crud on the weights

[ThomasWarr]

One of the buckets of wheel weights I got is those flat sticker-like weights, not the clip on kind, and they have that glue and gunk and whatever crud is on them.
Is there somethings I should do/not do to prepare them?

[462]

ThomasWarr,

Stick-on weights are almost pure lead. Seperate them from the clip-on weights, and smelt them seperately, too. They create a lot of smoke and odor, consequently, make sure you stand up-wind.

No special preperation is needed for either.

[ThomasWarr]

Ok, so I don't need to worry about all the glue or whatever screwing up the process?

[SciFiJim]

The smoke from the burning glue and foam will turn the inside of your smelting pot black with soot. The foam is plastic and will smell like it while burning. Don't stress about not getting every drop of metal off of the tape residue. The residue will clump together like melted plastic. Once the WWs are melted down, scoop the residue out and dispose of it. Fluxing with DRY sawdust also helps.

The smoke is the pretty nasty stuff, make sure to stand upwind of it.

[fredj338]

Yep the only downside to stick-ons during smelting is the smoke & stink. I add them in small amounts to limit the smoke, but I live in a city setting, so I try to be accomidating to my non shooting neighbors.

[bigboredad]

yeah they will smoke bad and stink like nothing you've ever smelled so like was said stay out of the way if the wind is blowing just right st the neighbor who like to party and blast his music I 'll pile it on real high on a Sunday morning

[chris in va]

I'm starting to wonder if that burning plastic/foam isn't bad for my lungs. Just started smelting but find I have a little ache when breathing after a couple hours worth. I may invest in a mask of some sort.

[NuJudge]

I use a weed burner over the bottom half of the Dutch Oven I melt them in. It burns almost all those nasty smells.

CDD

[montana_charlie]

I've heard that soaking them in gasoline gets the tape and glue off...
CM

[7of7]

I've heard that soaking them in gasoline gets the tape and glue off...
CM

Then you just toss a match,... and stand back... maybe not in that order.....The **** will then burn off...

Just kidding of course...

[SciFiJim]

I've heard that soaking them in gasoline gets the tape and glue off...
CM

I've used that method. Soaking in gasoline overnight makes the tape fall off. There is still glue residue on the weights though. I lay them out on cardboard to dry before trying to melt them down.

[alamogunr]

I had some biodegradable degreaser that worked well for getting the sticky tape off of the weights. It had to soak for about 20 min. to work well but it did come off. There was some residue of adhesive that I didn't try to remove. I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't gotten the degreaser for free.

John
W.TN

[Cactus Farmer]

yeah they will smoke bad and stink like nothing you've ever smelled so like was said stay out of the way if the wind is blowing just right st the neighbor who like to party and blast his music I 'll pile it on real high on a Sunday morning


Hahahah,a little like rendering sheep fat for BPCR lube, smells like your frying an old wet sweater........makes great lube just a PITA to render down,and the old cur dogs and coyotes won't eat the cracklin's! :holysheep

[sheepdog]

You could try to soak them in a light bath of diluted gasoline. But honestly its just easier to cook them and scrape off the junk.

[Phat Man Mike]

:veryconfuI just toss them aside and smelt them later! and do them in a well ventilated area

[canebreaker]

You could try to soak them in a light bath of diluted gasoline. But honestly its just easier to cook them and scrape off the junk.

These wheel weights and stick-ons, I hope your smelting them in a pot outside and not in your production pots for molding. Heat up your turkey fried and cook some lead. But use a heavy pot. Pour up your ingots of any style, then melt them in your production pots. My 7 lb. ladle still has a black spot in it from a missed valve stim from about 15 years ago. But for some reason I blew a hole in the side and now it holds about 3 1/2 lbs., using a natural gas and oxygen heating rig.
Try your best to wait til you have about 100 lbs. of lead scrap. Depending on what you have, except 15 to 50 % scrap.

[fredj338]

I'm starting to wonder if that burning plastic/foam isn't bad for my lungs. Just started smelting but find I have a little ache when breathing after a couple hours worth. I may invest in a mask of some sort.
Inhaling burning plastic certainly can't be good for you. I wear a resp. when smelting anyway, just too much oil, grease & crud burning & even though I try to stay upwind, it helps.

[leadman]

A respirartor is not that expensive compared to what could be happening to you.
I paid about $25 for my respirator and filters from Grainger's.
Harbor Freight also sells them but I don't know what filters they have. I think I have seen them at Home depot also.
Cheap insurance, about a co-pay for a doctor visit.

[Paul]

Don't forget..... some stick on weights are steel !!!!

[Duckiller]

What do you use to dilute gasoline? Always smelt stick on weights on windy days.

[Bill*]

If I were to smelt (outside) with a respirator in the state of NJ, I'm sure I would have a visit from some govt. office within minutes, shutting me down, because a "neighbor" turned me in for poisoning the atmosphere or something

[TexRebel]

Sort your stick on weights varfully, a lot of them are Zinc, you will find more zinc than steel in them, and if you get lucky, you will find some with a high tin content . as far as the glue and stuff, just burn it off