Bullet Casting

[Flat Water Bob]

Should you try to clean the brake dust and other grime off wheel weights or just let the process take care of it? They sure of filthy.

[Iron Pony]

Bob, not sure how or what you would clean them with other then maybe getting a compound bucket from cheapo depot or such with a bunch of drain holes in the sides/bottom and hauling them down to the local car wash for a little high pressure bath. Then you have to let them dry COMPLETELY as you dont want any moisture trapped below the surface of your melt. Very bad juju there.

 

We are lucky in that our lead supply is all pure, clean scrap and beating it into shapes small enough to fit in the 20lb pots knocks off most of the dirt etc. One pard donates lead foils from dental xrays which can include paper and plastic backings. Most of these are removed before smelting but its best done with real good ventilation for those that slip through.

 

A smelting only or crud pot is suggested to keep the schmutz out of casting pots and recently a caster advised he used the bottom half of an old LP tank on one of the turkey frying burners was his technique. I'm keeping an eye out for old cast iron pots at yard sales.

 

The secret to real estate success may be location location location, the secret to happy smelting is ventilation, ventilation ventilation.

[Col. Roosevelt]

Whatever method you use I'm with Iron Pony when he says, ventilate.

[Noz]

Take your smelting outside and pour about 1" of UNUSED Kitty Litter on top of the scrap. As the metal and rubber heats the fumes and oils will be absorbed by the kitty litter and make it easy to skim the crud off of the molten alloy.

[John Boy]

Should you try to clean the brake dust and other grime off wheel weights or just let the process take care of it?

Bob, the junk on WW's when you are making ingots can be left as is instead of sanitizing the weights. Even the motor oil on them will act as a flux.

 

Keep the melt temperature around 650F because there are a lot of zinc weights in use now. And flux the melt good with sawdust before you pour the ingots. Then flux again when the ingots go in your casting pot

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Process wheel weights OUTSIDE. (I actually do em just inside the garage (always fear rain) with the big door open. When ya got bunches of crud, tear a scrap or two of cardboard from a box, light it afire and place it on top the pot. This will help reduce smoke as "goo" will light off instead of smolder. Once ya get the worst of the junk, clips, etc skimmed off, then flux with wax, etc and make yer ingots. I use a big "fish cooker" burner (very strong welded steel frame, better than most turkey fryers) and a cast iron dutch oven. It holds 60+ lbs of lead, and ya DON'T want much more than that at a rip on yer burner... To cast ingots, a plumber's ladle that holds 5 lbs. of lead is perfect. When ya dip and mold ingots, leave 1/2" or so of lead in the pot to speed the melt process with the next batch, whether immediate or another day, as it helps direct the heat.

 

When processing bunches of WW, it doesn't pay to be "fussy". I dump the barrel of WW on the concrete floor, use a square shovel to feed the pot, and a long-handled round shovel to scrape clips over the side. Sure, ya end up with a pile of junk next to the burner, but when it cools, ya shovel them back into yer now empty barrel... Forget about the slotted spoon and pre-sorting for valve stems, etc. ya might do if you're processing 20 lbs. The darned razor blades etc in the WW are bad juju, so instead of getting fancy, go with the brute force method. Ingots get dumped from molds onto a scrap piece of plywood on the floor, and when partly cooled, stacked aside using big pliers to handle em. I can do 400 lbs in an afternoon easy.

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Most wheel weights these days are made of Zinc.

Cheers,

LG

[Adirondack Jack, SASS #53440]

Most wheel weights these days are made of Zinc.

Cheers,

LG

 

That depends where ya live. Yes, new cars are coming with zink, iron, etc, but there's lots of lead WW still in use EXCEPT in a couple of states that have outlawed em. (Odd they have outlawed lead WW, yet are pushing electric cars with 600 lbs of lead batteries, or a simlar volume of lithium.....) At this time, most big scrap dealers will still have lots of lead. It's no longer FREE, but it's there. In older areas of the country lead pipe is also still available, and can be mixed with WW about 1 part to 3 part WW, for low velocity bullets....