Unlikely smelting tools

[ChuckJaxFL]

If this idea has been posted before, I failed to find it with the search.

I managed to get two buckets of indoor range scrap. The range uses tire mulch as a backstop material.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2321/5798203658_0fae031651.jpg

The lead is pretty much pulverized into powder, and is full of tire chunks, shredded target paper/stickers, something fiberous (nylon threads from tires, maybe?), and a lot of powdered rubber. The rubber is the problem, of course. I tried floating it off. It sinks!

I finally tried dumping some into the tumbler, then holding the shop vac hose an inch or so over the scrap as it tumbles and rotates. The paper & cardboard, dirt & dust, and a LOT of the rubber are picked up by the suction, but the lead isn't. It's not 100%, but it's a good start and it takes just a minute to do a bowl full.

Before
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5074/5797642671_2284953435.jpg
After
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/5797644745_d32643f0f9.jpg

[bumpo628]

Looks like a good idea.
I've used compressed air before to blow bits of paper out of the lead, but I don't like the idea of the airborne dust. Your method looks a bit safer.

[runfiverun]

rubber will float on dense salt water.
it also floats on melted lead extremely good, the paper and tire fabric burns quite well helping the flux.

[ChuckJaxFL]

it also floats on melted lead extremely good

True. That is my first & favorite technique, but I'm now in a pretty tightly packed urban environment.

Got any tips on dealing with the smoke & smell?

[Johnch]

True. That is my first & favorite technique, but I'm now in a pretty tightly packed urban environment.

Got any tips on dealing with the smoke & smell?

Yep
Smelt at night :redneck:
When the temp is low enough the neibors have their windows closed [smilie=l:

I will never admit to it
But at 12 AM , 4 tires sure burn with a lot of smoke as you add them to the bondfire :holysheep

John

[ChuckJaxFL]

Yep
Smelt at night :redneck:
When the temp is low enough the neibors have their windows closed [smilie=l:

John

In Jacksonville? We have our windows open in the winter!
I'm thinking about waiting until the illegals on the back side of the fence have a BBQ.

Joking aside.... I just tried to melt a couple handfuls in a skillet in the driveway. Even with as much rubber and I pulled out... WOW. It's just too much stench.

I'll give the saltwater a try. Thanks to the poster than mentioned it!

[clintsfolly]

Add used motor oil to your melt and light it asap!! Will cut the smoke and smell down as well as flux your lead Clint

[1911GrayWolf]

I like!! Very good ideas with the shop vac and tumbler. A good sheetrock dust filter bag inside of the shop vac should eliminate all airborne contaminants. This will help me with all the pulverized cardboard fiber clumps and plastic mixed in with the dirt that comes home with my range scrap.

[Defcon-One]

....The lead is pretty much pulverized into powder.....I finally tried dumping some into the tumbler, then holding the shop vac hose an inch or so over the scrap as it tumbles and rotates....

Vibrator/tumbler? Aren't you at all worried about the lead dust?

Use a GOOD quality respirator, approved for Lead dust, and do this outside only!

The lead dust will be everywhere and that is the biggest threat to your health. Vapors are a myth at the temps that we use, but lead dust is not and it will find its way into your lungs if you give it a pathway.

Also, it will stay in the vacuum cleaner, filter, hose, etc. If you use it later for something else without cleaning it thoroughly you're putting yourself at risk again!

I'm glad that it works, but personally, I would look for a better/safer option!

Just my 2 cents......

[bumpo628]

Vibrator/tumbler? Aren't you at all worried about the lead dust?

Use a GOOD quality respirator, approved for Lead dust, and do this outside only!

The lead dust will be everywhere and that is the biggest threat to your health. Vapors are a myth at the temps that we use, but lead dust is not and it will find its way into your lungs if you give it a pathway.

Also, it will stay in the vacuum cleaner, filter, hose, etc. If you use it later for something else without cleaning it thoroughly you're putting yourself at risk again!

I'm glad that it works, but personally, I would look for a better/safer option!

Just my 2 cents......


Good point. I was only looking at the results when I commented previously.
I forgot about the vacuum exhaust and the dust.

Now that I think of it - burning everything the smelting pot may be the only way to do it. I would just toss it all in there and stay upwind.

[Texasflyboy]

True. That is my first & favorite technique, but I'm now in a pretty tightly packed urban environment.

Got any tips on dealing with the smoke & smell?


Yup...

Previous Post Urban Casting (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=96106&highlight=vac)

[ChuckJaxFL]

I'm glad that it works, but personally, I would look for a better/safer option!

Well... having tried to smelt the results, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it "works". It does clean out a lot of rubber but, unfortunately, enough is left behind to negate the trouble and risk.

My best results so far have been from taking a tip from the above thread. I put the pot on the turkey fryer, COVER the top of the lead/rubber completely with wood chips, put the lid on and apply the heat. When it started smoldering around the lid, I pulled the lid off and the wood self-ignited right on top of the melt. I let it go for awhile, skim and pour!

I wouldn't say it smelled just like a wood fire, but the smell-o-flage worked well enough that I could stand it (and subject the neighbors to it) long enough to get a couple 15 pound ingots poured!

Thanks, all, for the suggestions and criticisms. I'll attack it again next weekend and see if I can repeat the "success". This is a LOT more burdensome than WW to deal with, but the source is one I can probably count on for awhile. It will be worth it to come up with a successful system.

[zxcvbob]

I just finished rendering about 700 pounds of lead that looked a lot like your "after" picture but with still a few big rubber chunks (I just pick those out by hand.) Melted them 15 pounds at a time in a small pot with a tight-fitting lid. It stunk, but not too bad and the neighbors didn't complain. Took me a couple of weeks to finish it all, just doing one or two batches at a time on an electric hotplate.

I would have loved a really windy day where I could set the whole mess of it on fire and burn the rubber and paper out, but that just wasn't happening.

It sure is good lead (a little softer than I'd like) and it was free, so I can't complain.

[jsizemore]

Can't you find some corner of Camp Blanding to smelt? Blame the smell on equipment exhaust.

[ChuckJaxFL]

I just finished rendering about 700 pounds of lead that looked a lot like your "after" picture but with still a few big rubber chunks (I just pick those out by hand.) Melted them 15 pounds at a time in a small pot with a tight-fitting lid. It stunk, but not too bad and the neighbors didn't complain. Took me a couple of weeks to finish it all, just doing one or two batches at a time on an electric hotplate.

I would have loved a really windy day where I could set the whole mess of it on fire and burn the rubber and paper out, but that just wasn't happening.

It sure is good lead (a little softer than I'd like) and it was free, so I can't complain.

Well, I finished it all.

The tumbler attempt was a fail. It *does* remove some rubber & paper... but there's still soooo much left behind....

The trick that worked came from one of the links above. I put a layer of wood chips in the bottom of the pot.. put about 2" of lead chunks, rubber & all... a layer of wood chips.. a layer of lead. Kind of a lead parfait. I put the lid on, add heat. A little smoke tarted jetting out around the lid, then that stream of smoke self-ignited, so there was actually VERY little smoke at all. After I was fairly certain that all the lead was melted, I opened the lid (big fireball), stirred the now charcoal around in the lead for awhile, skimmed jackets and LOTs of black sooty ash, and poured ingots.

It's hardly melt-flux-skim-pour easy like wheel weights, but now that I know how to deal with the neighborhood smothering black-blue smoke, I wouldn't turn down a few more buckets of the stuff!