Stick-on wheel weights

[Mag550]

I've noticed that when i'm smelting w.w. that the "stick-on" w.w. DO NOT melt at the same temp as does the "clip-on" type. Meaning the "stick-on" type needs to be hotter. Are these possibly "GREEN" as in enviro-friendly perhaps made out of ZINC? I have not been mixing them with known lead w.w. Does anyone have any thoughts that could clear this up?

[Bullshop]

Not shure on this but others will help for shure in a bit but I think that alloyed metal(WW) will melt before unalloyed metal (stick on's).
BIC/BS

[Frank46]

MAg550, to the best of my knowledge those stick on weights with the sponge type backing for all purposes can be considered pure lead. I normally do not melt these down when doing wheel weights, I either save them foe weighting up a stock or give them to a buddy who shoots BP sillywet matches. Frank

[Pystis]

I smelted some wheelweights yesterday, maybe 60 pounds. 40 pounds were clip-on weights and the rest were stick-on type. I also think stick-on types melted in higher temp and slushed earlier when pouring into ingots.
Stink was awful before I set the crud on fire with used engine oil.
I also made a finding that got me checking every stick-on weight before tossing into smelting pot. I found some of tin with Sn -marking. :)
Not much, maybe 1/2 pound but it still something.

Jukka

[waksupi]

Stick on weights, being supposedly pure lead, do have a higher melting point, than an alloy does.

[mooman76]

I usually seperate the stick on wheel weights if I have allot, I too thinking they were pure or softer lead. If they were zink they would still be real shiny like bran new. I just scoop off the stick part as the lead melts and discard it!

[imashooter2]

I've found zinc stick on weights here in PA:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/imashooter2/pictures/zinc-ww.jpg

[Mag550]

I should probably add some more to this story. I already had about 60lbs of molten w.w. in my pot at ready to pour temp (had no thermometer at that time) and then dumped in some stick-on w.w. (i had just skimmed of the clips and fluxed the melt) i then noticed as i stirred the w.w. they were Not shrinking as do the clip- on w.w. Keep this in mind Tin melts @ 450 deg. Pure lead @ 621 deg and pure ZINC @ 787 (these are aprox temps). I remember reading a post on here that stated something very negative about mixing ZINC and LEAD. My curiosity is and has been pressing me to ask the question you all have just been reading. Also, one more thing,IF it is ZINC should i toss it or isolate it and cast it ?

[Cherokee]

Do not mix Zinc with your other alloy. It will turn it to slush and you will not be able to cast good bullets with it. Some will say toss the Zinc and any contaminated mix. OTOH, a little Zinc in the alloy will still work for casual use bullets, the key is a little. I have a batch of WW alloy that has been Zinc contminated (that is how I found out about the coated WW's) that I will cast pistol plinking bullets from. They are not well formed but OK for blasting. I would get rid of the zinc as it has no value for casting.

[MN91311]

I have found that there are several different types of stickons. The only thing common between them is they all have adhesive backing.

Some are plain, soft, thin lead, no coating, and so easy to bend you just know they are just lead. Looks like plain lead.

Then there are the coated ones, segmented, which are thicker and harder to bend. I have used cutting pliers on various types of these, and some are soft, some hard, and some very hard, compared to lead.

The hard and very hard ones I toss, as they could not be any type of lead alloy.

The medium soft/hard coated ones I keep separate in a bucket, not sure what to do with them. When I get enough of them, I will test them for zinc.

I get so many wheelweights, it is foolish for me to use questionable ones in the melt. When I get a new bucketful, I wash them in a strong degreaser, then sort each and every piece by hand. Anything odd, stickons or questionable clipons get put on the side for later. So when I smelt the majority later into ingots, there is no risk of zinc, aluminum or whatever. It's an enjoyable hobby; time and effort do not matter.

The zinc, steel, aluminum, etc.. ones eventually will get checked/tested, and if in doubt, out it goes. Cutting pliers, magnet, and muriatic acid are the tools of record here.

[John Boy]

Composition of Stick On WW's is:
... 0.377% Sb, 1.45% Sn, 0.029% As, 98.144% Pb

[D.Mack]

In my last bucket of w-w, roughly 85 #'s, about 10#'s were not lead. So I had to hand inspect anything going into the kettlle. That included both clip-ons and stick-ons. The bad clip-ons had sharp corners and looked like little ingots, and the bad stick ons, could not be twisted, they would bend on the grooves, but would not twist. So every wieght from that bucket that wasn't oxidized got scrathed or cut with a knife, and any thing that wouldn't cut or scratch was rejected.
Somewhere in a previous post there were pictures of these new enviro-friendly monsters, but i couldn't find it, but they are out there, so beware.

[wildkatt]

Stick-on wheel weights---

I melted about 25 lbs of ww today of which some had a grainy bright look. Those I tested by shaving off a curl with my pocket knife. All yielded a curled shaving. On thread some time back, someone posted that zinc will not yield a curled shaving. Going on this I add all to the melt. Any confirmation on this? Is there a better test?

[imashooter2]

Is there a better test?

Zinc will give off hydrogen gas (fizz) when exposed to muriatic acid. Lead or steel will not.

[jar-wv]

I also use the pocket knife test. Is hell on the blade. I have found that my propane fired Coleman stove probably wouldn't generate enough heat in my 8 qt ss pan to melt a zinc weight, but I still do my best to seperate them out first. Most of the stick on weights I've found are soft lead, but have found a few zinc ones.