Let me Stat of by saying I know everyone's opinion on the matter. Dangerous, will kill you amd the like.
I have a robust ventilation system in my shed far away from the house so I want to give it a try
I am hoping for an answer to my one question.
Do the dangerous chemicals like arsenic and such burn off after the first melting or will the harmful fumes be emitted every time the lead is solidified then remelted?
I'm not sure, but I'd treat it like any other melt, and keep up wind of it.Originally Posted by 3rdTennCoC
In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.
OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
EVERYONE!
Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.
Oh boy.....you've done it now.
My friend, I believe you and I are probably wired alike..... Don't do it?? Yeah, well....hold my beer and watch this!
"Do not follow where the path might lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" Ralph Waldo Emerson
2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
"Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives? Because if not, there’s absolutely no point."
– Amber Veal
"The Highest form of ignorance is when your reject something you don't know anything about".
- Wayne Dyer
Arsenic alloys with lead and won't burn off. However, Arsenic is in wheelweights and lead shot.
The harmful substances in battery lead like cadmium are also metals and will always be present. I don't know the complete makeup of newer current production batteries, but believe there may be calcium and magnesium as well.
I would err on the side of caution and assume that they will still be present after the initial smelt/melt.
Big cast iron pot, BIG hot fire, OUTSIDE (stay upwind my friend!) and flux it often!
Yes, batteries can be smelted (the battery remanufacturers do it daily!), the plastic and yuck float to the top (skim the mix frequently!) and once it appears clean, let cool and smelt it a second time.
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
Just sell them for scrap $ and buy/trade for lead.... I mean, really. <My earlier post was intended sarcasm, purple font didn't take>
"Do not follow where the path might lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail" Ralph Waldo Emerson
Will smelting it a second time help? Allowing me to smelt it and cast in the basement with my normal vents? My robust ventilation system is my lee bottom pour pot on a 50 yard extention cable in the field.
No matter how many threads are provided to document that it is dangerous, produces little return, and there are better things to use, some folks just have gotta test the electric fence anyway.
You're good.
I'd be more concerned with the Cadmium than anything else.
It is not something to play around with.
Run your pot pretty hot, leave it going for a hour or so.
If there is a brown, crunchy crud on top--- that's Cadmium.
Last edited by Winger Ed.; 01-14-2023 at 12:49 AM.
In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.
OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
EVERYONE!
Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.
Are we really to that point? I can get all the range lead i want to mine, seems a safer bet.
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
Consider this: anytime One buys scrap lead at the junk yard, there is recycled battery lead in the mix. Generally, a high percentage. As for range lead, unless it is encompassed by copper jackets, One can reasonably assume the lead may be from a recycled source. So, the bottom line is, just what source of lead can be trusted to not have been a battery in its past?
Rights, and Privileges, are not synonymous. We have the Right to Bear Arms. As soon as the Government mandates firearm registration, and permiting, then that Right becomes a Privilege, and may be taken away at our Master's discretion.
Thirty years ago I decided to harvest lead from some batteries I had. I was surprised at how little amount of lead was in the batteries. I expected to find them full of lead plates, but instead found mostly lead covered fiberglass. It certainly wasn’t worth it to me. Maybe deep cycle batteries are more like the old car batteries I remembered, but the new batteries designed for starting vehicles, were completely different.
The deep cycle old school batteries probably did have more pure Lead in them,
as well as a deeper case for the Lead Sulphate to fall and settle in before it built up and shorted out the cell.
Modern-ish wet cell batteries that have a big number of cold cranking amps and are rather small have a lot of Calcium in their alloy.
They wear out faster too*.
Also, if you drain them flat, they only charge back up to about 90% of what you had to before it ran flat.
Run it flat again, and it only recharges back up to 90% of that,,,, and so on, and.so on.......
I used to know a guy who had worked at the old Dallas Lead plant.
One of the things they did was make and blend the alloys to the specs. going to the battery manufacturers.
In the mid-late 80s- They got a project in one time to re-cast the same and original pure Lead plates
for the last US Navy WWII Diesel Electric submarine they still used at the time for training.
