Dental X-ray Backing Foils

[Bullwolf]

It's been a couple of years now since I have gotten a free bucket of wheel weights.

This was probably my last easy bucket of wheel weights, and it cost me $30 or $40 bucks at the time. I am pretty sure I got it back in 2010. I sure wish I had gotten more wheel weights, back when they were still relatively easy to obtain.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b138b14a30.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3951)

Frankly there are so many zinc and steel wheel weights in a bucket from the tire shops these days, that I am starting to realize cheap easy lead wheel weights are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

So I tried something different, to help add to my dwindling lead stash.

I have a really great old school Dentist who is one of the few left that hasn't made the switch to digital X-rays. Since the X-ray film backings are lead, my Dentist has to save them, and recycle/dispose of them. I asked nicely if I could have them instead.

The good news is that they are free. The bad news is that they are very light and fluffy and you don't get 100-125 pound buckets full of them, like you would with wheel weights. Still, even small amounts of free lead are good too!

I decided to smelt a batch of X-ray backing foils up today, using my old Coleman propane camp stove.

I threw a partially full bucket, and a cardboard box of X-ray films on a bathroom scale, and it was only a little bit over 16lbs or so. I sure thought it felt light. On the bright side, my back doesn't hurt from lugging them in and out of the truck, and did I mention that they were free?

I had never cast boolits using Dental X-ray lead foils before, so I made sure to specifically mark my ingots as such. I figure they will probably cast just fine, and they did clean up nicely after fluxing. If they don't cast well, I am not adverse to adding a little bit of tin to the mix to sweeten them up.

Sure looked like more than 16lbs of lead, but oh well.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0b4b99eb0.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3943)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0b713d881.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3944)



Melting down the X-ray lead foil backings. I fluxed the lead, using both sawdust and paraffin.
(I also stir the mixture with a nice hardwood stick)
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0caa9eb68.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3945)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0cbeecffd.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3946)



Some little mini-ingots for my small hand held electric pot. The ingots sure do drop easily out of my rusty mini muffin pan.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0dd7648da.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3947)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0de87c371.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3948)



The finished product. A handful of mini ingots, next to some of my larger lead ingots. Not a huge amount, but it all adds up.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0eaeb722d.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3949)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_187904f3b0ec2500c9.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3950)


- Bullwolf

[Revolver]

Great, thank you for sharing. I asked some dentists in the area but they already save them for someone else. :-|

[Ole]

IMO:

Range lead and medical isotope lead is the future of lead scrounging.

Thanks for the pictures though. I've seen lots of threads on here people talking about dental lead, but I never saw what they looked like. :)

[454PB]

I used to get them when my daughter worked for an endodontist, but she's not there anymore. I probably got 40 pounds before she quit.

It casts very well, and the boolits tested 7 BHN. One of the members of this forum says it's 98% lead, 1% Sb, and 1% Sn.

[Sonnypie]

I'd say you will have bullets with a bite.... :|

Overheard on the firing line: "Man! That guys gun has Halitosis!"

Maybe you should consider fluxing with some Listerine? :veryconfu

[fredj338]

I had that same thought a couple months ago. I asked my dentist, he was glad to have someone take it away for him. About 25# of foils & another 20# of sheet lead left over from redoing his x-ray room when he converted to digital. Always ask, you never know where good casting alloy will turn up.

[a.squibload]

At my dentist's a previous tech told me they didn't use lead shields.
Recently found out they DO, now they're happy to have me take 'em away.
A few pounds at a time but FREE is good.

They did advise using gloves before melting, just in case.
(ICK! Germs.)

[letsmeltlead2693]

Are x-ray foils the white plastic things they put in your mouth when they do dental x-rays?

[Reloader06]

From my understanding, they are the part that goes in the white plastic thingies.



Matt

[letsmeltlead2693]

Cool, didn't know the lead in them is significant enough to melt. I might talk to the dentist we go to and ask if they will save the foils for me.

[Reloader06]

Every little bit helps.

[shotman]

you pay 100 for Xray so be good to get the 1/10th oz of lead to take home

[letsmeltlead2693]

Or I could just call and ask if they could save them.

[para45lda]

I've gotten two batches from my dentist and they cast like pure Pb.

Wes

[DIRT Farmer]

My dentist has them ready for me at my appts. They make real nice round balls for the M/L

[454PB]

The dentist that supplied mine was glad to get rid of them....he had been paying hazmat disposal fees.

[letsmeltlead2693]

Is it soft enough for split shot fishing sinkers? The kind you mash on your line. How do they take the lead out of the plastic thing and what about sanitation issues for being in people's mouths?

[bslim]

The lead x-ray foil I received from my Dentist was already out of the holder/package. I think I got around 10 lbs. the last time I was there. Lots of bulk but not much weight. Still, free is good, and every little bit makes a difference.

