Any easy way to identify ZINC wheel weights to more easily separate them?

[inuhbad]

How do you guys get the Zinc wheel weights separate from your Lead ones? What's the trick? None of my casting manuals mention anything about it.

How do you get the Zinc out?

[Trey45]

Use a knife to cut into them, use side cutters to squeeze them, if they are hard, they're zinc. This has been covered ad nauseum on this board. The search feature is a tremendous tool.

There's even a sticky dedicated just to this topic.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=40765&highlight=zinc+wheel+weights

[mtgrs737]

I throw all the weights in the smelting pot and then set the heat low enough that the melt temp stays below 700 degrees. The steel and zink weights will not melt and will float to the top to get skimmed out with the clips. The trick is to know where to set the gas valve so that the melt will stay at or under 700 degrees. To do this you can sort out know lead only weights and melt them, then using a thermometer set the valve so that the melt is 700 or less and make a mark as to the valves position. Next melt, pile the pot high, set the valve and do other things while they melt as you don't have to keep a careful eye on it other than to add more ww once they melt down. It takes longer this way as the heat is lower than some burners will produce, but you don't run the risk of zinc in the melt. I have done a few thousand pounds this way and it works for me.

[randyrat]

I'll give you a little advise short of doing a search. Just use a hand held wire cutter.

Zinc---------------------- will be hard as rock, very tough to cut into.
Lead alloyed WWs----- will score easily

After a while you'll see the difference and you can learn to smelt at a lower temp and skim any zinc turds off before they melt in your good alloy.

[fredj338]

I'll give you a little advise short of doing a search. Just use a hand held wire cutter.

Zinc---------------------- will be hard as rock, very tough to cut into.
Lead alloyed WWs----- will score easily

After a while you'll see the difference and you can learn to smelt at a lower temp and skim any zinc turds off before they melt in your good alloy.

THis is what I do. I like to sort first instead of the dump everything in a pot & add heat method. There is other crap in the bucket I don't want to drop into 675dfeg heat, like valve stems, rubber, etc. Yes, the zinc will float if the temp stays below 700deg, but if it diesn't for whatever reason, I don't want the entire melt ruined so I sort first. Then when you add wts. & stir, the should melt rather quickly & any wts. still floating after a short while should be removed.

[jonk]

I find the zinc contamination problem is overblown. Yes, I do get some reject bullets from zinc contaminated alloy, but if I run my pot hot at around 8 (lee) about 80% of them are fine.

Granted we're talking mild zinc contamination here- 2-3 weights out of a bucket. I've been lucky in that not many have turned up around here.

[truckmsl]

Throw em all in the pot and just pay attention. As soon as the lead is liquid the zinc will float- easier than pinching every one with side cutters.

[lreed]

Hello, I too have used the sidecutter method as well as the auto-center punch. Some of the newer batches seem to be precontaminated, put the questionabel ones in a vice and break then into, mine were full of trash, not clean looking like old ww. I melt in small batches at low temp, if I get "oatmeal" make fishing weight or musket balls. lreed

[kyle623]

zinc weights some have Zn stamped on them, clips look riveted on onstead of melted in, or just drop them on cement floor and they make ting like sound.

[jsizemore]

If you use a pair of side-cutters or dykes on a lead ww and apply steady pressure, you will cut right through it if your not on the steel clip. With a zinc ww, you ain't going to hardly make a dent in the surface let alone cut through it. I've chipped the cutting edge on my Channel-Lock brand side-cutters. Once you've identified the good and the bad, it will go a lot faster. I sort my ww on rainy days.

[RP]

I melt alot of WWs at one time I use the low heat after removing the valve stems and any Zinc I see also I remove the stick ons to melt at a later time. Not a big deal if you keep the heat down trying to melt fast waste alot of fuel and cuts into the drinking time while it melts also.

[1stSkink]

I scratch the WW with a file. Very quick and you know which are ZN by the sound and feel.

skink

[ghh3rd]

I tried cutting them to test, and that works great, but I found it slow for me, and after a while I started to get blisters. Scratching them on cement works good too, but is also slow, and I figure that I'm getting lead residue all around.

I finally settled in on a method similar to mtgrs737's -- slowly melt a layer of lead on the bottom of the pot from known lead WW... keep adding a few more at a time on low heat until they melt.

I keep the heat so low that new handfuls/ladelfuls tend to cool and slush up the melt a bit, and it takes a minute or so to get it back to completely melted. I keep stirring to keep the temp of the melting slush pretty even. If something doesn't melt at the same time as the lead WW, it's immediately scooped out. After smelting, I usually see quite a few ZN and iron WW in my clip pile.

One recent addition to my procedure is to take a known ZN wheel weight (marked ZN) and wrap a wire around it and tie it to the handle of the dutch oven so it's always floating in the mix. It has not melete using the method that I described -- sort of a confidence booster to be sure that I'm not getting ZN into my lead.

This method is slower than just being able to fill the entire dutch oven and melt, but I feel that I have much more control of ZN contamination.

By the way, if a rubber valve stem or grommet drops in the pot, I don't rush to get it out. I've found that they don't melt, and I just remove them with the clips.

Happy smelting.

Randy

[zxcvbob]

Some of the newer batches seem to be precontaminated *That* is what's going to spell the end of wheel weight boolits.

The tire shops send all the old weights back to the battery makers, some of them get diverted back into making WW's, and the WW casters don't care about a small percentage of zinc getting in because they use high-pressure die casting machines. All they care about is that the weight is within tolerance, and 2% zinc won't matter for that.

[ghh3rd]

Time to figure out how to make good boolits that have Zinc in them.

[Crazycaster]

I separate the zinc out and use it to cast bullets for my magnum hqndgund. I can drive them just as fast as jacketed bullets and have zero leading or maybe i should say zincing

[Budzilla 19]

I pinch with wire cutters and separate by looking at the stampings. Still get a few Zn in there, but low and slow on heating and haven't gotten any in there I know about yet! As for high Zn content alloy to cast with, I had some that was 2.87% Zn, had to cast hotter and was a pita but it just was more tedious till it was all gone! You'll learn what to look for.

[toallmy]

Crazycaster can you tell us more ?

[bumpo628]

I use wire cutters with a powerful magnet stuck to the side of them.
The wire cutters will mark lead, but not zinc or iron. The magnet is used to check for iron.

You can find nice magnets inside old hard drives.
Always wear gloves...that stuff is nasty and can be sharp.

[markcmccoy]

Following.....

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