Battery clamps

[merlin101]

I need to replace an old clamp on my tractor and picked up a replacement today at Advance auto parts, I noticed it didn't 'look' right and read on the back "lead free"! Turns out its zinc. so be careful guys.

[bangerjim]

The EVIL Zn is everywhere..........thanks to our tree-kissing owl-hugging liberal enviro-Nazi groups.

[RogerDat]

The EVIL Zn is everywhere..........thanks to our tree-kissing owl-hugging liberal enviro-Nazi groups. Jim don't hold back you know it isn't good for your health to keep things bottled up inside. Don't hold back just tell us what you really think. :kidding:

No, on second thought don't want to see you banned. :bigsmyl2:

[bangerjim]

I calls ‘em as I sees ‘em.

Banger

[lightman]

I guess nothing is sacred? I've found both zinc and brass in addition to lead. The alloy is all over the place too, on the lead ones. I test each one with acid and dump them in with my clip on wheel weight when I smelt.

[bangerjim]

I have found HCl acid (not H2SO4 battery acid) is the BEST test for Zn. Diagonal cutters are for the birds......and electricians.

A little drip bottle of HCl will indicate Zn instantly and be unmistakable!. Just be sure to have a bucket of water handy to dunk in and wash off the acid drop.

And , no, acid will NOT react with Pb at all. Mabe give it a bit of shine?

[RogerDat]

Diagonal cutters (dikes) are good if your doing a bucket of WW's and want to test all of them as lead or not lead. Easy to sit with a tray of them in lap and nip - toss - next your way through a pile. With WW's lead ones are soft enough to nip, zinc won't let you nip a cut on an edge. The binary choice makes nip/not nip viable test.

For ingots or larger items acid works better. Since the choice isn't binary nip/not nip can easily fail to lead to proper conclusion. Especially if it could be an ingot of hard printers lead or Babbitt those will be hard to nip. An alloy that contains zinc but also has lead or tin in it might nip or not nip depending on composition. Or water quenched fake linotype pigs might nip or not. I have a couple of lovely 5# door stops and a few glue weights in the garage waiting for me to have a use for 18% zinc and 100% zinc ingots. Wouldn't have them if I had taken my drain cleaner with me to acid check.

[bangerjim]

Good observation......but HCl is still the definitive test forZn. I, even with a bucket of COWW’s (in in the past) I still use HCl. Have not processed COWW’s for over 3 years due to over 80% Zn,

Good luck to those that still mess with COWW’s.

Banger

[lightman]

I sort wheel weights by eye and use dykes on the questionable ones. I use the swimming pool acid on odd chunks. Thankfully, wheel weights still are mostly lead around, although I'm seeing more stick ons.

[6mm win lee]

Yeah. We have a chucklehead over here who I like to call "Mr Helper". One of our generators had lead clamps but were tightened down too much for his liking so he goes to down town Djibouti and buys the local chinese zinc junk. It started to crack at the screw. Lucky for me the program still has a couple of boxes of traditional lead clamp. The junk is gone and lead reigns supreme.

Does anyone have a link to regular battery terminals?

[RogerDat]

Good observation......but HCl is still the definitive test forZn. I, even with a bucket of COWW’s (in in the past) I still use HCl. Have not processed COWW’s for over 3 years due to over 80% Zn,

Good luck to those that still mess with COWW’s.

Banger

I still have a couple of places where I can get ~80% or better lead buckets of WW's and if it wasn't for some printers lead sucking the money out of my lead fund I would be stocking up. Making hay while the sun shines as they say. But I also know one high end (more new cars) shop that isn't worth messing with. Probably 20% lead and 80% zinc. Or it could be partly they have a shop rat that takes the good ones. I know I would :-)