Fluxing

[confederatemule]

In relation to lead...
What does fluxing mean?
What is the purpose of fluxing?
Why flux?
How to flux?
When to flux?
What to flux with?

Thanks for any answers


Mule

[felix]

For pure lead, fluxing means nothing. Lead we typically use is not pure lead, and is a mixture of good stuff and bad stuff. Fluxing is the cooking and stirring of the various ingredients into something homogeneous we can use as "lead". We add other stuff to make the desirable ingredients match-merge into a composite, and reject the bad stuff as floaters so they can be discarded. ... felix

[sqlbullet]

Best seen rather than explained. Melt a pot of WW. Stir and observer. Add a crayon. Stir and be amazed.

It is like magic. All the "dross" suddenly becomes very separate from the alloy.

So, to us, fluxing is the process of cleaning the lead through the addition of a non-lead material, usually a form of carbon.

We flux to assist in removing dross and to help reduce metal oxides back into the alloy.

The flux is added and the pot is stirred. Dross will separate and float on top, mostly. Some ash and dross can be caught below the surface against the sides or bottom of the pot. For this, we scrape with our stirring utensil.

Flux as often as dross accumulates on the surface.

Flux with any carbon based material. Waxes are commonly used, like crayons or candles. Most bullet lubes work very well. Sawdust is also popular and works well. I am a fan of sawdust and used motor oil be cause I always have them around the shop and they would otherwise be refuse.

[fredj338]

For smelting, I use sawdust & bits of old bullet lube, stir w/ a large wooden paint stick. For acsting, I just stir the pot occasionally w/ a wooden paintstick. The alloy added to the casting pot is always clean.

[cbrick]

Here is a link that explains it very well in simple english.

From Ingot To Target, Chapter Four, Fluxing (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_4_Fluxing.htm)

Rick

[confederatemule]

Thanks, fellers. Now I understand.

cbrick, the link is packed with info. I went to the index. Looks like anythang a person needs to know bout bullet makin is right there.

Mule

[josper]

I just tried sawdust for the first time today and I wish I tried it sooner.The sawdust worked better than anything I have used so far.

[TomBulls]

A good read, thanks for posting. I'm not sure what the trick is, so I still run into troubles with my lead furnace. Maybe this is a problem that old furnaces have, since I purchased mine at a bucket sale. It seems that no matter how much I flux, there is and forever will be flecks of junk in the lead. I add my flux and stir, and stir, and stir, and then skim off all of the dross. It looks good on the surface, but the bullets still have little black flecks in them when coming out of the mould. Any tips?

-thomas

[cbrick]

Bottom pouring right?

Just stirring doesn't do it, you need to stir in a manor that will bring molten alloy from the bottom of the pot to the flux at the surface. You can also try stirring with a wood stick such as a paint stirring stick from Home Depot.

You need to make sure the pot is clean, empty it and make sure there is no crud stuck to the bottom and/or sides. This can flake off and become trapped near the bottom and then flow out through the spout and into the bullets. If the pot is dirty no amount of fluxing will help, it needs to be clean.

Next thing you can try is ladle casting which only uses alloy from near the surface. If ladle casting does produce clean bullets it indicates dirty alloy and/or pot.

Rick

[WHITETAIL]

TomBullls, What you need to do is drain your pot.
Then scrub your pot with a wire brush to get it clean.
Then you can refill it with clean lead.:coffeecom
I do this about once a year to keep my bottom pour pot clean.