First Time Smelthing WW

[mgread]

As some of you guy know I'm new here.
I like to Thank 2WheelDuke for his help over the weekend.

So Sunday I meet up with 2WheelDuke and Smelting my first set of sort WW. 6 hours and 1 move of Molten Lead Pot do to Rain starting.

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/IMG_0306_zps9q58noc4.jpg

I end up learning a lot.
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/D16E8D5C-0E8A-4AD6-BE4A-6EBD8F824B17_zpsxzwj1yzg.jpg

A little video.
http://vid359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/FB872A48-C680-4A76-99AF-3F8C8A034B43_zpskhdxsrse.mp4

So here is what I end up with
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/575A5E1D-0977-41B9-B5F9-B38876A8277F_zpsjzc1hzcw.jpg

the number are
For Chip-on Wheel Weights:
1 lb. 121 Ingot for a total of 107.6 lbs.
1/2 lb. 116 Ingot for a total of 54.4 lbs.

For Tape-On Wheel Weights:
1 lb. 19 Ingot for a total of 17.4 lbs.
1/2 lb. 19 Ingot for a total of 9.4 lbs.

A table of Lead.
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/575A5E1D-0977-41B9-B5F9-B38876A8277F_zpsjzc1hzcw.jpg

[lobowolf761]

Looks great. Do you share? That's a lot for just one person. Just kidding. Good job. Keep it up.

[lobowolf761]

That looks like the same cast iron pot I use.

[mgread]

I'm not allowed to sell. On the site yet. I'm too new. But for right now Im started to stockpiling. But I'm willing to work a trade. I'm new to casting. So to help with the cost of everything I'm will to trade for lead.

[lobowolf761]

I was just kidding. I cast my own and have a good supply myself. Looks like you did real good. Keep learning. I always learn something new everytime I melt up a new batch.

[lightman]

Looks like you are off to a good start. I need to process several more buckets but I'm waiting Fall to get here.

[skeettx]

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/IMG_0306_zps9q58noc4.jpg

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo36/MarkGRead/Melting%20pot/D16E8D5C-0E8A-4AD6-BE4A-6EBD8F824B17_zpsxzwj1yzg.jpg

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j452/skeettx/7a1b8ca0-bd5d-490b-a59e-1b3e6d8048ae.jpg

[RogerDat]

I love the part that comes right after the picture of the pot. As one clears the clips and dross gradually uncovering a nice shiny pot-o-lead. Know what I mean?
Nice looking pile of ingots.

[mgread]

thanks guy. I have pick up a other 2 buckets full of WW. I going to sort tomorrow after I get home from my meetings.

[mgread]

So I'm out of lead almost. I traded lead for 1 lee pro pot. And sold everything else on eBay. I got over $185 total. Was able to order 3 Lee molds and another new Lee pot. The trade one needs parts. I also order and have build my PID SYSTEM. I will have that up soon.
Also I have 25 gal of tape on to smelt and 1- 6 gal, 2 5 gal chip on to smelt. And 1-1/2 5 gal buckets to still sort.

[Nose Dive]

Good work!!!

Nose Dive.

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[mgread]

Thanks
update. Getting ready to smelt again
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/25/0ba95441c9e182b814f47a2fbce12126.jpg
That
Clip-on
1-6 gal and 2-5 gal
Tape-on
2-4 gal
Zinc is about 34 lbs

Thanks RogerDot for the spell check. Been using the iPad and iPhone to much and autoCorrect blows sometime.

[Nose Dive]

Your ingots look pretty spiffy!! Are you fluxing? Saw Dust? I can't tell from the pics if you are smelting outside. If so, a few scoops of sawdust in the smelt pot before you add the weights to the pot and before you turn on the heat might 'brighten' the sheen a bit. That's my method. I also add a scoop or two of sulfur that I pick up from the nursery. That is my flux 'mix' when smelting.

After all is melted, I scoop dross and clips and put in a 'save' pot for further smelting later. And, it looks like you are being careful with segregating the 'zinc' from the mix of weights. Very, very, good! A few zinc weights in the pot makes for a long, long day fluxing to remove it. (Ask me how I know!). Once the pot and smelt is 'clean and shiny' and all corruption gone, I always finish with a bit of wax waste left over from my wife's candle making escapades. I have been told the was is a useless step, but, I do it. And I do it when casting from my pour pot when making boolits.

Like I say, I start with a good dose of sawdust/sulfur in the bottom of the pot, add the smelt mix and heat up. I always flux with the sawdust/sulfur mix at least twice. Sometimes three,,,four...five. It all depends on how nasty my starting smelt mix is. I smelt some nasty stuff....sewer pipe plumbers lead, range scrap...junk yard stuff....anywhere I can get it.

