Wheel Weight Rogue's Gallery (the Good & the Bad but no ugly)

[Bigjohn]

I would like to propose a Rogues Gallery of Wheel Weights to inform all comers to this site of what is good, bad and new in the raw material we all need to enjoy our sport.

If the powers that be, deem it important enough, then may they have the foresight to make it a "Sticky", if not here then in a more appropiate section of the forum.

I would like all possible knowledge on this material collected in one place including pictures of known samples as well as those we are not certain of.

I would like to start the ball rolling with the following from my most recent collection.

3416
A weight which is attracted to a magnet, rings like steel.

3417
A stick on type which is also attracted to a magnet.

3418
Another type of weight which is attracted to a magnet, rings like steel.

3419
Non-magnetic weight which are plated/dipped, status unknown may be just plated to prevent oxidation. More info needed.

3420
Stick on type status unknown, markings different from normal pb stick ons.

3421
Another Stick on type status unknown, markings different from normal pb stick ons.

3422
Zinc Stick type Weights???

3423
Zinc Clip on weights???

3424
Zinc Clip on weight???

As you can see there are a few I am not certain of and I am willing to ammend my post upon receipt of further information.

The last collection I did of raw material has produced the most number of questionable samples from any lot collected. My tyre dealer is still using the pb based versions and has not been forced to change to environmentally friendly materials, yet.
:castmine:
John.

[WHITETAIL]

I just scored on 3 pails of WW. And went through all 3 buckets.
I did find the ones you have in the first and third pic.
I filled a sandwich bag with the zinc WW.

[WHITETAIL]

I did buy a new Lyman thermometer so when I melt this new batch I can control the temp.

[UweJ]

Anything with Zn on it is a Zinc WW.
Uwe

[3sixbits]

That has got to be the best reason in the world for keeping you melt below the 850 degs it takes to melt that crap zink.

[Uncle Grinch]

I had some of these strange weights also. One was actually plastic.

See my post...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=162258#post162258

[Bigjohn]

I had some of these strange weights also. One was actually plastic.

See my post...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=162258#post162258

Yes, even I found one which was plastic in the lastest collection. The clip was missing.
It would be good to combined your photo into the thread as there are some in yours which I have not seen yet.

A alternative method of sorting them out is through the smelting pot. My problem at this time is keeping to temp of the pot to 650 degrees. I cannot control the heat generated by the flame, so what goes in the pot gets melted.

Until I can control the temp, I need to sort very well what I plan to smelt.

John.

[shooting on a shoestring]

I use a Coleman stove to heat my old plumbers pot. I don't sort the WWs per se, just pitch a suspect if it catches my eye. I do watch the pot fairly closely as it melts and catch it when most of the contents are melted. I start skimming off the clips and usually a couple of zincs and steels. At that point the pot is only marginally above the melting point of lead and quite a ways from the melting point of zinc.

Its using the phase change to control temp. The temp of the WWs in solid keeps increasing until the solid to liquid phase change occurs (it melts). Then the liquid remains at that temperature (in theory, in reality very near that temperature), until the other WWs in contact with the liquid complete the phase change into liquid. That is the heat energy coming from the flame, must first go into getting all the solid Pb into liquid Pb before the liquid Pb can start getting hotter. So, I just catch the pot with in a couple of minutes of when the Pb finishes melting, and the liquid temp is still below Zinc's melting point, skim, dump in more WWs, chilling the pot and start the phase transition again, and again, until the pot is comfortably full for casting, or pour into ingots.

[dnepr]

I am thinking that the wheel wieght hunter is better to stay to the tire shops and the smaller garages . I am a mechanic at a Toyota dealer and most of the new vehicles come with non lead wheel weights . so I have to deal with a high percentage when I take the wheel weights home . Most of the Toyota's seem to come with the first ones in pic one . and after a couple winters of our salty conditions they have specs of rust. there is some iron in there somewhere. I don't mind dealing with the sorting it is a fair trade for having my own captive supply of wheel weights.

[UweJ]

Here in Germany tire shops don´t use lead weights any more,when rotating tires or getting new ones on your rim they put zink weights on.Only when the older tires are beeing taken out will the lead weights find their way back to the tire shop.The excetions are trucks and buses.But they really have some goodies on them.I have a original box of weights,25with 400gramms each. The ones in the pics above are all in gramms.
Uwe

[Uncle Grinch]

Sounds like lead wheel weights are going the way of Lino.

You better get'm while the get'n is good!

[Orygun]

Been lurking for a while and find this a very imformative site, and this thread made me sign in to share. I smelted about 200 lbs. of WW''s today into ingots and the only zinc I found were these.

