Ingot Moulds...

[Pete E]

Pete,
Please check your wheel weights are actually lead and not zinc or steel. In the UK (as in the rest of Europe) we have had a ban on lead wheel weights since 2005. It was surprising how fast the tyre yards scrap bin levels of lead wheel weghts reduced. A couple of years ago you could hope for at least 50% lead wheel weights in a scrap bucket. I finally gave up looking at the end of last year when a 35lb bucket produced a total of 5oz of lead. Wish i'd hoarded a lot more than i did.

Thanks for the warning, I never knew that lead had been banned!

I scrounged these a few years ago knowing that at some point in the furture I'd like to try casting, and i would say that the are 95% lead...I remember picking out a few odd looking ones which seemed lighter than normal, but the rest are either standard wheel weights or the soft lead stick-on ones...

Its a bit of a bugger about the ban though, as I was depending on wheel weights as a source of cheap lead...Any other idea's for an alternative source?

Regards,

Peter

[10 ga]

Cheapest ingot mold is Aluminum beer cans. Cut the top off with a knife and pour a bout a 2" ingot. When cool use pliers to rip the Al off and you have an ingot. Mostly I use muffin pan molds now but I see where you don't have much access to them. Stainless is a good mold. I use small Stainless pots from yard sales etc and only pour about a 1/4" ingot, when cool dump it out and use a hatchet to cut it into 1/4 pieces. .02 EURO worth ?? ! ?? LOL. 10 ga

[fred2892]

Cheapest source of lead is your local ranges backstop. Unfortunately a lot of clubs have it written into the clubs constitution that any lead is not to be removed from the range except by a contractor. If thats the case for you then your only chance is a local scrap metal merchant. A good one is worth his weight in gold as he will also carry antimony, linotype etc.

As for ingot moulds, nip to your nearest poundland and buy bun tins or any other kind of small cake/muffin tin for that matter (I have an old eclair one somewhere hereabouts that produces very pretty ingots ahich are smack on a pound in weight). The deciding factor is if the ingot it produces will fit your lead pot. Non stick, stainless or tin will do. Dont worry, they wont stick. I would say a minimum of 5 are required for a smelt of about 100 lbs.
Good luck

[mstrausbough]

I use small muffin pans. It holds 12 ingots. Just the right size for the electric melter I got at Gander Mt on clearance. I do my bulk WW melting with a pot over propane camp stove then pour into muffin tin. Used the disp foil ones but did not like the results. the non stick one was only a few bucks at Wally world.