Flux question

[Mcliff1971]

Hello all!

Complete casting newbie here! I was watching a video on YouTube of a guy making his own Lyman#2 alloy recipe. He melted the antimony first, then added the lead. After adding the lead he added in flux. All of this made perfect sense to me giving the different melting points of the two metals and adding flux to separate the good from the crud also makes sense. My question is - after he added the flux, he waited for a heavy smoke to form and then lit the fumes on fire with a stick lighter. I assume he was doing so to burn off combustible contaminants? Couldn't he just wait for the crud to form on the top and scoop it off or is the burning off step required?

Thanks in advance for shared insight!

Mike

[Dusty Bannister]

Burning off the smoke is not required, but generally it is desired. Do you want to smoke up your neighborhood and have folks stop by to see what you are doing? Just consider it a courtesy to those sharing your area. Dusty

[Mcliff1971]

Burning off the smoke is not required, but generally it is desired. Do you want to smoke up your neighborhood and have folks stop by to see what you are doing? Just consider it a courtesy to those sharing your area. Dusty

Thanks Dusty! Makes perfect sense!

[LenH]

When I render range lead I use wood shavings and candle wax for fluxing. It is very smoky until the wax catches fire. I do this 3 or 4 times to get as much crud out as possible.
I generally do this early on a Saturday morning and my neighbors are rarely up that early.

[cwlongshot]

Not to mention it can and will sometimes flame off by itself... If that happens when your mitt is in there scooping... well not so good.

CW

[mattw]

Not to mention it can and will sometimes flame off by itself... If that happens when your mitt is in there scooping... well not so good.

CW

That is the way it always seems to happen when I do it! When I cast, I use bullet lube for flux, burn it off and cover with very fine hardwood. Seems to work well for me. But the wood does smoke for awhile. I have a homemade fume hood over my bench to remove most of that smoke.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Mike, welcome to the forum.

Just curious, was this youtuber melting pure antimony? which has a melt temp of 1167ºF ?
or was it a superhard lead alloy with a high content of antimony?

Blending pure antimony with Lead and Tin isn't as easy as you'd think.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?37734-How-to-melt-antimony

[dondiego]

Hello all!

Complete casting newbie here! I was watching a video on YouTube of a guy making his own Lyman#2 alloy recipe. He melted the antimony first, then added the lead. After adding the lead he added in flux. All of this made perfect sense to me giving the different melting points of the two metals and adding flux to separate the good from the crud also makes sense. My question is - after he added the flux, he waited for a heavy smoke to form and then lit the fumes on fire with a stick lighter. I assume he was doing so to burn off combustible contaminants? Couldn't he just wait for the crud to form on the top and scoop it off or is the burning off step required?

Thanks in advance for shared insight!

Mike

If you plan to do this, I would forget about the antimony step. It can be done but is easier to just add type metal to get the antimony.

[Mcliff1971]

Thank you for the tips and advice - especially the warning about "flaring up on its own"! I will try and find the YouTube link again to see if the poster mentioned pure antimony or perhaps he said a blend.

[RED BEAR]

Remember its sawdust and the like to remove contamination .and waxes to combine alloy back together. I use only sawdust when making ingots and wax when casting. I smelt ingots several times until satisfied they are clean then use only wax to cast. Good luck and welcome.