First Time Making an Alloy

[RG1911]

Having finally invested in a good burner and having sorted and melted down a couple hundred pounds of COWW, I made a batch of a Lyman #2 equivalent (I sincerely hope). I started with 100 pounds of COWW ingots to which I added 15 pounds of linotype, 13 pounds of monotype, 1 pound of pure tin and 5.5 pounds of 63/37 bar solder. This filled my pot just about to the top, so next time I'll make a smaller batch.

In addition to my Lyman and Lee molds, I used a muffin pan I picked up at the junk store. This turned out to be a bad idea -- 5 of the 12 muffins are stuck solid. Not quite sure how I'm going to get them out. Tapping (beating) on the bottom with a rubber mallet had no effect.

Now to start turning all this into 200-gr .45 boolits.

Cheers,
Richard

PS: Image of new burner. In use, the propane tank is as far from the burner as the line will stretch.:

http://www.ragtopphotography.com/burner/burner_3992.jpg

[R.M.]

Turn that muffin tin upside down and drop it. When it hits the floor, they should pop loose.

[John in WI]

That sounds like a good approximation of Lyman #2.

What did the muffin tin look like (before fusing it to the ingots!)? Old "tins" are normally steel covered in a bit of tin. If that's the case, the molten lead can have enough heat to melt the tin and fuse it to the ingot. The trick I learned on here was to get a steel tin at the junk store, wash/degrease it good, then leave it out for a nice coat of rust. The rust almost repels lead and eventually turns to a hard black coating.

But RM is right. Try to drop it so that it lands nice and flat. In theory, the pan stops but the lead still has some forward inertia to yank it free.

[RG1911]

I had tried dropping the pan onto concrete. About 20 times with no success. Well, either I'll cut the pan apart or try enough heat to see if that will loosen the bond. Will have to remember the trick about the rust. Or, better yet, find some cast iron items to use as molds.

Cheers,
Richard

[lwknight]

Just buy a good heavy non stick muffin or bread pan.
Burn off all the don't sticky.
It works great for lead and similar alloys.

[docone31]

A lesson for those with ears to hear,
MARK the ingots!!!
I got carried away melting, alloying, and I now have no clue what I have.
Like Duh.
One of the ways I melt now, is to use seperate ingot pans. Different sizes.
You might not think you will lose track now, but one day it will happen. Even if it is just scratches. #1, #2, etc.
Good luck.

[dragon813gt]

If you buy a Teflon coated pan be very careful when burning off the teflon. It's really nasty and you don't want the Teflon flu. If the ingots stuck the pan most likely had a tin coating. All I can say is good luck. Melting them out is not fun.

[GlocksareGood]

Anyone got any better ideas on marking other than a set of letter punches? I bought some lead on here and it was marked that way. Seemed to work well.

[dragon813gt]

I just use a sharpie. I also store in a box in rows with a map of what's what.

[RG1911]

I think the lead did bond to the tin coating on the muffin pan. When I dropped it from a greater height, the entire pots tore out of the pan. On a positive note, they'll fit into my Lee pot and float to the top when the alloy melts out.

I did buy a set of letter punches to mark the ingots, but it sounds as though the sharpie method will be easier and quicker.

As always, thanks for all the tips.

Cheers,
Richard

[Ed_Shot]

I use the cheapo non-stick muffin pans from W-mart. Been using the same ones for over two years and never saw a need to burn anything off them. Alloy falls out easy. Had no luck with the shiney ones form the $-store.