LYMAN MAG 20 & ww

[DCP]

I have a LYMAN MAG 20 and I need to process ww

I have a thermometer

Seem to have a lot of zinc in this batch so I will need to watch my temperature


Should I get a LYMAN 10 lb pot and can it be used in the LYMAN MAG 20 or use my coleman stove, or buy a lee pot


or just use the LYMAN MAG 20


Thanks

[fredj338]

Don't use your casting pot to smelt, it only causes problems when you go to cast. I use either a 20# Lyman open top or a 3qt dutch oven on a propane burner. Smelt into ingots & put clean alloy in your 20# bottom pour for casting.

[monadnock#5]

Get yourself a stainless steel pan from a big box store, and render your WW's on your Coleman stove. Never, ever...render in the Mag 20.

Once you've rendered, thoroughly fluxed, and poured your ingots, empty the pot completely. That means not only pouring the lead out, but also scraping all the dross off the sides and bottom. Just dump it all in a pie tin. When you have the next pot full on its way up, dump the pie tin into the pot. This prevents the trapped dross from the last pot from contaminating the melt as you're fluxing. If I were to teach you just one trick, that's the best one I know.

Oh, and don't fill your rendering pot so full that you don't have plenty of free board to pile the dross up against the side and remove it with a soup spoon bent 90°.

[HeavyMetal]

I wouldn't "process" ww in a casting pot unless the were fresh store bought!

All the trash on them will casuse nothing but trouble even from a dipping pot.

If you have a single burner colemen stove you can try it but I don't think you'll be able to get a pot on it big enough to make it worth while.

Instead beg or borrow a turkey fryer!

This will hold a nice sized cast iron pot that will hold about 35 to 40 Lbs of melted WW and, this is a big plus, never get hot enough to melt Zinc weights.

Pour some ww in fire the pot up and in 20 minutes Anything that floats is bad!

Continue until all the ww are in ingot form and call it a day!

[qajaq59]

Check with some of the local second hand stores like the Salvation Army. They're usually loaded with stainless steel pots. I got lucky on my last look because they had a large cast iron one.

[DCP]

[QUOTE=monadnock#5;687278]
Once you've rendered, thoroughly fluxed, and poured your ingots,

empty the pot completely.

That means not only pouring the lead out, but also scraping all the dross off the sides and bottom. Just dump it all in a pie tin.

When you have the next pot full on its way up, dump the pie tin into the pot. This prevents the trapped dross from the last pot from contaminating the melt as you're fluxing. If I were to teach you just one trick, that's the best one I know.


So why am I dumping the dross in the pie tin back into the 2nd batch?

Dont I just have to take it out again ?

[monadnock#5]

Hey, thanks for asking!!

Once the melt is fully up to temp, and you've fluxed all the dross you can get at to the top, rake it all to one side and remove it with your bent spoon. Don't save it. I put mine in an old tin can. Then you pour your ingots.

Now at some point as you get down towards the bottom you'll see dross on top of the melt, and you might well figure "why not let the pot cool down and then put more WW's in the pot?" Bad idea. If at this point you dump the lead into the pie plate (or similar), you'll see dross stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. The reason it's stuck so well is because it's soldered in place. If you were to melt another batch without cleaning, not only would that dross stay in place, but it would attract another layer with each subsequent melt.

If the dross stayed in place, that would be OK, but it doesn't. At some point you stir and flux, stir and flux and on and on and guess what? You can't get the melt clean because every time you stir and scrape, a fresh blossom of dross gets knocked loose from the bottom and sides to circulate through the melt.

With a stainless pot it's fairly easy to scrape down and out. As it was soldered on, it still has some good stuff in it. Rather than throw it out with the good stuff still in it, save it. Wait until you see the melt creeping up the sides of the next pot full, and dump it all back in. The stuff you want to melt will do so, and the dross will be right there on top of the melt where it's easily dealt with.

I've been fighting dross inclusions in my boolits for a long time and trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong. The method above is what finally got me to where I want to be.

[looseprojectile]

I think it needs to be said here.
Dross is dark powdery stuff that looks like dirt.
I never dip out anything that looks like light colored heavy metal.
I think that is where some confusion happened. Do not dump the black dirt looking stuff back in the pot.
"Fluxing" is to separate the dirt from the metal. Just take out the dirt.
I have used many different greases, oils, waxes, sawdust and propritary fluxes. Use that which works best for you. Stir with a wood stick. I use a stainless tablespoon to remove the dross. Some kind of slotted spoon is needed to remove the wheel weight clips and associated junk prior to or in conjunction with fluxing.
Having said that, I mostly use my large dipper for removing the large crap & clips.
When I start a batch of wheel weights I keep the temperature low enough so that the zinc weights will float and be skimmed off. Then I turn up the heat to flux and dross and pour the ingots.

Life is good