Really big isotope containers

[kevin c]

I have managed (I hope) to cultivate a long term source of clean lead from a radiopharmacy. 50 cents a pound, which may not be free but is still cheaper than any other local source I can find in the San Francisco Bay Area and will also be a reliable and steady supply.

What caught me off guard was the owner's telling me that most of these containers, which were for isotopes of iodine, are fifty or a hundred pounds each. I assume he knows since he was selling them to a recycler before I made him a better offer.

The biggest containers I've heard of are those 32 pound grenade shaped technetium 99 generators. I guess I will see myself next week, but if these are really that big, ima hafta rethink my melting rig and ingot molds.

Any one here seen isotope containers that size?

[M-Tecs]

My BIL got me some from the hospital he worked at. This was in the late 70's but per a bathroom scale 4 of them together weighed 120 pounds.

[Reddirt62]

Pictures would be very cool! Thanks

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[LenH]

Do they look like these?205771
They weight about 31.5 pounds and make good pistol bullets.
I use a cutoff Freon tank and can only fit one at a time in it.

[lightman]

Those 31.5# ones are the biggest that I have seen. Maybe you can post up some pictures when you start getting them. By the way, Congratulations on the new source. Those are usually nice clean lead and make great bullets.

[Dusty Bannister]

It sounds like you have an agreement, but have not seen what you have agreed to buy. I hope this works out for you. Check the following link for images of the various containers usually encountered.

http://fellingfamily.net/isolead/

[wwmartin]

Double post

[wwmartin]

Google isotope lead, Felling family.net. list of weight and hardness.
Bill
Some are clean enough (no paint ) 20oz just add to the pot.
Bill

[Reddirt62]

I have had the pleasure of one small one, great stuff.

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[kevin c]

Thanks all! I had already pm'd sqlbullet, the owner of the felling family container page, and my description doesn't match what he has encountered. I will find out for sure in a week or so and will report back, with pics (if this old pretechnologic dinosaur can figure out how).

[Hardcast416taylor]

Do they look like these?205771
They weight about 31.5 pounds and make good pistol bullets.
I use a cutoff Freon tank and can only fit one at a time in it.

I still have 12 of these out in my casting barn that were given to me by a friend that was a maintence man in a local hospital. I have small pieces that fit into the larger ones and sleeves that hols them together which brings the weight to about 700 lbs. These were free to hospital staff after the lead sat for a year in a lead lined chamber for the nuclear half life to pass (6 months I was told). Anyhow, mine were all free from a shooting friend, after he put a `few` aside for himself.Robert

[white eagle]

those make some mighty fine boolits
no matter where they came from

[Oklahoma Rebel]

WHAT ALLOY ARE THOSE USUALLY? sorry for the caps.. and are places like CVS allowed to sell theirs, or is that a store to store differs kind of thing?

[dragon813gt]

WHAT ALLOY ARE THOSE USUALLY? sorry for the caps.. and are places like CVS allowed to sell theirs, or is that a store to store differs kind of thing?

The large isotope cores are 96/3/1. And you wont be getting them from a pharmacy like CVS. They're now reusing them and the supply has dwindled. There are specific procedures that have to be followed beige they can be scrapped, such as cool down time. It's s great alloy for bullets. To bad a family member sold over a ton of mine for pennies on the dollar [emoji35]

[308Jeff]

I have a few of the 31.5 lb ones. They melt well in my 6 quart cast iron dutch oven.

[MUSTANG]

Do they look like these?205771
They weight about 31.5 pounds and make good pistol bullets.
I use a cutoff Freon tank and can only fit one at a time in it.

These "Heat Treat" to a nice hard boolit when water dropped because of the 3% antimony content (96/3/1 alloy).

[dragon813gt]

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4432/36489784181_e9eb7c3ec3_o.jpg

[Oklahoma Rebel]

dang,the chances of me scoring some of these don't look so good!

[kevin c]

These "Heat Treat" to a nice hard boolit when water dropped because of the 3% antimony content (96/3/1 alloy).

Mustang, I sure wish I could WD my casts, but I use HiTek. The impression I get from the HiTek threads is that I will need to count on the intrinsic properties of the alloy rather than the heat treat or water drop, but I've also read that the the iso containers are good as is for what I need (9mm slugs moving between 900 and 1000 fps from an auto).

[kevin c]

Dragon that's a really nice pot there. I especially like the handles and the spouts. Just how big across is it that it can take two of the 32 #ers side by side? Can you tell me its capacity, and where I might buy one?

[kevin c]

dang,the chances of me scoring some of these don't look so good!
Well, the radiopharmacy I am negotiating with is a multistate corporation, and I am dealing with their Northern California location. The owner has been selling the decommissioned containers to recyclers for some time, so perhaps local rules apply that are, of all things, more relaxed here in Calfornia than for Dragon in Pennsylvania, or maybe since he is the boss, he just does it his way.

