Gonna smelt some WW this AM.

[Daniel964]

Got around 500 to 600 pounds of sorted WW I'm smelting this morning. Finished up my pipe lead flashing etc last week and got around 420 pounds smelted. Should be able to turn all this into some good boolits in the future. I'm not casting boolits yet. Gonna wait till I get a house of my own. Hopefully by next summer. Till then just getting a good lead supply built up.


OK. I have a problem. When I drop the ingots out of the mold they break in half. Have I contaminated the lead with zinc? Or do I need to wait longer before I drop them from the mold?


OK. I let the molds cool a lot more and the ingots don't break into pieces anymore. It goes a lot slower haveing to let them cool so much. I'm gonna have to order me some more ingot molds.

[snaggdit]

Way to plan ahead! But for me, having all that lead without casting would be like a drunk having to stare at a bottle of whiskey all day long!

[Matt_G]

OK I have a problem. When I drop the ingots out of the mold they break in half. Have I contaminated the lead with zinc? Or do I need to wait longer before I drop them from the mold?

Once ingot moulds are hot, it can take a few minutes for the lead to solidify completely.
Wait until they are frosty. If they are still shiny, it's too early to drop them.
How hot is your melt getting?

Wheel weights will be completely molten around 550 to 560 F.
Keep solid weights pushed down into the melt while they are melting so you don't get hot spots.
If you don't let the melt get too hot, you don't have to worry about the zinc.
Zinc doesn't melt until it gets to 780 F roughly.
They will just float and can be skimmed off with the clips.

[WHITETAIL]

Daniel, Welcome to the forum!:drinks: