Getting a hard rust colored buildup in my Lee pot.....

[Bill in Ky]

New to casting and wondering if I am doing something wrong. This hard buildup can be chipped out with a screwdriver but its difficult. What is this stuff and where is it coming from. I am using WW. The buildup is down
by the heating element.
Thanks in advance for any help, This is a great site..

[Calamity Jake]

What are you fluxing with?

[Bill in Ky]

Remember, I'm new to casting. From what I have read here, this is my procedure... I melted my WW, skimmed all the stuff off, got the metal pieces out them cut up some flakes off a candle and put it in and let it burn. I then skimmed again and cast my ingots. Then yesterday, I remelted come ingots, skimmed what little was there and put more candle in. As the molten lead got lower in the pot this brown stuff started coming to the top, so I skimmed it. When I finished molding, not more than 100 9mm's there was this buildup around the bottom of the pot that I knocked out with a screwdriver.

[Bill in Ky]

I found a thread over on Cast Boolits titled "Wheel Weight Conundrum - HELP NEEDED" . The man there is having the same problem as I am and there are several reply's to his questions.
Thanks...

[Calamity Jake]

You have to sture(MS) the pot as the candle is melting just letting it burn off is not doing anything.

[gwpercle]

You have to sture(MS) the pot as the candle is melting just letting it burn off is not doing anything.
I believe Jake meant to type Stir. Use some wood shavings along with that candle wax, stir it up well , skim all impurities and you may have to do it 2 or 3 times to get all the impurities out. I mean separate fluxing along with stirring and skimming . Depends on how dirty the metal is and wheel weights are usually very grungy.
It is very important to cast with clean , clean metal...most people melt , flux and clean wheel-weights in a separate cast iron pot and cast little ingots of clean metal. the clean ingots go into your casting pot and fluxed another time or two before casting boolits. Hope this helps.
Gary

[Bill in Ky]

Thanks Gary and Jake, yes it helps a lot, I have not been stiring and only doing it once. I suppose I will have to do a better job when I start casting, and with any more WW I do.
Any idea what this rust colored stuff is, I can skim it and it looks like a powder. The inside of my pot is coated with this stuff.

[Freightman]

Are you smelting the WW or just melting in your casting pot? if you aren't smelting first your problem is dirt filth and crud from the WW. If you are smelting first (not in your casting pot) then wood shavings are the best flux.

[Bent Ramrod]

Lead goes through several oxidation states when heated in the presence of air. As more and more oxygen attaches to the lead, it turns from a yellow powder called "litharge" to an orange-red powder called "minium" or "red lead" and finally to a dark brown powder called 'lead dioxide" or "lead peroxide."

The most stable and easily produced form of lead oxide is the "red lead." It looks remarkably like bright new iron rust. If you notice little or no pitting or oxidation on the interior surface of your lead pot, your deposit is probably "red lead" or "minium."

[flyingmonkey35]

Are you using your casting pot to smelt the raw ww?

[Bill in Ky]

Yep, I haven't cast any boolits yet only ingots.. Its the only pot I have d:^(

Bent Ramrod.. You have the color exactly, its red not like rust. The inside of my pot is red. Can it be cleaned off? Am I heating the lead too hot? How do I keep this from happening? Is it ruined?
I got my Lee pot used, it had no red in it, I have had it a week and poured 100lb of ingots..
Thanks both of you for your help..

[Bent Ramrod]

I get it from time to time, but fluxing seems to keep it out of my cast boolits, which is what it is all about anyway. A pot cannot be "ruined" by this stuff; it's a natural byproduct of melting lead in air.

I almost never clean pots, but I mostly ladle cast. In ladle casting, as long as I can get a ladle full of clean metal, what is building up on the pot doesn't matter. When I melt the lead to start, I flux, stir the metal well, scrape the inside of the pot, and skim off and dump whatever results. What amount of new oxidized metal is generated in next couple hours of casting isn't enough to give any trouble.

The only pot I try to keep scrupulously clean is an old SAECO bottom pour, and that is only to keep the crud out of the spout on the bottom. I only melt clean ingots in that pot, and keep the casting going at a brisk pace. The lead starts out clean, and doesn't have time to oxidize to any extent. My other pots get used for everything from lead recovery to ingot casting to boolit casting, as needed. I flux and skim as needed, and don't worry otherwise.

[flyingmonkey35]

No worries your pots not ruined. Try fulxing when half full and scrape the sides with your spoon. It should come cleaner.

So start casting some fine boolits and put the lead back down range.

[Randy C]

I leave my pot full when done it wont rust then.

[Walter Laich]

I use a putty knife to get the bottom cleaned. Does a bit better than a spoon as it's flat across

[woodsxdragon]

Is this what they call dross?