The radiopharmacies only deal with radioactive materials for medical uses like tracers, imaging and cancer therapy. They don't do regular prescription drugs, and only work with hospitals and other medical outfits, dispensing only the hot stuff and only by contract. The exact converse is true of pharmacies dispensing to the public, so your local CVS never sees the containers because they never deal in the materials they contain.

I may have had my foot in the door with the radiopharmacy I am dealing with, since I have the letters M and D tacked after my name, but I really think it was being politely persistent over months, plus the regular donation of high calorie/high palatability nutritional supplements (aka, cookies, donuts and other pastries) that did it. I found them via Google search filtered to my geographic area, and only tried one (there is another company in town as well) I think most major population centers will have at least one close by (the isotopes don't travel well, mostly having short useful half lives).

Don't give up yet!

[dragon813gt]

Dragon that's a really nice pot there. I especially like the handles and the spouts. Just how big across is it that it can take two of the 32 #ers side by side? Can you tell me its capacity, and where I might buy one?

Walmart. It's Lodge dutch oven.

[kevin c]

Thanks! I'll go and have a gander, compare it to the Harbor Freight 10 quart job I am using now.

[kevin c]

206732206733

If pics are sideways, sorry, still new to this.

These are the two iodine containers I picked up. The unpainted one weighs 58# with the hardware, is 5" in diameter and 7.25 " tall (without the hardware, which seems to be stainless steel). It opens into top and bottom halves at the middle groove. The green one is 37#, 4.5 " in diameter and 6" tall (dimensions without the hardware, which includes the stainless cap with an integral lead filled top plug that I melted out).

Nice clean metal. I haven't had a chance to cast with it, but for each container I will make some bullets for hardness testing and get samples off to BNE eventually. The ingots ring so neither is pure lead.

[lightman]

Those are the first of that type that I have seen. I hope they make good bullets for you. Thanks for posting the pictures.

[Hammerlane]

207009207010

Set them on fire

[kevin c]

Update:

Just got the Xrf back from BNE, and hats off to him for helping out and so quickly.

The big 58# unpainted beast is about 4% Sb, the rest Pb, and the green 37# container is about 2% Sb and the rest Pb. Interestingly enough, no tin in either.

Still worth 50 cents a pound to me - the only "free" lead I've found out my way is what I dig out of the berms, and my arms, back, blood lead level and the propane hit to my wallet beg to differ with that cost description.

[kevin c]

Well, the isotope containers keep getting bigger.

The owner of the radiopharmacy that had the 58# and 37# wasn't kidding when he said he had 100# containers. They look very much like the smaller ones, with the same style hardware, just bigger. I will post pictures when I actually pick them up.

Another radiopharmacy says they have 300# barrels of lead. Not barrels full of lead, and not lead lined barrels, but literally barrels made of lead. I will need to see this myself, and also figure out how to transport them and ingotize them. Pics if confirmed and if I buy.

[lightman]

Those 37# and 58# containers and maybe even the 100# containers will not be too hard to work with. If you get enough of them it may be worthwhile to build a custom heavy duty smelting set-up. But when you get over 100# it gets difficult to handle. It can be done, but it helps to have some lifting equipment or some way to cut them up. Big lead scores equal big work! Congratulations on finding a good source of lead in your local area! Now you need to search for a source of tin!

[OS OK]

The large isotope cores are 96/3/1. And you wont be getting them from a pharmacy like CVS. They're now reusing them and the supply has dwindled. There are specific procedures that have to be followed beige they can be scrapped, such as cool down time. It's s great alloy for bullets. To bad a family member sold over a ton of mine for pennies on the dollar [emoji35]

I would have 'gone off' like a NASA rocket for that & that 'family member' would still be hanging upside down by his heels in one of my Pine trees!
Every time I rode past him on the mower I'd smack'em and whack'em a few times for good measure too!

[dragon813gt]

Easier said than done. It's far from being that simple.

[308Jeff]

207009207010

Set them on fire

That is a REALLY big pot. I can only fit 2 of the isotopes that size in mine.

[MaryB]

Small pickup crane(can weld one a lot cheaper than buying) and at home I use the engine hoist(cherry picker) to unload heavy stuff like buckets of wheel weights. Northern tool has the truck box hoists too pretty cheap, possibly Harbor Freight.

[kevin c]

I think the three hundred pound barrels are a one time score. The manager who wants to sell them, along with some other scrap lead, is moving his operation. Cheaper to sell to me than take them with him to the new location.

But he says he has 8 or 9 of them. That plus the scrap, he says, is 3000 pounds.

I'm splitting it with my casting mentor. Three quarters of a ton each. If I sell half of it, I'll have 750 pounds for free, but I just might keep all of my share, greedy, covetous, lead hoarder that I am becoming.

