Troubles Troubles Troubles

[DCP]

I was smelting lead today

Using a turkey fryer and a 5Qt dutch oven

Did about 40lb and all went well

Until I tryed to take the lead out of the old cup cake pans I found at a garage sale.

Now some wont come out of the pan and boy are they in there

1
Can I treat these with Kroil, candle smoke
Maybe spray them with Pam next time

2
How in Gods green earth can I get them out with out tearing up these nice pans that make a 2 pound cup cake

3
and what to do with the 20 lb slab of lead that was left in the dutch oven (it came out real easy)

[oneokie]

#2, you will probably have to melt the ingots out of the cake pans. Leave the pans outside so that they rust. (makes it easier for the ingots to release. Try not filling the cups full. Many cupcake pans are shaped so at the top that the ingots will be locked in.

#3, start your next smelt with the chunk in the bottom of the dutch oven.

[Tom W.]

You may want to peruse your local Flea market for a cast iron cornbread pan. They make ingots that look like half of a corn cob and work really well.

[Ole]

This happened to me with some cupcake pans that I had bought from the dollar store. Turned out the pans were coated with a light layer of tin and the lead was frozen to the pan. I had to peel them off with pliers.

[atr]

I have to laugh at this one....

I had the same thing happen when I was a 16 yr old kid just starting to cast...I took my Mom's (BIG MISTAKE) tin muffen trey and used it as as ingot mold....and yes they stuck.....I was annoyed and Mom was FURIOUS .....I finall got them out by pounding the heck from the bottom side of the trey.....

fond memories
atr

[DCP]

By any chance are the pans tinplated steel or aluminum rather than cast iron ?

Jerry


They are Ekco out of Chicago and magnet and old

Many cupcake pans are shaped so at the top that the ingots will be locked in.
They are not the locking type

I poured 1 weeks ago and it fell out fine

Poured 10 today and 4 stuck, each pan holds 8

I have 3 pans

[wiljen]

Dump em sooner. If you let the cool too much they do that, if you dump when just barely below the point at which they break apart they fall out much easier.

[Crash_Corrigan]

Get thee to a Bass Pro store. Within they sell a promotional mini cast iron fry pan designed to be an ash tray. It will produce mini muffin of about 3/4" thickness and 3" in diameter.

These little babies stack well and fit inside a Lee 4-20 REAL WELL. I bought 8 and I fill them up with alloy with a ladle and since they are placed on scrap plywood I wait a few mins until the color of the alloy changes and then take a pair of vise grips and decant them onto another chunck of plywood.

Using 8 of these I can usually empty my casting pot pretty fast and safely and end up with nice pile of ingots. Some have gotten rusty and all the better. I am after function not beauty.

[Texas223]

Ditto on the case iron cornbread pan. The ear of corn shaped ingots stack up well in the lead pot. I think I bought my pans at wally world. I use one pot to melt range lead for pouring into the pans, and then use a different pot to melt the ingots for casting.

Michael

[lwknight]

I hate when that happens

1. NO
2. Melt the lead out probably destroying the muffin tin.
3. Get new ingot molds. The tinned molds will never work. hence the word tinned, as in pretinned for soldering. You have a chemical bond.

I did it my self then felt stupid because I should have known better.

[DAFzipper]

I just took a propane torch to mine before I used it. Never sticks again.

[runfiverun]

apparently i am the only one here that buys the proper tools for the job. i just use plain old ingot molds.
and i've never had a problem with one sticking.

[geargnasher]

Make or have made several of these. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16205&d=1254796496

Welds are on the back side, the joints are very tightly fitted and the ends are "cast" 5* to allow easy release.

Gear

[Tom W.]

apparently i am the only one here that buys the proper tools for the job. i just use plain old ingot molds.
and i've never had a problem with one sticking.


Well, maybe not the first time, but the second time I had the right stuff..

I bought one of those cast iron Lodge spoon holders/ ashtrays from Walmart and put it under my Lee bottom pour pot to catch the drips and what have you. When the alloy gets low I'll add some sprues and rejects to the thing and cover them with alloy from the pot. When it cools a bit I'll add it to the pot and wait just a bit until the alloy gets right, which isn't too long....:cbpour:

[Mumblypeg]

apparently i am the only one here that buys the proper tools for the job. i just use plain old ingot molds.
and i've never had a problem with one sticking.

I'm with you on that...

[Farmall 1066]

Had this problem myself. Just spray the muffin tins with spray graphite, this has always worked for me! Works good on top of molds to prevent sprue plate galling also.

Andy

[Recluse]

apparently i am the only one here that buys the proper tools for the job. i just use plain old ingot molds.
and i've never had a problem with one sticking.

Nah, you got company.

