Shooter smelted up a small batch today...

[ShooterAZ]

Here is my concoction:

15 pounds pure lead...

5 pounds linotype...

1 pound 50/50 solder...

I am beginning to think this is much like a cook in a kitchen...figuring out what is good (works) and what isn't. Seasoning to taste.

I do have one question...What is the importance (or not) of having antimony (from the lino) in my alloy?

I have found that I like the flavor of a little more tin in my alloy than 3/1 lead/lino. What is the antimony doing?

Thanks...Shooter

[canyon-ghost]

Tin improves castability, or flow. Antimony is the major component to hardening the lead. Without antimony, you have pure, soft lead.

[ShooterAZ]

Thanks...doesn't tin play a role in boolit hardness also? The amount of antimony in my mix must be rather small.

[zxcvbob]

That looks awfully rich to me. (but I'm a cheapskate) To 15 pounds of lead, I might add one ounce of tin -- and only if it's not casting right.

Tin does harden lead, but it doesn't harden it much.

[ShooterAZ]

That looks awfully rich to me. (but I'm a cheapskate) To 15 pounds of lead, I might add one ounce of tin -- and only if it's not casting right.

Tin does harden lead, but it doesn't harden it much.

My math isn't the best...but 5lbs of lino only has 4% tin...and I added only 8 ounces from the one pound of 50/50 solder....far less than one ounce of tin to 15 pounds lead. Right?

[canyon-ghost]

4% tin is enough, most mixes call for 2% tin. A lot of the guys just drop in 2% and leave it at that. It just improves the flow of molten lead.

[SlowSmokeN]

This may help
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=105952&highlight=alloy+calculator

Lead Alloy Calculators 011512.zip

[BadDaditood]

Glen E Fryxell explains Antimony/Tin in a way that even I can understand !!
Chapter 3 of From Ingot to Target:

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_3_alloySelectionMetallurgy.ht m

i go back and re-read parts often... maybe someday it'll all sink in?..... Not a chance

[zxcvbob]

My math isn't the best...but 5lbs of lino only has 4% tin...and I added only 8 ounces from the one pound of 50/50 solder....far less than one ounce of tin to 15 pounds lead. Right?

Sorry, I saw 5 pounds of linotype AND a pound of solder and I kind of freaked.

20 pounds of lead (pretend the lino is just lead for a minute) and 1 pound of 50/50 will give you 21 pounds of 40:1, or about 2.5% tin. Plus you've got the tin and antimony in the linotype, but I don't remember what that is. It the old days, they used a lot more tin than that. I don't like to because it's expensive and I have a limited supply.

I get good boolits with just whatever trace amount of tin and antimony is in the scrap lead I use, and if it doesn't cast right I add just a tiny bit of solder to smooth it out.

[runfiverun]

you have slightly more tin than antimony in the mix.
my opinion.
i would make another batch of 5-15 mix without the tin and add the two together.
it will still be well balanced and cast nicely.
should have a bhn of about 11

[bumpo628]

Here is my concoction:

15 pounds pure lead...

5 pounds linotype...

1 pound 50/50 solder...

I am beginning to think this is much like a cook in a kitchen...figuring out what is good (works) and what isn't. Seasoning to taste.

I do have one question...What is the importance (or not) of having antimony (from the lino) in my alloy?

I have found that I like the flavor of a little more tin in my alloy than 3/1 lead/lino. What is the antimony doing?

Thanks...Shooter


Your recipe gives you an alloy with 3.33% tin, 2.86% antimony, 93.8% lead.
Without the solder, you would be at 1% tin, 3% antimony, 96% lead.
If you went with 7 oz of solder, then you would get 2.05% tin, 2.94% antimony, 95% lead.

The air cooled hardness should be close to 12 Bhn, according to the Rotometals formula ( Brinell = 8.60 + ( 0.29 * %Tin ) + ( 0.92 * %Antimony ). You can see that each % of tin raises the hardness by @ 0.3 and each % of antimony raises it by @ 0.9. So, antimony is about 3 times better at increasing hardness.

[ShooterAZ]

Are there any drawbacks to having a tin rich formula (aside from cost)? My mix has less tin than Lyman #2, according to Bumpo 628's calcs. Thank for that by the way!