They added some modern equipment, and needed to change the dimensions of its batteries.
The batteries had pure Lead plates separated by sheets of glass, and stacked in a box.
They could be drained and fully charged back up over and over--- more or less forever.
*
By the alloy, and construction of the battery, they could very accurately predict how long that battery would last
in a given climate, with the size of engine it had to crank..... and adjust the warranty accordingly.
Last edited by Winger Ed.; 01-14-2023 at 02:03 AM.
In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.
OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
EVERYONE!
Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.
The biggest danger is not in the smelting, it's the dross. It gathers moisture and creates an extremely dangerous gas. As in lethal if it concentrates in a closed trash container.
Cognitive Dissident
This is one of those decisions in life that is easy to walk away from...no harm & no foul.
On the other hand...well...it's your life...your call.
If you live to be an old'Fart like me and some of the other boys...you will look back in time and wish you'd handled some things differently.
Nuff said.
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell
The only way that happens is individuals melt the batteries and sell it to the scrap yard. Since it is not remotely cost effective that rarely if ever happens.
Recycled battery lead is much different than you or I smelting down batteries. While I cannot speak to all lead recycling facilities that one that an acquaintance works at refines it the 99.9 pure.
https://www.totalmateria.com/page.as...99%25%20purity.
Specifications for Recycled Lead
Throughout much of the world, two lead specifications prevail: one with a minimum of 99.99% Pb and the other with a minimum of 99.97% Pb. The major impurities in lead are antimony, arsenic, bismuth, copper, nickel, silver, tin, and zinc. Recently, selenium and tellurium have been added as important impurities.
Primary-lead companies generally produce the 99.99% Pb grade, whereas recyclers produce the 99.97% Pb grade. The major difference in the lead grades is that recyclers generally do not remove the bismuth and silver in their refining process. Recycled lead generally contains sufficient bismuth to preclude reaching 99.99% purity.
Gas-Producing Impurities. More important than restrictions of bismuth and silver in lead specifications has been the restriction of elements that increase gas generation in lead acid batteries. Elements that promote decomposition of the electrolyte and production of gas upon charging are specified at very low levels regardless of the overall purity of the lead. The specification for pure lead for battery oxide restricts antimony, arsenic, nickel, and tellurium to low levels, whereas nongassing impurities such as bismuth, silver, and copper are permitted at higher levels. In the most restrictive specifications, all the gas-producing impurities are restricted to a content of 1 ppm or less.
Last edited by M-Tecs; 01-14-2023 at 07:36 AM.
2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
"Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives? Because if not, there’s absolutely no point."
– Amber Veal
"The Highest form of ignorance is when your reject something you don't know anything about".
- Wayne Dyer
iirc most automotive battery plates starting in 1978 contain a diminished percentage of lead + increased amount of the element . strontium -
fyi [[ Can you extract the lead from batteries?
Re: Extracting the lead from batteries? Here in the U.S., cracking and recycling lead-acid batteries is a regulated activity. Depending on what you do with the spent sulfuric acid, it's regulated as a hazardous waste. ]]
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...78775378850034
Last edited by schutzen-jager; 01-14-2023 at 09:01 AM.
never pick a fight with an old man - if he is too old to fight he will just kill you -
in this current crisis our government is not the solution , it is the problem ! -
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
as they say in latin
Brings back fond memories with my father-in-law who spent many years on the old diesel subs. SS303 was his favorite time. The batteries were their 'life', everything about the sub operation centered around the batteries.
They had detailed charts on voltages and charge rates. To get 100% they had a very specific charge sequence of voltages and times. One 'layover' in Panama the dock did not have enough shore power so they rolled up one of the railroad tugs. The tug crew claimed the cable would be fine, until it smoked when it was hooked up. They got a bigger cable and the tug bogged down. Finally got a second tug and cable to get a good charge rate.
Also stories about the Fairbanks Morse 2 stroke, opposed piston diesels. And those guys sailed those tiny boats all around the world.
And, no, he would not smelt batteries. Too much work for too little return.
My thoughts exactly. That junk battery is worth about $10. You won't get $10 worth of lead out of it.
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