[lightman]

I would keep it. If you sell some of it now you will someday be wishing that you had it back. Thats been my experience anyway.

[sargenv]

Now the fun part.. finding somewhere to put it all ;)

[merlin101]

Now the fun part.. finding somewhere to put it all ;)
I've got plenty of room, rent's cheap too!

[kevin c]

Well, I really shouldn't count my chickens...etc, etc. but I'm hopeful the deals go through.

I got the dimensions on the barrels: cylinders two feet high and a foot and a half across, half inch thick. I'm thinking a Sawzall with a well lubed blade should be able to cut them into manageable chunks, which is a good thing since my pot tops out at 200# and to avoid the trouble of leveling it I try to keep well under that.

My dear Sargenv, you try to put another 1500 pounds of lead in your hillside casting shed, it won't just tilt more, it'll flip over onto your goat pen or slide into your house! 8^D

[lightman]

Small pickup crane(can weld one a lot cheaper than buying) and at home I use the engine hoist(cherry picker) to unload heavy stuff like buckets of wheel weights. Northern tool has the truck box hoists too pretty cheap, possibly Harbor Freight.

An engine hoist is a really handy thing to have. After Christmas I'm thinking about building a device that will hold a 5 gallon bucket that can be picked up with a hoist. I'm thinking about a heavy duty version of a 5 gallon drink can holder like you see mounted on work trucks. Something that you can scoot the 5 gallon bucket over into rather than depending on the handle to support the weight.

[sargenv]

My dear Sargenv, you try to put another 1500 pounds of lead in your hillside casting shed, it won't just tilt more, it'll flip over onto your goat pen or slide into your house! 8^D

Well, the issue I have at the moment is one of balance.. most of the lead I have at the moment is on the downhill side.. I could put in some heavy duty shelving on the uphill side.. ;) Maybe the shed door will stop sticking...

[Mr_Sheesh]

Maybe FIRST put in some concrete pillars going down to bedrock, THEN add more lead :P

Yeah, it is really hard to deal with thieving family members, prove they stole from you, etc. etc. and if you only find out afterwards it can be like closing the barn door after the stock's all been rustled...

[sargenv]

Yeah.. that's not going to happen... 8 x 8 already built "Tuff shed" on a slight hill (5 degrees). Moving the ton (literal ton in weight) of stuff out, lifting the shed and putting pillars.. nope, not going to happen without a crane of some type. I don't think the neighbors would appreciate the size of crane that it would take to get back there.. about 100 ft from the road and the boom would have to clear the house and trees.. not to mention that the street is on a downward slope.. ;)

Hmm.. talk about family members.. none of my family members want anything to do with said lead.. and the goats and dogs would likely attack anyone stupid enough to get into our yard.. :)

[MaryB]

3 pieces of 1x1/2 steel welded into an X shape with the 1" being vertical. Make it so it is about 2" wider than the bucket. Make 2 connected by chains a little taller the height of a bucket with the chains using an appropriate weight rated caribiner on one so it can be taken off if a bucket proves hard to tilt and rock onto the bottom X with it in the way. Add a set of 4 short chains from the top X to another weight rated caribiner. I use something similar made from wood but it is starting to crack so steel would be a better idea... I used 1/4 inch steel cable between the top and bottom and that worked well too. Would get a pic of it but it is apart in pieces to be recycled because it was breaking. Wood might work if I upgraded to oak 1x2"'s... Friend had a cable sleeve crimper(hydraulic) so I just made a loop through the wood to connect top and bottom.


An engine hoist is a really handy thing to have. After Christmas I'm thinking about building a device that will hold a 5 gallon bucket that can be picked up with a hoist. I'm thinking about a heavy duty version of a 5 gallon drink can holder like you see mounted on work trucks. Something that you can scoot the 5 gallon bucket over into rather than depending on the handle to support the weight.

[kevin c]

Hmm.. talk about family members.. none of my family members want anything to do with said lead.. and the goats and dogs would likely attack anyone stupid enough to get into our yard.. :)
Your family is not the problem. Remember the Sith?

Master.../;^)

[kevin c]

Being the curious type and to make conversation as I moved the scrapped isotope containers from one pharmacy, I asked the manager who was waiting for me to weigh them why they did not reuse them. He gave a practical answer: not cost effective. Most of their containers come from the nuclear reactors and cyclotrons that produce the radioisotopes. The cost of shipping the empties back plus inspecting them and removing the labeling, sorting by type and storing them prior to being refilled apparently exceeds the cost of buying a new one. So the radiopharmacy becomes the end user of most of the containers (some but not all end up in the hospital or cancer clinic lab) and then they have to dispose of them. This pharmacy sold to a company that recycles the lead into the lead shielding bricks that a lot of labs use.

I guess the circumstances and the policies vary, given Dragon's comments earlier in this thread.