How to find % of tin in solder drippings?

[aussie460mag]

Hi,

I am in the process of smelting 35kg of solder drippings, can you tell the difference between40/60 and 60/40 by using Lees harness tester?

Anyone know what the relative harnesses would be?

[alfloyd]

60/40 tin/lead will be 26 BHN.
50/50 tin/lead will be 17.5 BHN.
40/60 tin/lead will be 20.2 BHN.

This is what the lead alloy calculator I have says.

Lafaun

[Defcon-One]

Cast two .45 cal bullets in the same mold (I like the 230 gr. RN). One pure lead, the other with your Solder mix.

Using the densities of Lead and Tin, and the actual bullet weights in grains, you can figure it out exactly with a bit of math. Second time this question was asked this week. PM if you need help.

[bumpo628]

Here's what I found on the internet a while back:
50/50 = Brinell 14
60/40 = Brinell 16

You can also use the melting point to determine the composition:
621° = lead
563° = solder (10% tin & 90% lead)
529° = solder (20% tin & 80% lead)
504° = solder (30% tin & 70% lead)
464° = solder (40% tin & 60% lead)
428° = solder (50% tin & 50% lead)
374° = solder (60% tin & 40% lead)
362° = solder (63% tin & 37% lead) (eutectic)
365° = solder (70% tin & 30% lead)
392° = solder (80% tin & 20% lead)
421° = solder (90% tin & 10% lead)
450° = tin

I'm not sure, but I thought they only used 63/37 or 60/40 solder for radiators.

[southpaw]

Are you trying to tell the difference before you smelt them? Personally I would just smelt it all together and then do a specific gravity test to see what the final percent tin is. Here is how to do the specific gravity thing. You are gonna need a piece of the solder for this. I would cast a couple of boolits for this.

SW= sample weight
DW= dry weight
WW= wet weight

Weigh one of your boolits. This is your SW. Suspend this boolit from a piece of string and weigh it. This is you DW. Bring a cup of room temp water up under the boolit and just submerge it. This is your WW.

The formula is as follows:

SW / (DW-WW) = SG

The SG of pure tin is 7.318
for 50/50 SN/PB it is 8.882
for pure pb it is 11.34

If you get a number that is less than 7.3 or higher than 11.34 there is a math or measuring error. Check your work.

To find the percentage of tin that you have use the following formula.

2049.06 / SG - 180.69= % tin

Of course this only works if there are only PB and SN in the mix.

Hope this helps some.

Jerry Jr.

[jsizemore]

Here's what I found on the internet a while back:
50/50 = Brinell 14
60/40 = Brinell 16

You can also use the melting point to determine the composition:
621° = lead
563° = solder (10% tin & 90% lead)
529° = solder (20% tin & 80% lead)
504° = solder (30% tin & 70% lead)
464° = solder (40% tin & 60% lead)
428° = solder (50% tin & 50% lead)
374° = solder (60% tin & 40% lead)
362° = solder (63% tin & 37% lead) (eutectic)
365° = solder (70% tin & 30% lead)
392° = solder (80% tin & 20% lead)
421° = solder (90% tin & 10% lead)
450° = tin

I'm not sure, but I thought they only used 63/37 or 60/40 solder for radiators.

Could be from stained glass. That's what I run into at the recycler.