kylix.rd
10-15-2012, 02:05 AM
I tried my hand at smelting some scrap lead I acquired this weekend. I think I did pretty well for a total noob. Thanks to all the helpful posts, videos, and tutorials found here another other sites, I successfully smelted down about 21lbs.
I started with the lead WWs since that was going to be easiest. I got about 5 muffin tin ingots. I know, not much, but it's a start. I double fluxed, first with crushed corncob media. As it burned it formed little charcoal BBs that I stirred throughout the melt. I then added a chunk of wax from an IKEA tea-light. Here's the results of the WWs.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-31-46_902_zpsfc63d645.jpg
I also smelted down the large chunk of mystery metal from this post (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=168095). It melted down very well and was surprisingly clean... of course after the WWs, a pile of mud is "clean" :). This chunk was certainly harder than the WWs and I could tell as it was melting and coming up to temp it was certainly a different composition. I was using a Lee Pro 4-20 for the work since I wasn't doing huge amounts and haven't yet budgeted a larger pot. The chunk was about 15lbs and oddly shaped. I knew I needed to break it up into smaller chunks so I took a small hatchet and a large sledge hammer and held the hatchet against the chunk and whacked the back of the hatchet with the sledge. The lead would eventually break and crack once it was weakend. It was a lot of work, but it did break up finally. This is where I could really tell that it was harder than the WWs. Each cracked off peice looked just like the photos I posted in the link above.
Once it was melted down, it poured and flowed very nicely, so I don't think there is any zinc contamination. Once it was fully melted it was smooth and glassy after the fluxing. It poured through the melter's nozzle just as well as the WWs. I used a stainless steel ladle to pour it into the muffin tin ingots. I got about 10 from this chunk.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-32-49_963_zps79e3c634.jpg
The top of some of the ingots are boogered up because I didn't wait long enough before I flipped them out of the muffin tin and the thin layer of solid lead broke and the still molten led underneath spilled out and spattered.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-32-59_576_zps9e2277d7.jpg
I waited longer for the second set of ingots and they looked much cleaner.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-33-17_275_zps0c3c793f.jpg
It is my understanding that antimony makes the lead harder and tin helps pouring and mold fill-out. If that is the case, this is very likely a high antimony content lead with a respectable tin content. I still have to smelt down some lead roof flashing, which is really soft stuff, so I'm using that as the baseline. I'll then do a relative hardness test to get a feel for how each batch is compared to the dead-soft lead. Hopefully, I'll be able to then blend this harder stuff with the pure lead to get a nice bullet alloy
Is there anything I might have done better or differently? Any pointers and tips are much appreciated.
I started with the lead WWs since that was going to be easiest. I got about 5 muffin tin ingots. I know, not much, but it's a start. I double fluxed, first with crushed corncob media. As it burned it formed little charcoal BBs that I stirred throughout the melt. I then added a chunk of wax from an IKEA tea-light. Here's the results of the WWs.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-31-46_902_zpsfc63d645.jpg
I also smelted down the large chunk of mystery metal from this post (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=168095). It melted down very well and was surprisingly clean... of course after the WWs, a pile of mud is "clean" :). This chunk was certainly harder than the WWs and I could tell as it was melting and coming up to temp it was certainly a different composition. I was using a Lee Pro 4-20 for the work since I wasn't doing huge amounts and haven't yet budgeted a larger pot. The chunk was about 15lbs and oddly shaped. I knew I needed to break it up into smaller chunks so I took a small hatchet and a large sledge hammer and held the hatchet against the chunk and whacked the back of the hatchet with the sledge. The lead would eventually break and crack once it was weakend. It was a lot of work, but it did break up finally. This is where I could really tell that it was harder than the WWs. Each cracked off peice looked just like the photos I posted in the link above.
Once it was melted down, it poured and flowed very nicely, so I don't think there is any zinc contamination. Once it was fully melted it was smooth and glassy after the fluxing. It poured through the melter's nozzle just as well as the WWs. I used a stainless steel ladle to pour it into the muffin tin ingots. I got about 10 from this chunk.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-32-49_963_zps79e3c634.jpg
The top of some of the ingots are boogered up because I didn't wait long enough before I flipped them out of the muffin tin and the thin layer of solid lead broke and the still molten led underneath spilled out and spattered.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-32-59_576_zps9e2277d7.jpg
I waited longer for the second set of ingots and they looked much cleaner.
http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q730/kylix_rd/2012-10-14_22-33-17_275_zps0c3c793f.jpg
It is my understanding that antimony makes the lead harder and tin helps pouring and mold fill-out. If that is the case, this is very likely a high antimony content lead with a respectable tin content. I still have to smelt down some lead roof flashing, which is really soft stuff, so I'm using that as the baseline. I'll then do a relative hardness test to get a feel for how each batch is compared to the dead-soft lead. Hopefully, I'll be able to then blend this harder stuff with the pure lead to get a nice bullet alloy
Is there anything I might have done better or differently? Any pointers and tips are much appreciated.