First timer with questions about fluxing

[UnderDawgAl]

Hey guys. I've been reading the forums here for months, and I have learned more here about every possible facet of casting than I could have learned in a pile of books.

After several months of acquiring the items necessary for casting, I did my first session today, casting from a Lee 6'er--the TL-358-148-WC. Before I ask my question, indulge me in a pic of my first ever pile of boolits (some wrinkled, some frosted, some clean).

http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq35/mrjallen/Firstbatch148WC.jpg

Here's my question. I bought some lead ingots off eBay. This was my first time using the Lee 4-20 pot, which I cleaned out rather quickly before using. I melted the lead and put in a little (pea-sized) Marvelux, and then I commenced to stirring, knowing all the while that the dross should rise to the top for me to skim off.

The dross was either a gold color or a purplish color. Is that normal? I don't know what the impurities should look like. Any idea what would give it those colors?

I would appreciate any insight y'all could provide.

[docone31]

The purpleish was likely pure lead. At least that is the colour of the lead I have when it is pure.
It sounds to me, like you might crank up the heat and stir before skimming.
The gold colour sounds like a little Babbit was in there also.
Those are metals I like to cast with.
I toss some Kitty Litter on top of clean melt. The oxides seem to be attracted to it, and I can set reject castings on top of it. They drip through the Litter. I like to keep a layer of oxides on top of the melt. I feel more oxides are not being made.
In time, the Litter crumbles down and makes powder. I skim that off with the oxides that were attracted to it.

[leftiye]

Charcoal works muy great (ground up some) too, and it is a flux. Works just like Doc said. Your metal is probly pure lead, I've gotten blue, purple and gold on my pure Pb.

[hydraulic]

Most of us around here have had bad luck with Marvelux, pot rusting mostly. Seems the easiest and most efficient way to flux is to use a stick; dowel, paint stirer, piece of a board, just about anything wooden. I pour a handful of kitty litter on the melted lead and stir with a piece of cedar house sideing until it smokes pretty good. Add rejects right through the litter. Once in awhile I might stir again, but cast bullets until I am done and then turn off the pot and let it cool. When it is solid I just turn the pot over and dump the litter and dirt.

[UnderDawgAl]

Thanks for the responses. I like both ideas - kitty litter and sticks.

The pot, which was brand new and clean before today's session, now has what appears to be rust on the side walls, from the bottom just up to the level at which I had put in lead. Guess the Marvelux was a waste of money. One thing about Brownell's--they sure know how to market their private label stuff!

I believe I'll try to the stick method next time.

[jnovotny]

I just melted some solder and it had a purplish tint to it. I'm not so sure that what he has is pure PB.I've also got some 60/40 solder that has a gold tint to it .So i would say that it is not pure PB. Might be some pretty good stuff. Just my 2 cents.

[JIMinPHX]

Frosted boolits will work fine. The frosting just means that you were running a little on the hot side. Wrinkles are more of a problem & are frequently caused by running a little cold, among other things. I'm guessing that you did not have a thermometer in your pot.

I've always used candle wax for fluxing. That throws a dross that is gray to black, but mostly black. If it is wet, heavy & goopy, then you need to flux more. If it is dry powder with not much weight to it, then remove it & you are done.

If you got gold color, that was probably tin, which is a good thing to have in there. As was said before, purple is probably lead, unless you have some manganese in there, but that would be unusual. It's hard to say for sure without seeing the actual shade of purple. If you didn't get any gray or black crud, then your ingots must have been pretty clean. I usually get at least a little crud when I melt my ingots the second time around.

[supv26]

I have a friend at work that makes and sells scented candles made with soy wax. She gave me a can of her left over stuff and I used it the other night. It smoked about the same as regular candle wax but it sure made the dross come up. It may have been the soy in it but after stirring it with a wooden dowel it would leave a layer of black dust that I could just scoop off.

[snaggdit]

It sounds like what you were seeing is just the surface oxidizing, not dross. The colors will show that you are getting oxidation of different elements, lead, tin... but does not necessarily mean you need to flux more. Dross will be powder/lumps on top, imperfections in the melt being pushed to the top by fluxing. The kitty litter will minimize the air able to touch the surface of your melt, minimizing the oxidation.

[WHITETAIL]

:drinks:Al, Welcome to the forum!

[UnderDawgAl]

Thanks, guys, for all the helpful info and advice (and Whitetail's welcome!). Looking forward to casting again next weekend!

As with most things, I am sure that practice and patience will lead to improvements in my casting technique.

Now I have to see how these flying soup cans shoot!