Tin and antimony

[triggerhappy243]

I have been away from here for a while and missed out on alot of info. I know what is done to extract zinc from the melt.... But I do not remember if antimony could be removed from the melt. I know that the tin would come out with the zinc too. Any help?

[Sasquatch-1]

There were a couple of threads about it. Search removing zinc. The one thing I remember is it involves sulfur and is very smelly.

[bangerjim]

CuSO4 (copper sulfate....root killer) will remove Zn/Sn/Sb from an alloy.

But why?!?!?!?!?!

We all want that stuff in there for mold fill and hardness. If you shoot BP soft lead, trade what you have in S&S for what you want and do not waste your time trying to strip the good stuff out everybody else wants in there!

This metallurgy process has not changed in MANY years!!!!!!!!

banger

[JSnover]

Or add enough pure lead to soften it to your liking. If you want zero antimony, just trade it off.

[triggerhappy243]

bangerjim, you just answered my question.

RE: CuSO4 (copper sulfate....root killer) will remove Zn/Sn/Sb from an alloy.

But why?!?!?!?!?!.......... well I have some unknown content that was smelted before I learned about the zinc showing up in wheel weights. this batch would be a good candidate for the sulfur treatment. I have about 50 pounds to process the "POSSIBLE" zinc out and figured I can use it for my BP rifles. I understand I would lose the tin and antimony in this.... better than losing the whole lot.

[bangerjim]

But why you ask? PURE MAGIC....chemistry at work! [smilie=s:

Don't get lost in the weeds over a little Zn in your melt!!!! One zinker does not spoil a whole batch!

I have tested to 5% Zn with no problems at all......just add more Sn to compensate for raised surface tension Zn causes..........and your boolits may be a tad lighter.

Other than that, a little Zn will harden your mix! It will not water harden like Sb does.

Just drip some HCl (pool) acid on your ingots and if there is a fast reaction.........if so you have a LOT of Zn! If it only turns dark and forms teeny weeny bubbles over a time, you have nothing to worry about with that smaller amount of Zn. Battery acid (H2SO4) does not work nearly as well as HCl as it is much lower on the hydrogen ion strength table and ionically deficient for our purposes. You should be able to find pool acid over there easily!

People generally get over-concerned about a little Zn. Cast it and shoot it.

If you do want to try CuSO4, get it at HD or Lowes in the plumbing department. Add it to the surface of your melt and let it cook until it turns white (moisture is all cooked out then) and stir into the mix slowly. The crud on the top will be the sulfates of Sb/Sn/Zn you had in there. It may take a couple tries to get it all out. And there will be a little Cu left in there for "toughness". Again............unless you have a LOT of Zn.........it is a waste of your time.

There are several threads (very old) on here about this process as well as using sulfur to remove it. Sulfur stinks to high heaven and creates very dangerous noxious fumes!!!!!! Avoid that stuff like the plague.

banger

ps: Trying to remove Zn is a total waste of time if in the low %'s.

[triggerhappy243]

banger, I was more interested in using this chunk for muzzleloader conicals than anything else. Yes, I know I could dilute the zinc/tin/antimony down by adding more pure lead.

[jsizemore]

CuSO4 (copper sulfate....root killer) will remove Zn/Sn/Sb from an alloy.

But why?!?!?!?!?!

We all want that stuff in there for mold fill and hardness. If you shoot BP soft lead, trade what you have in S&S for what you want and do not waste your time trying to strip the good stuff out everybody else wants in there!

This metallurgy process has not changed in MANY years!!!!!!!!

banger

You have removed Sb with CuSO4?

[mwc]

I knew that CuSO4 will remove sn first, then the zn, but I'm not sure about the sb. Help us out on this POPPER.

[bangerjim]

Well........back in my experimenting phase, I took standard 12 Bhn COWW's and added 4% Zn to it. Then used the CuSO4 method (3x) and what was left acted and measured darned close to pure Pb. I did not waste time with a x-ray gun analysis, but it appeared from my Cabine ingot tests that the Sb was pretty much out of there.

This was NOT a balanced chemical laboratory formula analysis. No claims made to that extent. Too many variables. "Homey don't play dat game."

But CuSO4 does seem to remove almost everything but the Pb!

Bottom line is: don't worry about a little Zn! Cast it and shoot 'em. If one ends up with a BIG bunch of Zinkers in the mix......that is your bad! Zinkers are very easy to separate B4 re-melting. Just do it.

banger

[triggerhappy243]

good info... I was finding that my muzzleloader conicals were too hard to push down the muzzle. had to use a hammer to get them started.

[jsizemore]

This sticky may be of help:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?62957-A-possible-way-to-remove-zinc-from-molten-lead

[popper]

CuSO4 does NOT to my knowledge remove any Sb (chem balance equations also say NO). Sb is on the wrong side of the periodic chart. Haven't XRF it but it H.T. and acts just like it has Sb in it. Last batch I added 2% pure tin to 3-5% Sb bars, then added CuSO4. Ended up wit a H.T. alloy with BHN ~36 as tested by squishing with super hard. Can't get there without Sb! Banger - it would be neat if you could get it XRF to let the rest of us know for sure. I'm in sissy N. Texas, can't even buy Pb here.