Did I melt a zinc wheel weight in with my lead ones?

[mrcvs]

I wasn’t getting a nice silver sheen, like I usually do. It was looking pasty.

Source was wheel weights sitting in a back yard from when I thought zinc was used.

With lead melting at 622F and zinc at 786 F, shouldn’t zinc float to the top prior to melting? Also, if it’s less dense than lead, shouldn’t you be able to skim melted lead off the top?

[Winger Ed.]

Zinc floats up like you'd want only if you bring the heat up slowly, and don't be bashful about stirring the pot.

Often when contaminated, the pot sort of looks like you put gray oatmeal in it.
And yeah, to the casual observer, that looks like what you have there.

[Recycled bullet]

Use your diagonal cutters and try to cut off or nip off little pieces. If it is not possible to cut it or nip it with strong bites from the Cutters then it is zinc.

[mrcvs]

Use your diagonal cutters and try to cut off or nip off little pieces. If it is not possible to cut it or nip it with strong bites from the Cutters then it is zinc.

That was an extre step I didn’t think I needed.

I suppose the question is then, when did they start making zinc wheel weights? And why? If just lead, it makes it better for us, but I imagine that’s not the manufacturer’s overriding concern. I’m surprised they don’t just mark the zinc ones Zn, as when cast?

These wheelweights cane from a gunsmith friend who had retired when he said Clinton forced him to. In his backyard at least since then, so mid 90s or earlier.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

your photo doesn't necessarily tell me you have zinc contamination, it tells me you had trouble keeping the temperature hot enough. Was it windy where you were melting? Did you have a thermometer in it, when it was liquid?

[CastingFool]

get some muriatic acid (used on pools) Put a few drops on your metal. If it bubbles, there is zinc present

[Delkal]

Its hard to tell what you have with the steel clips still in it. Did you ever fully melt the lead and flux it or were the wheel weights just starting to melt and you stopped?

[mrcvs]

I now think I was having trouble getting to the temperature I needed plus was low on propane. Ran out, and with a refilled tank, it’s quite a difference.

The amalgamation in the photograph has since been recycled.

And so, I’m what year was the first zinc wheelweight marketed?

[poppy42]

Zinc wheel weights have been around for quite a while. Exactly what year I don’t know. If you were melting your wheel weights with a standard turkey fryer you probably didn’t have sink melted in. Probably just ran out of gas and didn’t get everything melted. It’s not like it will come up to temperature to melt zinc instantly and yes once the lead was melted you would’ve seen the zink wheel weights floating on top. I’ve been doing this quite a while and I’ve never actually had any zinc wheel weights melt in with my mix. Then again I do sort my wheel weights so who knows. There is a way of removing zinc from your melt if it does occur. It requires the use of sulfur. Garden sulfur Works. Unfortunately it’s not pleasant, it’s time consuming, and you have to weigh whether it’s actually worth it.

[fredj338]

Its likely not zinc if it melted @ less than 700deg. More likely just crud from other contaminates. Try aggressive fluxing, skim & toss the dross. Yes the zinc wts will float up.

[WRideout]

get some muriatic acid (used on pools) Put a few drops on your metal. If it bubbles, there is zinc present

Or acid type toilet bowl cleaner. You might already have some.
Wayne

[Kai]

That was an extre step I didn’t think I needed.

I suppose the question is then, when did they start making zinc wheel weights? And why? If just lead, it makes it better for us, but I imagine that’s not the manufacturer’s overriding concern. I’m surprised they don’t just mark the zinc ones Zn, as when cast?

These wheelweights cane from a gunsmith friend who had retired when he said Clinton forced him to. In his backyard at least since then, so mid 90s or earlier.

Lead wheel weights have been on the outs for a long time. Anymore when I get a 5 gallon bucket of WW 2/3 or better are zinc.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>

And so, I’m what year was the first zinc wheelweight marketed?

It might vary from State to State, I don't know what State you are from, but I can share my experience in MN. I've melted COWW from 70s and 80s that I got from an old timer, not a zinker in there. I started scrounging COWW from tire shops and auto-salvage yards in 2009 and rarely seen a Zinker. Then in 2013, the State of MN decreed that all WW used on State owned vehicles must be Lead-free. That's when the tide turned for MN, any tire dealer putting tires on those cars/trucks weren't gonna stock both Zinc and Lead WW's. I think it was three years later, MN passed a total ban on Lead WWs, but most tire shops had already switched, as they seen the writing on the wall. I quit scrounging COWWs around 2017, because too many Zinkers and Iron in the mix.

[waksupi]

Zinc wheel weights have been around for at least 50 years. At least, that's when I first ruined a pot of alloy because of it.

[beltfed]

Shaving COWW with a Utility knife.
Lead ones, you will get a smooth cutting action, and asilvery sliver will result
Zinc, the Utility knife will "chatter" . TRY IT
Much easier than a side cutter technique

beltfed/arnie

[Idz]

If the zinc is alloyed with the lead its melting point may be lower. Think solder alloys.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Idz,
I seen a chart somewhere (maybe a Lyman manual?). The melt temp of Lead-Zinc alloy is a bell curve, with the 55-45 mix at top around 1500º F. Of course our Lead is usually alloyed with Sn and Sb, so if some of those were in there, that would have another effect on melt temp.

I found this online.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...ig15_215730693

[gwpercle]

I have no idea what year zinkers were introduced ... but every wheel weight I get ...
gets tested with side cutters . One day someone going to figure out what we can do with these stinkin zinker's ... !
Gary

[Woodtroll]

If the zinc is alloyed with the lead its melting point may be lower. Think solder alloys.

I always thought alloying with zinc generally made the melting temps higher. The graph JonB posted bears that out, and keep in mind that the temperatures shown are degrees Celsius.

Alloying with TIN does indeed drop the melting point, useful for soldering.

[jsizemore]

I didn't see zinc or steel until the 90's. I was segregating COWW.s and SOWW's and then seperating painted and unpainted SOWW's.