Problem casting lead from dentist office walls.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I modified my turkey fryer setup to contain the heat better. Worked real well. But I'm having another problem now. I had been casting wheel weight and having no problems. But now I'm smelting some sheet lead from dentist office walls.

The lead has thin wall board stuck to one side, but has been cut up into more easily handled chunks that melt pretty easily.

I cast the first pot pretty successfully (which contained some stick on wheel weight material), but didn't do so well with the second pot (all sheet lead). It shot up to 800 degrees before I knew it and the melt, after I skimmed the wallboard out and fluxed it with sawdust, had a blue/yellow tint to the skim on top and I couldn't seem to get that out of it.

I'm wondering if this batch was contaminated or have I just managed to over heat it? I also need help figuring out what I did wrong so I can not repeat the same goof up.

I'm guessing I probably need to think about cutting way back on the gas flow after the pot is heated up, but I'm not sure this is the problem. Can someone advise?

thank you,

Dave

[shooter575]

Dave,you didnt hurt anything.Just got the lead hot.I cast my pure lead boolets at 850 or so.They come out bright.I think the blue/gold is from being 900+.Many of my raw ingots come out that way.You take them pretty colored ingots and melt them up to cast with and the colors will go away.

[MGySgt]

'had a blue/yellow tint to the skim on top and I couldn't seem to get that out of it.'


You are casting almost if not pure lead. If you don't have a hardnest tester do the thumb nail trick with that and some of your WW and you will see this is much softer.

Drew

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the information. I'll quit worrying about it and rock on. whew, that's a relief. I thought I'd managed to trash some of my lead being a bonehead.

Now that that's over with, does anybody know why my ingots stuck in the new steel muffin pans? I sprayed a little ingot release in them. Would I have been better to spray some water on them and let them rust up a bit?

Regards,

Dave

[Dale53]

A number of muffin tins are tin plated. If yours is, then the bullet metal just soldered to the muffin tin. Not good. You need to stay away from tin plated muffin tins (great for muffins as tin does not contaminate food and retards rust) but no good for molten bullet metal.

I cannot see rust as being a plus. I don't spray any of my ingot moulds (regular ingot moulds from Lyman, Saeco, RCBS, and Lee) nor do I spray my angle iron ingot moulds. However, if the anti stick spray works, and you need it, then use it.:-D

Dale53

[versifier]

Dave, don't assume that being a bonehead is any impediment to being a successful caster. :mrgreen: I have been one for years and found it to be a great help in keeping my ex from meddling in my life. [smilie=1: Count your blessings and cast away. :-D

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dale,

Thanks for the information, that sounds like the situation I now have. I can resolve it by beating the things apart and tossing them back in the smelter. Guess I'll either have to get different muffin tins or use my big molds and stamp the pure lead to let me know what it is.

Regards,

Dave

[wills]

It has been suggested muffin pans release more easily if they are rusty, and this is consistent with my experience. My old rusty pan releases the ingots easily. I ruined a new pan, trying to remove the ingots.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

well, I managed to ruin one today and will probably ruin the other getting these out. Looks like I'll have to give the rusty ones a go next time.

Thanks all,

Dave

[357maximum]

Every ignot mold I have has a nice LIGHT coat of rust on it and they work gooood, without the rust I have had to use tin snips to retrieve ignots. Rusty do seem to work. Also have had SERIOUS issues with teflon coatings, I do not suggest them either.

My favorite ignot mold is a rusty cast iron 24 cavity mini breadstick pan, I love it and use it only for my FINISHED 9 to 1 alloy makes 24 6 inch pretzel looking ignots. Local antique/junk shop has one just like it , but they want 80 bucks for it. Mine was a yard sale special $2.00 i think.

[Bucks Owin]

Every ignot mold I have has a nice LIGHT coat of rust on it and they work gooood, without the rust I have had to use tin snips to retrieve ignots. Rusty do seem to work. Also have had SERIOUS issues with teflon coatings, I do not suggest them either.

My favorite ignot mold is a rusty cast iron 24 cavity mini breadstick pan, I love it and use it only for my FINISHED 9 to 1 alloy makes 24 6 inch pretzel looking ignots. Local antique/junk shop has one just like it , but they want 80 bucks for it. Mine was a yard sale special $2.00 i think.

I have something similar, some kind of cast iron griddle thing for making "cornbread sticks" I guess. Has an ear of corn embossed in each compartment. Makes "corny" ingots..... :-)

Dennis

[Uncle Grinch]

I use a cast iron muffin pan for my wheel weights and a corn stick pan for my linotype. After I mix my alloy (9:1), I pour it into my Lyman ingot trays.

That way I can tell what my lead stash is with just a glance. It sure beats trying to stamp a code into the ingots!

[MN91311]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the information. I'll quit worrying about it and rock on. whew, that's a relief. I thought I'd managed to trash some of my lead being a bonehead.

Now that that's over with, does anybody know why my ingots stuck in the new steel muffin pans? I sprayed a little ingot release in them. Would I have been better to spray some water on them and let them rust up a bit?

Regards,

Dave
I use aluminum muffin pans from garage sales/flea markets.
25/50 cents each usually.
They bend a little easier than steel, so you must handle them carefully when dumping.
Never stick. The ingots almost fall out when you have the pan tipped halfway over.
Just be careful not to bend or distort the pan with the heavy lead.

Also handy for small parts organizers during projects.
Cannot have too many of these.

[wills]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=2809&highlight=leave+rain

More discussion regarding the merits of rusty ingot molds.