BE SURE!! If you are 'inside' smelting... the sawdust/sulfur mix will run you out of the house, barn, street and county! It smokes like the dickens and SMELLS horrible! Do yourself a favor, and your loved ones at home, and move the smelting operation outside. If you are in a subdivision ....expect some love letters from the HOA. And be sure, leather gloves, face shield, leather apron and heavy leather boots. And...never, ever add a 'fresh load' of WW's to the smelt pot once the mix is hot and melted. It can,,,AND WILL...blow the whole mess all over the place! (water to steam effect)... it does happen... (again, ask me how I know) Stay safe on you smelting.....

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[mgread]

What kind of sawdust do you use for your flux?

[Nose Dive]

mgread... well... the straight answer is, 'what ever I can get my hands on'. Buddy of mine goes to HOME DEPOT...sweeps up around there rip saw and totes it out in plastic buckets. So, he gets a mix of wood. He is happy. Home Depot is happy and the dust is 'recycled'....(poor...I guess I should say, used for purpose and not 'land filled')

On this site, years ago, a guy would go out in the woods and find old rotten pine trees and 'grub' them up and sell that to anyone. It worked, and was kinda of a recycle thing. He believe the old rotten resin helped in the reduction and cleaning of the '**** and corruption' one finds in his smelt pot.

I am now using old wolmanized fencing from my fence that rotted out a few years back. I think it is pine, not cedar, but, I did not install it and it doesn't smell like either one when I fire up the table saw to 'make dust'. And, 'in my feeble' mind, I am recycling and getting 'some' arsenic from the wolmanizing treatment. (fat chance really, wood is so old...rotted, but not bug bit)....

So,,,I guess, my real response is, 'I ain't one bit particular'.... While living in the BIG CITY, I used to drive to/from work by a cabinet shop. One day I stopped and asked to 'sweep up' if I could keep the dust. Foreman looked at me like I was nuts, and said 'go ahead'. So, three hours of work, (did the shop right here), I ended up with 6 yard bags full of oak, walnut, pecan and apple wood dust. I stopped by a few days later with a few cans of Lone Star (beer)[know where I live now?] in a shoe box for the foreman. {some businesses don't like beer in the shop}, He greeted me at the shop double doors and yelled, 'Man, have I been wanting to see you!'. He got the beer, and I got 6 more bags.

So... again...I use what I have and always dump the sulfur in the mix. Read on these pages as fellas have been dumping acid, grass cutting, hair cuttings....man,,,you name it, ..in an effort to find a good concoction that turns...well..."LEAD INTO GOLD"!

But,,,just a word of caution here. Be VERY CAREFUL what you put in you smelt pot. Acids produce some NASTY FUMES and can blind you. And, some guys offer 'instructions' on how to use the chemicals and don't have a glue about safety. Coming out refineries and chemical plants over the last 30 years, working with oil at 900 F, hydrofluric,, sulfuric...nitric acids...sodium hydroxide, formaldehyde, (you name it) I have seen first hand what these chemicals can do if 'not respected'.... and used and handled improperly. It it not a sweet site to see ....(ask me how I know)

So...if OUTSIDE...with face shield, leather gloves, apron, welders sleeves, leather boots....and some reasonable knowledge of you smelt pot....you should have a good day. Scoops of saw dust, scoops of sulfur, and a pot of 'smelt' material,,, brought up slowly...never 'adding anything' to the pot other that a bit more saw dust and some wax at the end.... you should come away, 'in whole' and happy with your product. KEEP IN MIND...the saw dust and sulfur SMOKES like the dickens and SMELLS HORRIBLE..... If you live in a 'neighborhood'... Your neighbors with get to know you and your HOA will be sending you 'love letters'.... (again,,,ask me how I know!)

Stay safe smelting....

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[mgread]

Thanks for the information

[mgread]

Not I just need to find a place to get sulfur at.

[scottfire1957]

Home depot, gardening stores.

[mgread]

Power or pellet form?

[RogerDat]

Pet Bedding from pet store or Wal-Mart. Stuff is cheap and more importantly not full of glues from manufactured plywood or particle board or chemicals used to treat lumber. Both are things I would rather not breathe and that add nothing to the smelting pot.

For a few bucks you should be set for wood chips the next couple of tons of lead you smelt.

I'll also toss out that pet store reptile or lizard bedding is available that is made from ground walnut hulls. Same stuff we pay big bucks for to use in vibrating brass polisher. Lot cheaper as lizard bedding than it is at sporting goods store for brass cleaning. Works the same. I mean if you are at the pet store already for rodent bedding, a little lizard bedding on the shopping list might be worth your time.

[mgread]

Thank I'll look into them. My bosses brother own a wood working and costume door mill shop. I can get sawdust for days. But I have to dry it out.

[scottfire1957]

Thank I'll look into them. My bosses brother own a wood working and costume door mill shop. I can get sawdust for days. But I have to dry it out.

Put the sawdust on top of the lead before melting. It'll dry out. Put it in the pot before you add lead. It'll dry out. Put it on the lead after it melts. Wait a couple of minutes, it'll dry out.

