First Lead Rendering and Lessons Learned

[Cloudwraith]

Yesterday was the first nice day I had all my equipment together and decided to try my hand at rendering some wheel weights. Temp was about 50F with some light wind. I did two batches of wheel weights for about 45 lbs. I still have about 200lbs to go but i was taking it slow initially. I used pine bedding from Walmart for flux and tried out a variety of strainers, stirrers and skimmers as well as a few different molds.

I had one Tinsel Fairy scare moment which I'll get into further down. Here is a pic of my burner setup:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/Pics/Burner.jpg

This was my first attempt at rendering wheel weights and here are a few things I've learned.


Neighbors look at you funny when you do this in front of your house wearing full protective gear including goggles and a respirator.
Never pour ingots on a sloping driveway. I moved my molds to the level garage floor after the first pours. It isn't so much a pouring issue as it is a consistency and weighing issue. The sloped ingots don't stack well either.
Do NOT add additional wheel weights to molten lead. I knew this already after reading for months here but I thought I would try adding a small bit using a strainer to lay them on top (not plunk them below the surface). The weights were dry and had been in the house for weeks. I didn't get an explosion but got some small bubbles and the strainer/wheel weights turned a big part of the melt into a solid brick for a bit. Just isn't worth it to me to tempt the Fairy. After my first batch I left enough lead in the bottom of the pot to coat and let it harden. Then filled up the pot with my second wheel weights and went at it again. No issues.
A strainer with smaller holes is better for removing contaminant and one with large holes is better for removing wheel weight clips.
A solid spoon is best for skimming and removing dross.
Christmas tree molds or other cast iron molds with rounded edges (corn cob) don't tend to stack well. I really like the pie corn cake mold and used this the most.
The Lee ingot molds work really well however you only get 3lbs per mold and the 1/2lbs may not be of much use. I may get some Lyman molds to make more 1lb ingots per run.
A #2 Rowell pouring ladle works well until you get down to the last 10-15lbs in a pot. I had to start tipping the pot to get a deep enough pool to use the ladle in. Cast iron pots are HOT, had to double up on the gloves. I may consider getting a #1 or less shallow pot. Alternatively I could leave more lead in the bottom of the pot to cool before the next session however I can't seem to get more than 24-30lbs of wheel weights into my pot as the amount of clips keeps weights from contacting the melt and melting. Since I'm not adding additional weights to molten lead I see no way around this currently.
I tried using some candle wax as flux after using pine bedding. The wax melted, ignited, and turned black and I'm assuming grabbed some impurities but then stuck tenaciously to the sides of the cast iron and made it hard to scrape off. Sticking with the pine bedding seemed to work the same (if not a bit better) and didn't stick to the sides making it easier to remove from the melt.


Here are the results after about 1.5 hours.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/Pics/Lead1.jpg

Here are a couple of questions.

How high are you guys heaping your wheel weights into a 6qt capacity dutch oven? How do you add lead to the melt to get it full?

What is your minimum temperature for rendering lead?

My first few ingots poured appeared shiny and chrome like. The rest appeared dull and grayish. (see pic). Is this normal?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1264960/Pics/Lead2.jpg

Finally, my Tinsel Fairy scare. I was using a respirator with lead filters purchased from PK Safety online. It was comfortable and worked really well and I didn't have any issues with it. After I let my first batch cool I took a break, left my gear outside and went in washed up and grabbed a water. When I went back outside to start my second batch I put my gear back on including my respirator. A HUGE splash of water fell out of my respirator and went all down my shirt. Apparently, the moisture from my breath had condensed inside the nose outlet valve and collected forming a pool of water that fell when I put it on. Granted this might only happen on cooler days but it is something to be aware of for those who wear respirators and work on cold days. If I had been over my melt this could have been bad.

[JSnover]

I have an 8 quart DO and I pile scrap high enough to raise the lid about an inch above the pot. It always fits when it melts and by that time any moisture has cooked off.
Minimum temp is whatever it takes to melt/burn all the crud. I start high and turn it down a bit after I get a good melt. You'll know if it's too cold.
Dull vs shiny just shows your temp went up or down a bit. It won't make any difference when you turn those ingots into boolits.
The half pound molds are handy for alloying. You can fill them with tin, Lino, Babbitt, etc, and come up with a ratio for whatever your favorite mix is.

[dg31872]

Neighbors look at you funny? LOL
Welcome to the madness.

[btroj]

I don't worry about how well they stack, my ingots are in 20 gallon Rubnermaid bins under my bench. They hold quite a bit even thrown in.

I heap range scrap well over the top of the Dutch oven. As it melts down it takes up far less space. 30 pounds is no real problem.

[bruce381]

funny I like smelting and casting as much or more than shooting sometimes, funny looks come from the wife

[lightman]

Welcome to the site! You have a nice looking set-up, and I like the burner. Wheel weights are bulky, you can stack them well over the top of your oven. The same with range scrap. I smelt using 6 ingot molds, and will always be watching for a deal on a few more. These are the Lyman/RCBS style, and they work well, and stack neatly. I like these better than the corn cob molds that I have and don't use anymore. When a buddy helps me, he brings his Lee mold. The 1/2 # ingots don't stack well with the 1 pounders, but its not a big deal. Some of the Guys on here have some nice looking home made molds, too!

I usually run my pot around 650 -700. Your different colored ingots are just your temp drifting. This may even be your mold temp and not your lead. Its common when you are using different size molds or if they are made of different material (iron and aluminum). They heat up and cool off at different rates.

Be on the lookout for a sheet of plywood to put under your operation. Sooner or later you will dribble molten lead on the floor, and the plywood makes cleaning up much easier. Its also easier on my back!

The Tinsel Fairy will only visit if you get moisture under the surface. Like dropping a wet piece of lead, or a wet tool in the lead and it goes under the surface. Rain drops, sweat, ect will only hiss and spit, but this will still get your attention! :grin:

It sounds like you are off to a good start! Lightman

[Teddy (punchie)]

Nieghbors LOL

Wait until they see a coffee can full of brass. Town I live in we were busy with hay didn't make time keep up with grass. Brough manger stopped buy to ask us to cut it, I thanked him. They both said something about porch, and looking like something's need to be in storage, both looked at it like I was nuts. Went school with police chief. And when they were having trouble getting ammo, I told them (local police) to let me know if they get in a bad way for ammo. They both were looking at coffee can full of 9 mm brass. I'm sure they looked at like what is that and then started to count and think , there must be 1,000 plus there. More like 1200. I'm sure they talked to Chief and he said who and where, he said that I bet that is nothing, he was loading 30 years ago in high school. LOL. Enjoy and be happy and good to you Nieghbors.

[osteodoc08]

I use loaf pans for ingots currently. I'd look up D Crockett and get one of his converted LP cylinders to smelt in.

To answer your questions

-your shiny lead was likely done at a lower temp. The others became "frosted" from higher heat. It's no big deal.

-using pine shavings is best for me. Dump in, let char, stir in. Remember, they need DRY sawdust and tools.

-keep temps around 650. If you miss a zinker, it won't melt at that temp

[Cloudwraith]

If you miss a zinker, it won't melt at that temp

My thermometer stayed between 650 and 675 near as I could tell. I did have one floater that must have missed my sorting. The shiny ingots were my first pours and the mold was cold so perhaps that accounted for it.

[Cloudwraith]

What is your minimum temperature for rendering lead?

I guess I should clarify this.

What is the minimum ambient temperature you would render lead in? At what point is it too cold outside to get good pours or stable pot temps? I waited for 50F but still had to deal with some condensation which I assume would be worse the colder it got.

[MaryB]

Lowest temp will be whatever your burner can handle and melt lead. I did a batch a week ago at 25 degrees. I was out of the wind inside the edge of my sheds overhead door and other than the molds taking a bit to get to temp things went fine. Liked the fact that I could dump ingots faster and pour the next set. Had a 27 pound bar of ballast weight from the bottom of an old computer tape drive rack. When pawing through junk watch for those, most have around 50 pounds of lead in the bottom.

[RedHawk357Mag]

One thing I learned during rendering was to have a wind shield of some type for the cooker. My first time without the wind shield I used a bunch of propane in a moderate wind and temps. I constructed a wind break for the cooker and propane usage went way down and temps were way more stable. BTW welcome to the club.

[BloodGroove4570]

God I love this site, Soooo much good info to be had here!!!

MaryB
Wouldn't happen to have a pic of that computer thingy would'ya??? Be nice to see so I could keep watch for that...

Thanks to Everyone for the Great Info!!!
BloodGroove4570

[MaryB]

Slots fit over brackets in the edges to keep it from sliding

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd248/maryalanab/2014-04-08_22-53-52_289_zps552dff04.jpg

Server and tape racks look like this. One that bar came from had a perforated door over the front and rear

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/IBM_System_360_tape_drives.jpg

[762 shooter]

Corncobs stack great between two studs in a wall with no sheetrock.

762

[OBIII]

Do not forget to mark your ingots with date and type of material, ww, range lead, etc. When you store them make sure you keep them separated according to type. Hard to come up with an alloy when you have forgotten whether or not it was ww or range scrap. :)

OB

[Cloudwraith]

So far that is easy, I've only done COWW.

[Wayne Smith]

Cloud, I think full protective gear is overkill. Stay upwind of the melt bucket - to avoid the smoke from the flux - and have good cotton clothing with boots or high shoes and good welding gloves and eye protection (I wear glasses all the time anyway) and you are good to go. You would have to have the lead boiling to get a significant amount into the air, and then have to have your face right over it to get any exposure. Lead is HEAVY - it doesn't float in the air very well. Stay upwind because I am convinced that smoke can carry atoms of lead.

I have been doing this for 15 years and my lead levels are normal.

[MaryB]

I repaired electronics for 27 years inhaling solder smoke every day. Lead levels are normal. Even held solder in my teeth a time or two thousand when I needed a third hand...