off the heat as quickly.

[a.squibload]

+1 on preheating the mold, closed, dip the bottom corners into the lead
'til the lead will fall off when you raise the mold out.
Also someone here mentioned he preheats the sprue plate, that helped me,
dip the tab into the lead for 10 sec., maybe more.

I used a 2-qt. pan and a Coleman gas stove for a long time, should melt WWs just fine.
I always sort before smelting, zinc will float but why waste the heat on the
steel and zinc WWs?

[autopilotmp]

Thanks for all the help guys. I brought home a piece of .040 aluminum sheet today from work and attached it to my stove for a windbreak and also used a small scrap of it to cover my pan. Don't think I'll have to worry about actually melting the zinc weights since I was lucky to melt the lead ones. Everything went well, slow but good. I poured about 10# of ingots tonight so I'll have something to start w/ next time I get the chance to set up my pot. I shot a few of the bullets that I cast last time, they shot nicely. I think I'm going to get a different mold since the Lee TL mold I bought puts out bullets that are just a little too short to work reliably in my 1911. Some mags fed okay and others FTF think I'll go with a regular SWC and pan lube. This is going to be an addiction I can tell already.:bigsmyl2:

[bryonbush]

autopilotmp: i think it would be wise to get a different mold. and to help you, im willing to take that evil one off your hands!