wheel weights

[jayrad33]

i just picked up 124lbs. of used wheel weights some clip-on and some stick on wut do i need to do to prep them for casting

[wiljen]

You'll need to smelt them. A Turkey fryer and a dutch oven work well.

[JSnover]

Like wiljen said, smelt the crap out and pour them into ingots. Cast from a seperate pot if you can. It's cleaner and you'll have more control over your alloy.

[jayrad33]

can i use a lee production pot to do both smelting into ingots and regular casting

[kyle623]

I always seperate the clipons from the stick on weights stickons are almost pure lead and i smelt them seperately and stamp them.

[zxcvbob]

Watch out for zinc and iron stick-on weights. The zinc ones will sneak into your melt and totally ruin the lead. The iron weights don't hurt anything directly, but they keep you from seeing how hot the melt really is and allow the zinc weights to hide.

Don't ask me how I know all this. (I thought all stick-on weights were soft lead)

[arcticbreeze]

can i use a lee production pot to do both smelting into ingots and regular casting

You can use the same pot and alot of people do but I would not. Go get a cheap steel pot from Wally World, melt them down, flux, then pour into your production pot for casting our boolits.

[Bob Krack]

can i use a lee production pot to do both smelting into ingots and regular casting

One of the best ways I can think of to cause headaches in the future is to melt "dirty" lead in your casting pot.

Sure, ya can do it - but I truly believe you will be sorry later on.

My advise is one pot for "smelting", a different pot for casting.

Bob

[fredj338]

i just picked up 124lbs. of used wheel weights some clip-on and some stick on wut do i need to do to prep them for casting

I dump the buckets on the garage floor & sort them. The zinc wts are harder, can't be cut w/ a pair of wire cutters or smashed w/ a hammer. There is also a lot of rubber & other crap in the bucket you do NOT want in a molten lead. You can toss all in @ smelt below 700deg & the zinc will float, but I find it easier to just cull them out & toss them w/ the steel & other junk. Definitely use a separate pot of some kind. You can smelt the clipon separate for the stickons or blend them 50/50 for an alloy that is still useable for loads upto 1000fps+.

[JeffinNZ]

Send to me and I will clean them for you.

[303Guy]

Yeah... someone went and used all our wheel weights for sinkers!

[Echo]

+1 for separating the stickies from the clippies. Also, keep the temperature low - my casting guru from years back rendered in a 100-pound cast iron pot fired by a propane burner. The pot just fit into a 5-gallon can. Ralph had chopped some holes in the bottom for air and hose entrance. Load the pot up, light the fire, turn it way down, then go inside and watch TV for about an HOUR, go outside and start pulling out clips.
I have just started rendering in a dutch oven over a turkey fryer and follow Ralph's instruction, to go slow, with as cool a fire as can do the job. That way, the zinc WW's that get through my inspection don't melt, but float on top where they can be removed with the clips. Also, the tin is not as apt to burn off (oxidize).

[zxcvbob]

I process 15 to 20 pounds at a time using an electric hotplate and a copper-bottom stainless pot with a lid (I don't use the lid much, but it's useful for actually smelting the dross and heavy black sand I accumulate to make lead out of it. Yes, it will get that hot.) It's not as slow as you'd expect.

If I were to make a big melter, I think I'd use a 240V oven element or two and make it electric. Don't know where I'd get the asbestos tho' to wrap between the heating element and the outer heat shield.

[snaggdit]

Welcome to the addiction!

can i use a lee production pot to do both smelting into ingots and regular casting

As others have said, not recommended. What you will get when you smelt is some crud that floats and can be skimmed off as well as (sometimes) some crud that ends up stuck under the melt on the bottom. If you smelt in your bottom pour, this bottom crud will junk up your pouring spout, causing it to not want to stop flowing. Picture a 10 pound clump of lead under your pot as more drips happily onto it. This will end up being a headache to get clean and flowing good again.

As others have said, you can smelt at a low temp and the zinc will float, but I highly recommend that for your first few buckets of WW you hand sort them. You will quickly get to recognise the steel and zinc weights. As mentioned, when in doubt try to cut them with a wire cutters. A lead WW will easily score while zinc will barely mark. Steel won't even scratch. Have fun!

[Sensai]

Be sure that whatever you decide to smelt the wheelweights in will take the weight and the heat. I recommended, to a neighbor that wanted to start casting, that he use a dutch oven. I didn't think that I needed to get too specific, but I guess I should have. He used an ALUMINUM dutch oven over a propane burner. It started leaking just after about twenty pounds of wheel weights had melted. He had followed my advise and had everything outdoors, but it sure made a mess. Could have easily been a real problem. Cast iron or steel ONLY for your smelting container, please!

[jayrad33]

Do I take the clips off the wheel weights

[zxcvbob]

Do I take the clips off the wheel weights

Not exactly. You melt the lead off the clips, and the clips float to the top and you skim them out.

[Goatlips]

Hi Jayrad,

Have a look here:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/smelting.html

and like the man said, try to sort out the zinc ones first. Welcome to the asylum.

Goatlips

[Old Ironsights]

I dump the buckets on the garage floor & sort them. The zinc wts are harder, can't be cut w/ a pair of wire cutters or smashed w/ a hammer. There is also a lot of rubber & other crap in the bucket you do NOT want in a molten lead. You can toss all in @ smelt below 700deg & the zinc will float, but I find it easier to just cull them out & toss them w/ the steel & other junk. Definitely use a separate pot of some kind. You can smelt the clipon separate for the stickons or blend them 50/50 for an alloy that is still useable for loads upto 1000fps+.

Dumping is a dirty mess. I like to be comfortable. I spend many blissfully quiet (no wife) hours sorting buckets. I usually end up with only one or two Zincers per 125# bucket after I'm done.



"Fresh" WWs in the close bucket. I sort by (Left to right in the pic) Small, Tape & Large WWS, with Trash/polymer going in the trash can and Zinc/Steel going in the little red can...

[Slow Elk 45/70]

+1 on the GoatLips thread , tells newbies what they need to know , with Pictures!!!!
There is a lot of information for new and old in the classics & stickies !!!

Enjoy