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bingo
05-31-2009, 12:08 AM
I Have some 5lb roll of OLD solder that says acid core. I believe this was used to solder copper pipe and the acid part is it has a small amount of flux already inside it.

Does anybody know if this is 50 lead and 50 tin?

If it is does adding 5lb to 100lb ww sound right. That would give me 2.5% tin for fill out.

Still green at this. Did some casting a coulpe years ago (self taught) before I found this wonderfil site. Got out my equipment, cleanen everything, scrounged 2 five gal. ww, bought a cast iron dutch oven, and retrived my turkey fryer from the farm, and bought another mold. Thinking tomorrow will be a great day to make about 200lb ot ingots.

P.S. Just picked up my new rifle last night. The wife wanted to know why I needed another gun. I asked her if she remembered the new mold I got about 2 weeks ago. She said yea. Then I said" well, none of my other guns fit the bollits that the mold makes". Then she says oh O.K. I love her.

P.S.S I love my wife too.

Bingo

Slow Elk 45/70
05-31-2009, 02:26 AM
Hullo Bingo, you are correct, the acid core solder has its own flux, Google it for the composition , it should be 96.5% tin / 3.5% silver. I normally use 50/50 when adding solder to a mix, I have not added it to WW, Been shooting these for a long time,
The WW should be fine as is, try it first, pour some boolits and see if you get good fill out, if not , then you might add some tin if necessary.

You don't say what you are casting for or how hot the loads are you want . For most of my shooting , I use WW and water drop them. They work fine for 357,45APC, 44/454Mag pistols 308, 30/30, 38-55, 45/70 to mention a few. They don't have to be water dropped, it just gives me a standard hardness to work with, I'm old and lazy.

Great for you , on the wife's attitude, if you can keep her happy. Good casting

geargnasher
05-31-2009, 03:15 AM
Bingo, be sure and do something nice for your wife once in a while, you are a lucky man!

As for the solder, I figure it is probably mostly tin, but you could figure out if it is 95/5 or 50/50 with a good thermometer, a clean empty steel soup can, a propane torch and Google.

Gear

ps any more than 2% total tin is a waste imo.

shotman
05-31-2009, 03:25 AM
melt it first by its self and use saw dust to get the acid out of it. Flux and do again. After you cast oil the mold. I tried it ONE time that was enough for me . But experiance is the best teacher rick

randyrat
05-31-2009, 06:18 AM
I'm just not sure about the silver content out of ingnorence myself. Take the advice and use DRY sawdust to clean the acid black goo that floats when you smelt it. Mix in the saw dust with a stick.
Dispose of it carefully. Don't breath the fumes, may not be good for you.

I smelted 300-400 lbs like this and when you flux it real good the flux will come out of it nicely.
The flux inside the solder is a nasty black goo that coats every thing untill you flux.

I just simply called it 50/50 tin/lead because i found one roll that said 50/50 on it.
Be prepared to dispose of that Goo/sawdust in a seperate old metal/heavy plastice container.

Don't try to use this solder without fluxing in a seperate pot first it's too mesy.

WHITETAIL
05-31-2009, 06:41 AM
bingo, Welcome to the forum!:Fire:

lathesmith
05-31-2009, 10:35 AM
Hi bingo, welcome to the forums here. I don't want to be a contrarian here, but...you did say OLD acid core solder. In my experience, the older stuff is less likely to have tin; until about 20 years ago, no one worried much about lead in solder, even for copper piping, and mixing tin with it was considered a useless and unnecessary expense. So, I guess I'm saying that I would be inclined to think that for older stuff there would be a higher probability of it being mostly lead. But, it's useful either way, and as the guys above said just melt it separately and clean it up first.
lathesmith

Bob Krack
05-31-2009, 10:37 AM
I Have some 5lb roll of OLD solder that says acid core. I believe this was used to solder copper pipe and the acid part is it has a small amount of flux already inside it.

Does anybody know if this is 50 lead and 50 tin?

If it is does adding 5lb to 100lb ww sound right. That would give me 2.5% tin for fill out.
Welcome Bingo,

"Old" acid core solder is most likely 50/50 although 60/40 and 63/37 were common in the past, (first number is tin, 2nd is lead).

The wheelweights will have a small amount of Tin, in the neighborhood of 1/2 of 1%. It seems to be pretty well agreed upon that amounts of tin in excess of 2% is a waste. If'n I were you, I would mix a small amount and add only 1/2 of 1% (giving you 1% total) and show they cast given your equipment and techniques. Not happy - add more at about 1/2 of 1% at a time.

Some prefer as high as 3% total but again, most agree that 2% or less is completely adequate. Comparing the "market" value of wheel weights and tin, I would think you would want to "stretch" the tin as best as you could.

AND, as randyrat mentioned "Don't breathe the fumes!"

Bob

Shiloh
05-31-2009, 11:34 AM
I suppose that the acid gel in the core dissolves and floats on top of your melt
and is then scraped off. Is the acid core Zinc Chloride??

Shiloh

snuffy
05-31-2009, 12:15 PM
50% lead 50% tin. The rosin flux is in the center. Used for electrical connections, still is as far as i know.

Incomplete answer. There's two types of "CORE" solder. Acid core and rosin core. The acid core is for soldering metals like steel, the acid cleans the metal so the solder will "wet" the joint. Rosin core is made for electronic applications where the acid would destroy the electronic components is short order.

As seen in the description cut and pasted from who knows where, the actual percentages of tin, lead, and possibly antimony and silver are varied. It should be on the metal spool the solder is rolled onto somewhere. if it's not marked, you're going to have to experiment to find out what it's made of.

243winxb
05-31-2009, 12:26 PM
http://www.canfieldmetals.com/core_solder.htm Acid core solder

montana_charlie
05-31-2009, 12:46 PM
I Have some 5lb roll of OLD solder that says acid core. I believe this was used to solder copper pipe and the acid part is it has a small amount of flux already inside it.

Does anybody know if this is 50 lead and 50 tin?
The tin/lead mixture should be marked on the spool, somewhere.
acid core solder has its own flux, Google it for the composition , it should be 96.5% tin / 3.5% silver.
If it is "old" solder, it is probably not one of the lead-free mixtures.
you did say OLD acid core solder. In my experience, the older stuff is less likely to have tin; until about 20 years ago, no one worried much about lead in solder, even for copper piping, and mixing tin with it was considered a useless and unnecessary expense.
I became an electronics tech in 1965. At that time, using tin and lead to join metals was an ancient technique. Anybody trying to join metals with pure lead would not only fail, they wouldn't even be using 'solder'.
It would be called 'lead'.
Acid core solder was used mainly for assembling gutters, but was also popular for metal flashing and could be used on copper pipe. Only rosin core solder is ever used in electrical work, but it will solder copper pipe (and brass items) very nicely.

Rosin flux acts very similarly to the waxes (and such) that are used for 'fluxing' bullet alloy. But, I would only melt acid cored solder in a container I wasn't very proud of.

CM

Echo
05-31-2009, 01:34 PM
+1 for CM. Solder is a mixture of tin and lead, or at least used to be. Since we are talking about an 'Old' roll, it is easy to assume it is tin/lead solder, and a guess of 50/50 is right on. And right, the spool should be marked. And right, again, melt it down by itself in a pot/container you aren't concerned with to get rid of the acid flux.