Mixing alloys?

[bushog]

If this has been covered somewhere else if somebody could post a link?

Either way, How do folks actually mix alloys and is there a way to know they're mixed enough to have a homogeneous material?

Maybe I'm making things too complicated but it's got to matter.

Thanks in advance!

[358429]

Get it all melted.

And pour ingots, the first lead brick will be the same as the last lead brick.

How big of batches are you trying to run?

I run a hardware store turkey fryer with a one quart sauce pan of lead (20 pounds

comfortably) to cast 9mm hollowpoints with a ladle.

To mix bigger batches I set the fryer leg feet onto bricks (if you tap the bricks first

into the soil with a mallet they are more stable)

then melt 100 pounds comfortably in a big inexpensive stainless steel pot on top.

I always plan an escape route when working with molten lead, more especially

so with larger batches. I don't feel comfortable handling more than 150 pounds this way.

My eyes became increasingly drawn to the fryer upper supports in the blue hot

propane flames and turning the slight red tint of hot steel. Wondering if I can trust it not to twist if I overloaded it...

[358429]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211226/15a4ca3609a5f48f5ab661835d060b75.jpg

[rockshooter]

nice picture but if it were me I'd run a rake over the area
Loren

[kevin c]

Are you talking about needing to physically agitate/stir the mix? Once all the component metals/alloys are completely melted, what with convection currents in the melt, scraping down the sides of the pot, fluxing and ladle pouring I figure no mixing is needed.

Videos I’ve seen of batch mixing of steel have the foundry workers just tossing bags of additives into those humongous crucibles. No stirrers anywhere in sight.

I mix alloy in a half propane tank pot that’ll comfortably do up to 250# at a time. It sits on a Bayou Classic double jet burner (model SP40) that has a wide, solid steel bar stand that is extremely sturdy:

https://meatprocessingproducts.com/bayou-sp40.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4oeDp5CB9QIVKBitBh0xjQ AtEAQYBSABEgIcRvD_BwE

ETA:

I shoot tens of thousands of a single boolit cast of a single alloy each year, so making large batches of a single alloy makes sense for me.

[243winxb]

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/albums/casting-bullets.310/

I don't want my alloy homogeneous (all alike).

40 # pot. Melt scrap and ww. Flux. Make ingots.

Good as is for target 38 45s. Magnums get linotype added to the 10 # Lee pot. About 2" of Rotometels. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/rotometals-vs-used-print-metal-both-linotype.3504/full

[bangerjim]

Use the free alloy calc found on here.

Figure out what alloys you have on hand.

Calculate what you want to mix and do it by weight.

The process is rather like horseshoes and hand grenades............" close DOES count"! So don't try to split hairs with the % mixes.

As long as the temp is above the liquidous temp of the alloys, it will be homogeneous in your casting pot.

I keep my alloys separate in 1-2# CLEAN (fluxed 3X by me) ingots and mix/add by "guesstimated" weights from the alloy calculator to my casting pots as the level drops during a session.

I never ever mix up HUGE batches of one alloy, because chances are, I will want to change it down the road!

[rockshooter]

Kevin- if'n you're referring to my comment #4- there is a flame source sitting on a bed of dry leaves- probably not a good plan, altho it makes for a colorful picture.
Loren

[GrayTech]

Lead and tin are soluble in each other, they mix themselves once molten.
Adding other metals like arsenic, antimony or copper that are not already alloyed gets trickier.

[358429]

Leaving the leaves is kinda stupid but but but I liked the contrasting textures in the

pictures, and it is on the lowest or second lowest flame setting to cast hollow points.

(Excuses over)

No property was damaged during the production of the picture. Yet. I'll clean the leaves.[emoji56]

[kevin c]

Kevin- if'n you're referring to my comment #4- there is a flame source sitting on a bed of dry leaves- probably not a good plan, altho it makes for a colorful picture.
Loren
No, I wasn’t clear that I was trying to address the OP’s concerns about mixing and homogeneity.

I looked at the leaves and thought, “Gee, look at all the convenient and free stuff to reduce the oxides.” Pine needles work pretty well, too.

[Land Owner]

Melt 50-pounds of pure lead into 50-pounds of COWW's and pour into individual 3-pound ingot molds (ymmv). It makes sense, when everything is set up and time allows, to melt three (3) similar 100-pound batches of alloy - provided you have a sufficient quantity of raw materials.

A "batch" makes thirty-three (33) 3-pound (+/-) ingots from a 100-pound melt. Keep the 3-pound ingots segregated from each 100-pound melt.

To effect consistency (homogeneity), melt two (2) 3-pound ingots from batch #1, with two (2) 3-pound ingots from batch #2, and with two (2) 3-pound ingots from batch #3, for a total weight of 18-pounds of 50/50 alloy in the 20-pound boolit furnace.

To the 18-pounds of (now) homogeneous 50/50 alloy add:
2% tin (5.75 ounces ==> 2,520 grains) for 50 to 1
3.33% tin (9.6 ounces ==> 4,200 grains) for 30 to 1
4% tin (11.5 ounces ==> 5,040 grains) for 25 to 1
5% tin (14.4 ounces ==> 6,300 grains) for 20 to 1

One ounce (avdp) is 437.5 grains. Melting, cooling, and distributing tin is User specific. Melting and pouring a "sliver" amount of tin in the bottom of a 3-pound ingot mold works for me, from which sliver, portions are clipped off and weighed to get "closest to the pin" in the percentages of tin as outlined above.