As fo sulfur. I don't have a need for it with Pb melting, so I do not know which form to get, but it is easily obtained.

[mgread]

Cool. I had 3 zip lock bag full but it start to mold to the trash man got them.

[Markbo]

I use Home Depot sawdust too. Free and smells nice. :D Keep your sawdust inside in an open bucket, not zip locked up

[mgread]

I use Home Depot sawdust too. Free and smells nice. :D Keep your sawdust inside in an open bucket, not zip locked up

Nice!

I smelt all the tape on and come up with 216lbs 10oz.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/27/a28f7f430ba60728042f31f2e53c263a.jpg

[Nose Dive]

Good Job!! Ingots really look nice.

Sulfur... I go to the nursery and buy powdered sulfur... Comes in cheap paper bags and if it gets wet,(from rain at the 'outside' nursery), they mark it down a bit and that is good because I don't care if it is powder or clumps. I all goes in the smelt pot and get melted and burned up. I buy the cheapest I can lay my hands on. Sometimes, in the fall, they mark it all down as it is caked up pretty good and I buy 4 or 5 bags for winter smelting and that is really when I like to smelt. It is HOT in Texas in the summer.

Saw Dust. ... I too frequent some cabinet shops, and HOME DEPOT... I ask the HD manager for what he has, I dump it in a plastic trash bag, clean up around his rip saw and all leave happy. I use it as I get. No treating, drying or sifting.

Smelt Pot Flux Blend... I cover the bottom of the pot with about 2 inches of saw dust, hand full or two of sulfur, then all the smelt material. I smelt alot of dubious stuff...dry...wet...moist...who knows. When I have range scrap, this is spread on the drive way the day before, washed down with my garden hose...left to dry over night. I pick up big pieces by hand, little ones with a dust pan and broom. All go into the pot on top of the flux mix. Some of the old copper jackets hold water...yes...all night so be careful here......

I lite off the pot, on LOW FIRE...and let the fun begin. Smokes, stinks, gurrgles, bubbles and then...well....every 5 or 8 minutes or so, as things begin to melt...i go up on the flame...VERY SLOWLY...let the heat do it job on burning off the water.... I do stir and as the pot becomes liquid, i go up a bit more...SLOWLY.... Once all is liquid, with constant scrapping of the dross, clips, trash and corruption, I add a bit more sawdust and sulfur.... with mixing and stirring and scrapping bottom and sides of smelt pot. Once I am sure i don't see any zinc clips...I go up on the fire and flux once more. If the smelt looks 'suspicious', I might add a hand full of borax and sawdust.... mix good...see what happens. If there is no 'real generation' of any more dross,,I finish each smelt with some wax. this is out of habit really. And, I always get just a bit more dross off the smelt... again, this step is more habit than 'foundry craftsmanship' ...which is really no where near my effort at having fun making my boolits. BE SURE TO NEVER, EVER ADD MORE SMELT MATERIAL TO A HOT SMELT POT. I DON'T CARE HOW LOW THE LEVEL IS IN THE SMELT POT...DON'T DO IT!

Then it is time to pour out in smelt into 'cap cake' ingot molds. These always come out colorful as the pans came out of the kitchen and am still burning out oil, cupcake mix, PAM, what ever. I have about 10 cupcake tins and makes the generation of the ingots really fast and cheap. By the time I have poured the last tin full of alloy, the first one is hard and ready to drop out into the water and we do it all again. And, the 'cup cake' grease really has not contaminated my ingots as once in casting pot, with a bit more wax, it all burns off and boolits are clear, clean and shiny. (most of the time)...

Anyway...your ingots look really good! Did you brinell test them? Pour a few boolits and show us some pics!

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[mgread]

Now time to looking powder Coating!! But that a new thread

[turtlezx]

why the sulfur ?? just for zinc or something else??

[Nose Dive]

I use the sulfur to help rid the smelt pot of zinc. see link below.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?63082-Zinc-Removal-with-Sulfur-Report

This is a fairly long string, but it has some good pointers on cleaning up a 'bad' batch of smelt, if there is such a thing. Some use muratic acid in the pot. That is a bit much for me as it does fume and cause eye, nose, skin irritation. Note...SO WILL SULFUR if you stand down wind. And, it will ignite. Be sure to read the whole sticky. There is a lot of good info in it and some good safety precautions. I think I am in there a few times too.

If you don't have any zinc in the smelt, it really is a waste of sulfur, but...but...but...my smelt pots contain stuff from everywhere and I have just gotten in the habit of fluxing with the saw dust & Sulfur a few times and then finish with some wax before pouring out ingots. I also us borax sometimes to brighten up the ingots. I always have some laying around as I use to protect my deer/elk/cow hides while tanning.

Again, read the sticky, the entire thing. And stay 'respectfully cautious' of your smelt. You can create some 'bombs', some noxious vapors and get yourself in trouble.

Remember...."It ain't fun if your hurtin'"

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

PS: and don't forget this info also. http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm ND