The larger one is stamped Zn, but the small one has no marking and I'm sure it is Zn as well. Is there supposed to be a standard to mark all zinc WW's?

3449

[wildkatt]

Last year on this site someone suggested testing WWs by attempting to carve a sliver from the edge of the WW. If it is lead, you can carve a thin sliver that curls up as you carve. I have been using this method and also watching for floaters. So far I have culled some WWs and have had no floaters. Can any one confirm this method further?

I just scored 405 lbs of WWs for $40. I think I will find some zinc. I will post what I find.

WK

[UweJ]

Orygun I don´t now about the laws Stateside but in Germany Zinc weights have to be marked Zn as to be clearly recognizeable.
The 10 gramm weight might be just a WW which is coated,at least I hope so.
Good luck
Uwe

[NVcurmudgeon]

Been lurking for a while and find this a very imformative site, and this thread made me sign in to share. I smelted about 200 lbs. of WW''s today into ingots and the only zinc I found were these.

The larger one is stamped Zn, but the small one has no marking and I'm sure it is Zn as well. Is there supposed to be a standard to mark all zinc WW's?

3449

Orygun, check that small tape weight with a magnet. I found quite a few like that in my last bucket, all were magnetic. Traditional lead tape weights must bend to match the curve of the wheel. Makers of steel and zinc tape weights avoid the need to bend by making them very small.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Last year on this site someone suggested testing WWs by attempting to carve a sliver from the edge of the WW. If it is lead, you can carve a thin sliver that curls up as you carve. I have been using this method and also watching for floaters. So far I have culled some WWs and have had no floaters. Can any one confirm this method further?

I just scored 405 lbs of WWs for $40. I think I will find some zinc. I will post what I find.

WK

wildkatt, floaters can be steel, zinc, or plastic. The all-plastic will melt easily and disapppear, leaving a strong solvent smell behind. Naturally steel weights will just sit there. To avoid melting zinc and ruining a whole pot of alloy keep your smelting temperatue well below zinc's melting point of about 780 F, say down around 600-650. That will allow fast melt of lead weights with no risk of zinc contamination.

[Orygun]

Orygun, check that small tape weight with a magnet. I found quite a few like that in my last bucket, all were magnetic. Traditional lead tape weights must bend to match the curve of the wheel. Makers of steel and zinc tape weights avoid the need to bend by making them very small.

Just checked and it is not magnetic. It looks, feels and sounds just like the larger one. Pretty sure it is zinc.

[Orygun]

A nice day today and I took advantage and "smendered" all of the wheel weights that I had. Should be 150#-200# of ingots and ready to make boolits. Got 'er done just as the wind was picking up. :)

I think that the small ones will be great for "topping off" the furnace, and the pepper shaped ones should be good for the "hot" loads. ;-) The bucket in the background are those dadblamed soft stick on weights. I'll use them for sinkers.

Note to self: Need more lead.

Here are a few culls from my session, and I still think that this thread should be a "sticky" as we could all benefit from it. Please, mods? [smilie=1:

The #10 definately looks like zinc. the #20 appears to be regular WW and the #25 seems to be a softer alloy. The #65 I belive is regular WW metal, but not sure.

[454PB]

A very neat and organized setup, Orygun!

[Orygun]

A very neat and organized setup, Orygun!

Thank you. Obviously I did a little clean-up for the photo, but I do try to be organized without getting anal. :drinks:

[Goatlips]

Orygun, Love them molds! Especially the little ladyfinger size, I nearly bought two of those cast iron playthings at an estate sale but they wouldn't come down to my price. Looking at your picture, they seem to work very well.

Goatlips

[quack1]

I melted a couple buckets of wheel weights last week and found a few plastic ones marked 5 and 10 (grams). I broke the 5 gram one in pieces and it was all plastic, but the one marked 10 had a piece of metal molded in the center. I was going to check to see what the metal was, but absent-mindedly threw them in the can that I scoop the hot clips into, then filled it with hot clips. It might be a good idea to check what this piece of metal is before letting the plastic ones melt into the batch, in case the metal is zinc. They looked like the smaller ones in oryguns picture.

[Orygun]

I melted a couple buckets of wheel weights last week and found a few plastic ones marked 5 and 10 (grams). I broke the 5 gram one in pieces and it was all plastic, but the one marked 10 had a piece of metal molded in the center. I was going to check to see what the metal was, but absent-mindedly threw them in the can that I scoop the hot clips into, then filled it with hot clips. It might be a good idea to check what this piece of metal is before letting the plastic ones melt into the batch, in case the metal is zinc. They looked like the smaller ones in oryguns picture.

I haven't found any plastic ones yet, but I wonder if it may just be a steel attachment?

Goatlips...I read your "speed casting" tips before I got my Lee mold and it really helped me crank 'em out! BTW, I have about $14.00 tied up in those 3 larger ingot molds. 2nd hand stores and thrift shops are great places to look. :drinks:

[quack1]

Orygun- The metal insert was completely covered by plastic, I didn't know it was in there until I broke the weight in half. I should have been more specific with my description,they looked like the ones in your second picture, the ones with 2 holes and a recessed center section. I'm curious as to how these weights are held on-there weren't any clips or any sticky stuff on the backs. If I find any more I'll be sure to find out what the metal part is.

[Orygun]

Steel Weights....
Smendered about 175 lbs. today and though they may not be rare, for (my) first time I found steel wheel weights in the lot. The large one didn't get into the pot as I discovered it before hand and put a magnet to it.

The small ones were thrown into the last pot of tape on's only and floated to the top. At least no Zn! :)

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3751&stc=1&d=1177105011

[Orygun]

More rogue's for the gallery........
I (think) this is my first plastic weights out of K's of lbs of smendered WW's over the years.
The top two are plastic and the bottom 4 are steel. Two of the steel weights floated, the other two I culled before hand. Where's this world going to? ;)

[grumpy one]

Steel weights that have clips are riveted/staked where the clip attaches to the body of the weight. They are the only kind of weight that is riveted, and you can always see the riveting. I see most of them and toss them in the garbage to save pot space and fuel.

Those dumbell-shaped weights are a bit trickier. Some are painted grey and some aren't. Nearly all are lead alloy, but I've had a couple of zinc ones, which were also painted. I separate them, check for "Zn" on them, and if I don't find it I swish them around in a potful at 600-650 degrees. If they melt, fine. If they don't, they go in the skip. It is an extra operation, and barely worthwhile - so far only about 1% have been zinc.

[Dye]

More rogue's for the gallery........
I (think) this is my first plastic weights out of K's of lbs of smendered WW's over the years.
The top two are plastic and the bottom 4 are steel. Two of the steel weights floated, the other two I culled before hand. Where's this world going to? ;)

Orygun
The plastic weights look like plastic covered lead,I have not found any zinc weights that are not marked zn. some place.

Be carefull Dye

[MarkK]

I suscribe to shooting on a shoestring approach. This approach seems to work quite well for me. Prior to that I sort to remove junk, separate clip ons from stick ons as well as culling the suspected zinc clips. I'd also add that zinc clips are much harder than lead based weights. I'll use a cut test on suspect weights - lead is relatively easy to whittle compared to zinc. Zinc also sounds more metallic if you drop it whereas lead thuds - you know what I mean.

More info on Zn WW: http://www.leadfreewheels.org/zinc.shtml

[grumpy one]

I find quite a variation in the hardness of stick-on weights. They just about always come to me in strips of weights, and I do a twist-test. The ones that twist easily go into the "lead" pile and the others go into the "WW" pile but I hold some back if necessary to maintain a fairly constant proportion of them. After smelting, the soft stick-ons average 5.3 BHN, so they are fairly close to pure lead. My WWs, with the usual proportion of relatively hard stick-ons included, average 14.9 BHN after aging for about a year.

[Orygun]

Dye,
You made me curious and I just took some side cutters to the plastic WW and it is plastic through in through.
Also I have had some Zn weights that were NOT marked Zn. (See my earlier posts in this thread).

MarkK,
Interesting site. Looks like the handwriting is on the wall.

grumpy one,
"Steel weights that have clips are riveted/staked where the clip attaches to the body of the weight. They are the only kind of weight that is riveted, and you can always see the riveting. I see most of them and toss them in the garbage to save pot space and fuel."

I find MANY that appear to be riveted weights and are regular WW alloy. Throw some on top of the pot and see if they don't melt at once.

I cull all of the soft stick-on's and use them for fishing weights.

[grumpy one]

Orygun, I suspect we have different definitions of "riveted".

[Dye]

Orygun
Just for kicks take a old spoon and a little propane torch and heat one of the weights, see if you don't have lead after all the plastis is burned off . Do this outside and make sure you are up wind, it stinks .

Be carefull Dye

[Orygun]

Orygun, I suspect we have different definitions of "riveted".

I suspect you may be correct. :)

[Orygun]

Orygun
Just for kicks take a old spoon and a little propane torch and heat one of the weights, see if you don't have lead after all the plastis is burned off . Do this outside and make sure you are up wind, it stinks .

Be carefull Dye

Here's a pic of the plastic one that I cut in two. I don't see any evidence of lead. It appears to be nothing but a white colored plastic of some sort inside.