I use the various manufacturer name ingot moulds to keep my alloy mixes separate/organized. WW lead goes in the Lyman moulds, straight/pure lead into the Lee mould, harder alloy with a higher tin content plus linotype goes into the RCBS moulds, and pure lead plus tin goes into the Saeco moulds.

Helps me keep the stuff straight. Plus, they're easier to use and only $20.

:coffee:

[GP100man]

I welded up a couple made of 2" angle & found a use for the mold release spray!!

[Down South]

I've used muffin pans before without any problems. I've got the cast iron cornbread thingamajig pans too. I use them for pure or stick on WW to differentiate from my Clip on WW. I broke down some time back and bought Lyman ingot molds and love em.

[ghh3rd]

Early on, I bought a couple of muffin tins and dumped a batch of lead into both of them. I wished that I had tried only one ingot first, as I had two tins full of ingots that were permanently adhered to the tins.

After shredding metal to get some out, I finally got out my propane torch and heated one at a time until they fell out. I guess there is a right kind and wrong kind of muffin tin.

I don't care anymore because I got one of the Lee ingot molds right after that and never looked back.

Randy

[semtav]

I had a muffin tin that I had used for parts storage. When I started casting, it was the first thing I used. Worked great. (and still does.) so when I went to get more, I thought tin was the best, but only found one. so I grabbed a couple aluminum ones too.

My tin one did just like yours, and the aluminum worked great. I did just like you, except I left it for a month or two till it dawned on me that the propane torch might work.Tipped it upside down and started heating them till they fell out.

Didn't know why the one tin one worked. Tin was probably worn off from throwing little parts in it over the years.
kinda dawned on me later on the other that if tin melts at a lower temp than lead, that's exactly what should happen.

I just bought a teflon coated one for mini muffins. gonna see what that does next.

[Siggy226]

I'm using telfon 6-muffin pan bought from dollar store ($3-4). Drops out on its own weight every time. :) Pan will produce abou 20lbs of muffin ingots each time. Looking forward to use again when I can score more WW. :)

Side note: Did my casting on double sheet of cardboard on my lawn. I now have nice patch of yellow grass while waiting for muffin pan to cool.

[Down South]

I'm using telfon 6-muffin pan bought from dollar store ($3-4).

Be careful using teflon pans. I doubt that you will get it hot enough to be in danger pouring ingots but at a certain temp (I don't remember exactly what temp) teflon will produce deadly gases.

[c3d4b2]

Be careful using Teflon pans. I doubt that you will get it hot enough to be in danger pouring ingots but at a certain temp (I don't remember exactly what temp) Teflon will produce deadly gases.

I do not know the validity of the claims, but here is some info to consider.

http://www.thegoodhuman.com/2007/07/31/what-teflon-is-and-why-you-should-avoid-it/


DuPont studies show that the Teflon offgases toxic particulates at 446°F. At 680°F Teflon pans release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two global pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. At temperatures that DuPont scientists claim are reached on stovetop drip pans (1000°F), non-stick coatings break down to a chemical warfare agent known as PFIB, and a chemical analog of the WWII nerve gas phosgene.“

[Storydude]

Good thing most modern "Teflon" pans actually contain zero teflon.

[Echo]

Be careful using teflon pans. I doubt that you will get it hot enough to be in danger pouring ingots but at a certain temp (I don't remember exactly what temp) teflon will produce deadly gases.

Yeah, but there isn't enough teflon on those pans to create a dangerous amount of gas. Where one should be concerned re teflon outgassing is where one is machining teflon blocks or rods, where the mass is sufficient to create a dangerous amount of gas.

There is an urban legend of the machinist who machined some teflon on his lathe, while he had an open pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. Later lit up, and died from the gas from the chips that flew into the open cigs. Never verified...

I believe the danger from teflon outgassing is trivial in our usage.

[testhop]

a trick i use is put some wax (canning, candle )something like that in the mould before pouring ingot .seams to help.

[bigboredad]

don't feel alone that has happened to alot of us including me I did twenty four muffins before I found out I had screwed up. After peeling the tine with pliers and cutting my fingers up I realized I could just melt the lead out. Now I use the none stick muffin pans and the mini loaf pans no more problems

[DCP]

Little did I know how much a guy needs his own flamethrower?

The Bernzomatic JT850 Trigger Start Outdoor Torch fills the bill. 20,000 btu
about $30.00

I got this to kill weeds, then to used it to start charcoal

Then I used it to pre heat my WEBER Smokey Mountain Smoker
When I am smoking Ribs and Brisket.

Now to free lead in cup cake tins

2 of the pans are not tin coated

1 pan is coated with tin. It makes the tin shinier when heated

I can make the pans cherry red fast and the lead just falls out

So now the tins are rusting in the back yard (Not bad for a Dollar)