[AggieEE]

My boss, old army dental tech/instructor, tells me tht there is between 3-5% silver in there. I don't know how to seperate silver from lead but maybe when you shoot those "silver boolitts" you can play the William Tell Overture (sp?). If there is anybody here too young to remember it was used as the theme for the Lone Ranger. I used to watch regularly. The good old days. AggieEE

[letsmeltlead2693]

Not these days, there probably isn't any silver in it. Things now made as cheap as possible. If you did call how would you ask for them and what should you say? Who would you need to ask for?

[zomby woof]

The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.

[Jal5]

I picked up another med. sized ziplock bag of them from my dentist the other day, that's about two months worth that he saves up for me. Every little bit helps and I plan to use them for ML boolits. Joe

[catmasher]

Seems that everyone else is getting almost pure lead from their dental foil......I melted down about 40 pounds of the stuff and it comes out at 11.5 bhn on both my lead testers....
What's up at 11.5 that comes to about 18-1 mix....I feel that's to hard for my PB cast boolts.
Any ideas?

[cf_coder]

11.5 sounds like a good all-around alloy for pistol boolits to me. Maybe add a touch of tin...

[Reloader06]

Let it age a couple weeks?????

[fecmech]

My foils check at 9 bhn, about what I'd expect based on ZW's info.

[idahoron]

The foils I get run the same as wheel weight. 12 BHN or there abouts. No where near soft. Ron

[a.squibload]

Broke a crown.
Got a temporary cap today, and a couple more pounds of lead shields!
That makes more than 7 lbs in a few months.
Clean and easy.
Well, not counting germs, but 600º+ should sterilize 'em pretty good.

[a.squibload]

Went in for cleaning today, tech lady asked
if I needed lead, my first thought: what does
that have to do with teeth? She had 10lbs
for me in a box.

[Green Frog]

My boss, old army dental tech/instructor, tells me tht there is between 3-5% silver in there. I don't know how to seperate silver from lead but maybe when you shoot those "silver boolitts" you can play the William Tell Overture (sp?). If there is anybody here too young to remember it was used as the theme for the Lone Ranger. I used to watch regularly. The good old days. AggieEE

Supposedly, a small %age of tin in the alloy makes better bullets. Anecdotally the buffalo hunters would throw a silver dime into their lead pot when making buffalo bullets, but I've never seen any solid documentation of that. Anyway, maybe the Lone Ranger wasn't the only one ready for Werewolves! :D

Froggie

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

The dentist that supplied mine was glad to get rid of them....he had been paying hazmat disposal fees.

Same here. He was glad to get rid of them for free and outright excited to hear that they'd be feeding a 1911.

[atom73]

I am an endodontist and I ask all my referring dentists for lead ;). There is no silver in film backing and they are not really exposed to saliva since they are inside of a plastic film packet. The anatomy of a dental film envelope is thus: The white 'plastic' packet is actually a vinyl envelope that, after the film is exposed to an X-ray, is opened and thrown away. Inside the envelope is a little paper sleeve with the film inside. The sleeve is folded around the film completely plus a half turn, it is in this little xtra half turn that the lead foil lives. The lead foil does a few things, first, it reduces X-ray exposure to the rest of the mouth by absorbing the rays after they go through the film. It also helps the staff prevent working on the wrong tooth, you see, if you put an X-ray up on the view box there is a little bubble on the film that tells you which way faces out and then you can look at the teeth in an anatomically correct view. Well, if you had no lead in the film packet, it would be easy to get the orientation wrong since you had essentially a two way film (without lead) vs a one way film (lead backing). Maybe I'm not being clear but it makes sense to me. It is soft lead, especially when compared to WW but there is no silver. I actually traded some work for a bunch of buckets of WW here in town with an owner of a local tire shop, a lot easier than begging for it cold.
Mike

[zomby woof]

The silver is in the film, not the lead. I worked for Kodak Dental X-Ray for 17 years. There are vinyl and paper packets. The machines that make the vinyl packets are incredible. They run at 600 packets per minute. We had pallets of lead in rolls all over the place, went through tons a day. Picture of me back in the day on 32 machine.

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/scan00221.jpg

[atom73]

Nice mustache! Did it come with the glasses? ;)

[a.squibload]

Don't listen to atom, he's jealous of your hazmat jumpsuit.

Also don't tell us none of those rolls of lead tape ever went missing...

[captaint]

thanks for posting this. Reminded me I had to drive 5 mins to pick up some foils. The dentist office called last week. I told them I'd be over soon for pick up. Just got back. I've been picking up their foils for about 3 years now. I bet I have about all of 20 lbs now. It's OK, nice people. enjoy Mike

[Bill*]

I asked my dentist but he says they re-use them (just like the tire store guys):kidding:

[Lizard333]

thanks for posting this. Reminded me I had to drive 5 mins to pick up some foils. The dentist office called last week. I told them I'd be over soon for pick up. Just got back. I've been picking up their foils for about 3 years now. I bet I have about all of 20 lbs now. It's OK, nice people. enjoy Mike

Thanks! I just spit my coffee on my laptop! Times are hard, everyone is doing everything they can to save money!![smilie=l: