Is this zinc????

[Andrew Mason]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/12/29/vutydu2u.jpg

This is the last of what's left over from some range lead.

I have added saw dust several times trying to get this crud to mix in,

I don't know what else to make of it.
Current pot temp is when picture was taken was 1,000 degrees


I am going to tune it down to 700 and see what I get,
But yesterday it looked the same around that temp

[454PB]

That looks like type metal that has not been heated and fluxed enough......but 1000 degrees and multiple fluxing says it can't be.

Try cooling some and drop some muriatic acid on it. If it fizzles, it's zinc.

[Andrew Mason]

I have no muriatic acid

[Andrew Mason]

I'm gona scrape it all out and see if any comes back

[bangerjim]

I have no muriatic acid

You are in Reno. People have swimming pools. You have Home Depots. Go buy a gallon of pool acid (very cheap). That is muriatic acid actually REALLY called hydrochloric acid HCl.

Bangerjim

[Andrew Mason]

Okay, thank you, I will get some this weekend

[turtlezx]

if its range lead there shouldnt be any zinc in it ??

your gonna pic that up from ww

[MBTcustom]

Just flux it a few more times, and for gosh sakes, don't cook lead over 800*!
When molten lead goes over 800 degrees in temperature, it starts outgassing lead fumes.

[nhrifle]

I may have been making a mistake for years, but when I add metal to my melt, if it does not go into the alloy after a fluxing or two I just scrape it out and toss into the dross can. I'm not a metallurgist, nor do I play one on TV, and this procedure has not let me down yet. If it floats, toss it.

[tomme boy]

Smash it against the side of the pot. Lead is clinging to the oxides. That is what it is. As you smash it, it is going to turn to a grey powder. Scoop that out. It is the oxidized lead. You can try to flux it back in, but I have not had any luck doing that.

[louism]

Try a little bees wax or paraffin or even some motor oil while it is molten. I have seen pots like that and the wax/oil usually works.

[lwknight]

I think what you have is a lot of oxides coated in tin.
An oily flux will allow the coating to flow off the cruddy stuff so that it can reduce back in the mix.
Getting the pot really hot helps nothing that I have ever seen.

[bangerjim]

Once you have acquired your HCl acid and tested your metal and found it is NOT zinc, try melting your mess down again at a MUCH!!!!!!!!! lower temp! 800 is more than enough! At the temp you were at, tin will oxidize faster than you can flux/reduce it back in.

Throw in some wax and sawdust. That should reduce/flux any desirables back in. If you have that dross, melt it down again and do the same. I have recovered a lot of tin from dross I skimmed from the past, not realizing I was possibly throwing away tin.

Good luck.

If you DO have zinc, there is a thread on here about removing Zn from lead melt using copper sulfate or sulfur. It does work.....sulfur (get it at a plant store) reminds you of hades! (don't ask me how I know!!!!!)

Cu sulfate (sewer root killer from HD) does not have as many nasty fumes.

BOTH will remove most of the tin, ant, (stuff you DO want) and zinc. You can then add the tin back in for the mix you want. I prefer working with pure lead and mixing my alloys rather than messing with filthy old ww's and not knowing what you actually have in there. WW's are NOT what they used to be, when you can even find them.


Please.............DO NOT melt lead at 1,000F!!!!!!!!!!!

banger

[David2011]

If you melt at 650 degrees you will float zinc to the surface unmelted. Start with a little and add more as it melts- but be absolutely certain it's DRY. If you put 50 pounds of good lead on top of one zinc WW then the zinc is trapped against the bottom of the pot and will melt. If you add zinc to molten lead at 650 it will float on top of the melt. I agree with Turtlezx- you shouldn't have any zinc in range lead.

David

[swheeler]

Just flux it a few more times, and for gosh sakes, don't cook lead over 800*!
When molten lead goes over 800 degrees in temperature, it starts outgassing lead fumes.

I thought it would have to be a lot hotter than that with a boiling point of over 3100F

[fredj338]

Agree, 1000deg, way to hot. Flux it w/ sawdust, if it won't mix in, I scrape it off & toss it, flux again until you stop getting oatmeal. Unless you personally picked up the range scrap, you could be buying anything.

[MBTcustom]

Just flux it a few more times, and for gosh sakes, don't cook lead over 800*!
When molten lead goes over 800 degrees in temperature, it starts outgassing lead fumes.

I thought it would have to be a lot hotter than that with a boiling point of over 3100F

I can't remember where I read that, and being that I can't site it, I could very well be mistaken.
I want to say it was when I was reading about tempering springs in a red hot lead pot, and they mentioned something about needing extremely good ventilation for anything over 800*.......just can't remember.
Take it for what it's worth.