Sorted some wheelweights today...

[RoyRogers]

and was surprised. I hadn't intended to get into casting for a year or so but after reading here and shooting some outstanding groups with cast boolits from a forum member I couldn't help myself and started calling tire shops. One shop that I used to use for my work trucks said they had a bucket they would sell me for $15-20. Told me to bring a replacement bucket which I did. Got there & paid the new manager (not the guy I used to deal with) and went back to pick up my WW. It was a tall 6 gallon bucket mounded high - I grabbed the handle & thought I would just pick it up - no way. None of the shop guys looked like they wanted to stop work and lend a hand so I told them I'd be back. Went to a local store & asked for two throw away 2.5 gallon buckets from the bakery. Took them back & filled both. One of the shop guys walked over while I was repacking the WW & asked what I was going to do with them. Told him I was going to make bullets. His ears perked up and he said "what, you have a muzzleloader or something"? I said no, centerfire rifle bullets. He became more interested & started telling me about his guns and shooting. Long story short, after making a new freind and loading my 2 small buckets, the original 6 gallon bucket was still about 1/3 full with lots more weights lying all around the area where the tire changers had been throwing them at the already full bucket. I proceeded to pick up all those while we talked and ended up with 1.5 five gal buckets worth - right at 200lbs for $20. Sorted about 60lbs of them tonight and they were mostly regular WW if the side cutter method of testing I read about here is accurate. I only had 4 that I believe are zinc as they did not yield to the cutter and did not attract a magnet. I had about 1.5 lbs of iron 'Fe' weights. All the rest yielded to the side cutter but some were harder than others. Don't know if some zinc weights are soft enough to fairly easily indent with the cutter or not and guess I'll have to wait till I melt 'em to tell for sure. Ended up with an ugly blister on my palm from the cutters and got all the good out of a new pair of mechanics gloves in the process. Hope the other ~ 140lbs are as good as the 1st 60. The down side is many of the weights were the smaller ones and on some the clip will weigh as much as the chunk of lead attached to it. Only about 1/2lb of stick on lead in the 1st bucket.

I've now assembled a humble assortment of smelting equipment consisting of a turkey fryer, 6 gt dutch oven, plumber's ladle, wind shield (AL flashing material), and various muffin pans my DW donated. Also found the 4 bars of 63/37 solder I bought years ago that had become 'misplaced' in my shop. Spent 1 1/2hrs looking for them yesterday and upon revisiting the task found them in 20 minutes today - in a place I thought I had already checked 2x. Glad my time is cheap these days :???:

Should be smelting by next week and hopefully my mold, etc I ordered from Midway will be here soon. Can't wait to try my hand at this new hobby and then I can use this smiley (at the appropriate times)> :castmine:

[runfiverun]

excellent..
good price on the ww's too if you talk to the ee some more a trade might be worked out when you get up and going.

[markinalpine]

Just dip any suspected zinc in muriatic acid. Zn will fizz, lead won't, but sometimes lead weights will have dirt, grease, paint, etc. on them that will fizz, but not as strongly as Zn.

Mark

[Matt_G]

You done good! [smilie=s:

Here's a way to avoid another blister. When your smelting, keep wheel weights pushed down into the liquid so you don't get hot spots.
As soon as all the weights are melted and it goes from being slushy to liquid, turn the flame down and skim off everything that's floating.
This will be all the clips, trash, zinc and iron weights.
Then turn it back up, get it a little hotter, flux and pour your ingots.

If you keep a watchful eye on your melt, you don't have to worry about melting zinc into your alloy this way.
Wheel weights will be totally molten at around 560 F, give or take 15 degrees.
Zinc melts at 782 F.

This is a heck of a lot easier than using side cutters. :)

[VMFn542Bob]

I melt wheel weights using a dedicated 20# LEE melting pot without a spigot. Keep the temperature at about 600 degrees (and use a thermometer) and you won't have any problem with the zinc. Let the temperature get to the melting point of zinc and you will need to throw the batch away and start over. Even the zinc plating on steel weights will contaminate the pot at high temp. No problem as long as the temperature stays below 650. I use an old perforated kitchen spoon to remove the clips, a soup spoon with lots of small holes drilled in it to remove the dross and a paraffin candle rubbed into the spoon to stir and flux the pot. Then I use an old kitchen dipper to pour the batch into a 1 pound ingot mold. I then pack the 1 pound bars into a 5 liter Heineken beer keg with the top cut out. One keg will hold 100 pounds when carefully packed in three layers and a few laying on top. I also carefully separate the stick-on weights and melt them separately. They are very soft and should not be mixed with the clip-on weights for casting hard rifle bullets.

[VMFn542Bob]

deleted duplicate post

[RoyRogers]

All - Thanks for the tips. I've read posts on this forum from those eschew thermometers and others recommend them. As a complete neophyte I have considered ordering this one:

http://www.teltru.com/p-272-big-green-egg-grill-dome-kamado-replacement-thermometer-lt225r-2001000-degrees-f.aspx

Comments?

The side cutter experiment was tolerable but considering I've only worked through ~ 1/3 of my WW & my palm is out of commission for a few days I'm thinking the melt temp method of sorting might be the way to go from here on. Since all I have is a CI dutch oven and fish cooker burner to smelt with I'm thinking the thermometer might help me monitor the temp somewhat. Wish I had 10 or so lbs of known metal in the pot to get started then I could readily see any 'floaters' as I cast 'em in the brew.

[WILCO]

my DW donated.

What's a "DW"???

[RoyRogers]

blog slang 4 'dear wife' 8-)

[runfiverun]

that thermometer will work just fine i started with one and still use it from time to time to check the temp marks on my magma pots or if i think my lee pot is having issues [it did]
you can make marks on the numbers of your lee pot to kinda calibrate it for your needs.

[evan price]

Just save back a few ingots of your original melt to use to get the pot ready for your new melt. I save back the last couple ingots I pour out of a melt because those are the most likely to still have dirt and crud in them. You know, when there isn't enough lead in the pot to dip, so you pour it out of the pot into the mould? That lets that bit of crud on the side get into the ingot. I just take those poured, sloppy looking ingots and melt them first when I start a melt. Gives you about 10 pounds of melt to jumpstart the melting process.
You might think it's a waste to keep melting the same lead again but really it makes the WW melt faster being in liquid lead, and I don't worry about melting zincs when starting a melt with a high temp burner.

[WILCO]

blog slang 4 'dear wife' 8-)


Oh..........I don't have one of those. :D