crud on top

[tkraken]

I'm new to this and have read plenty but have a question.
I have melted down a bunch of scrap lead and ww. I have kept the ww seperate from the other stff I have made into ingots. I also purchased a good quantity of monotype. I recently have attempted to add some of the monotype (BHN29) to the ww and when fluxing I get a lot of dark gray to black dross. It is crumbly and dry almost like dirt but is rather heavy. I have fluxed the ww once prior and never got this quantity or type of dross before. I am adding about 1 # of monotype to 9# of ww and I'm getting a good quantity of this dross. I find it hard to believe that this is dirt and impurities from 1# of monotype. I have tried to flux it back in to no avail. I hope this isn't antimony I'm losing. I have used the Franklin CleanCast Lead Fluxing Compound and some Type Clean flux with similar results. I have cast some boolits from an old Saeco SWC mold that look real nice. They have tested out to BHN14.2 using the Lee tester. Does anyone have any ideas of what I'm running into?

[carpetman]

You'll get crud when you melt. Thoroughly flux and stir as it sounds like you have done. Flux again and skim off the remaining crud. What you are getting sounds normal to me.

[Lloyd Smale]

linotype can be a bugger to flux properly. Its tough to get all the stuff on top to flux in with most fluxes. I got some flux that looks like a chapstick tube with hard blue wax in it from a printer a long time ago. It is hands down the best flux ive used. Keep in mind though that lineotype that looks clean still has alot of impuritys in it when you first flux it. Alot of it is ink residue. That will have to be skimmed off.

[canebreaker]

I get the lead melted. Use a slotted spoon to scrape the sides and bottom of the pot.
I dip off the metals that float with this spoon, and enter them into my scrap pile. Then scrape the sides and bottom with a solid spoon and throw this trash into a can to cool before going to the trash can. I then enter a piece of wax, scrape again and dip off what trash the wax has collected. Then I'm ready to pour my ingots.
When I'm pouring boolits with my lee production pot. I enter another piece of wax to the melted lead. scrape the bottom and side and dip off more trash.

[BIG GUN]

Remember that antimony will not dissolve into your mix until it is above 800 degree's. A lot of people skim it off and toss it. Big loss!

[evan price]

Also, that lino might have been used and remelted gawd knows how many times. It probably wasn't "virgin" alloy. The printers left dirt and ink in the ingots. Just have to keep at it to clean it.

[tkraken]

I'll try raising the temp some and see what happens, I really hate to think I'm losing the antimony.
As I mentioned I'm adding monotype. Monotype is different than linotype. Lino is a line of text cast from matrix's in one piece. Mono type generally is individule letters hand set in lines and arranged for printing. Thousands of pieces are arranged to produce one page of printed matter. Mono is disassembled after the job run and returned to the type case for many reuses, that's why it is much harder than lino. Lino is simply remelted and recast. The Linotype machine is a fasinating machine to see in operation, the inventer went crazy. I ran an old Linotype machine to put out or school paper. I also operated a small custom letterpress shop for many years as a very profitable hobby before the computer and printers put me out of business.

[Bret4207]

As I understand it antimony won't separate out of a lead/tin alloy willingly. Those metals stay in solution once they join. Maybe a metallurgist can straighten me out if I'm wrong, but unless your monotype is not in a lead alloy it shouldn't separate out. It could be your dross is something else entirely. I suppose you could try reducing the dross into a lead alloy in another pot with a propane torch or something. Get it nice and hot and see if the dross is appreciably lessened after you flux it into a couple pounds of lead alloy. But, you say it has some weight to it, so I'd suspect lead oxides rather than antimony.

[Gunslinger]

As I understand it antimony won't separate out of a lead/tin alloy willingly. Those metals stay in solution once they join. Maybe a metallurgist can straighten me out if I'm wrong, but unless your monotype is not in a lead alloy it shouldn't separate out. It could be your dross is something else entirely. I suppose you could try reducing the dross into a lead alloy in another pot with a propane torch or something. Get it nice and hot and see if the dross is appreciably lessened after you flux it into a couple pounds of lead alloy. But, you say it has some weight to it, so I'd suspect lead oxides rather than antimony.

I've read/heard this on more that one occasion as well... And I'm pretty sure it was on this site :razz: