Straight End Grey painted clip-ons ???

[Russ in WY]

As opposed to the tapered/pointed non painted clip on's. They seem to be lead & cut like lead. However they seem to melt a lot slower, is it the hvy coat of paint/coating on them. Pretty sure there not zinc. Has anyone else had this experience ??? For now I have separated them out as I have been smelting.. TIA Russ.

[legend]

Russ,do they sound different when you tap them together than the pointed ones?

they might just be zink after all.

[fredj338]

They are probably closer to pure lead, melt @ higher temps & the paint cerainly can't help. I have found them in my smelts & if they will cut w/ side cutters, they are NOT zinc for sure.

[Edubya]

There's a good post in the "Stickies" that have most all WW pictured and tells the composition as ZN, plastic, iron or lead: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=17681
EW

[dominicfortune00]

I have found that the plastic ones contain a small bit of very soft lead in the middle of the bar.

[lwknight]

Everyone is so worried aboutthe bottom line and pinching pennies any way possible.
Typically wheel weights have about 1/2 percent tin to slow the oxidation.
They can save about 40 cents per 100 pounds by using no tin at all and putting a coating of sorts on the outside. Pure lead melts ( I'm guessing from past exp.) about 20 degrees hotter than 1/2% tin added.

Thats my theory and I'm sticking to it. Money back guaranteed.

[rob45]

The painted weights will indeed take longer to reach melting temperature; the paint must first burn off. IMO, worse fumes than the typical grease and oil.

If they dent/cut like lead, then rest assured they are not zinc.

The paint is put on to prevent the (galvanic?) reaction lead alloys have with aluminum wheels.

When you melt them, you can even see the (burnt paint) outline of the weight floating on top of the melt as the paint layer burns off and the melted lead breaks through.

I know the type of weight to which you refer; throw 'em in and melt them with the others, as they are not zinc.

[Russ in WY]

Thanks for the feedback ,Gentleman. I just mite make a separate melt of them & see how they cast. Russ.

[leadman]

They are definetly harder than the tapered end, non-painted weights. Try the side cutter test on them. The cutters will mark them, but not as deep as the others.
After visiting several scrap yards this summer for wheel weights and talking with the owners I think I know what is happening.
China is buying most of the wheelweights in this area from the scrap yards. The owners of the scrap yards were unaware of the mix of zinc, iron and lead weights in the buckets. Everything is getting shipped out together and I doubt if it is getting sorted before melting. The iron will float with the dross, the zinc is probably melted into the alloy.
If you were making wheelweights would you be concerned about zinc in the mix?

I know I sort carefully and keep the pot temp. down but still get the oatmeal type stuff on the top when melting ingots at about 550 degrees. My casting is much improved when I scoop this off and then flux.