Smelting lead setup

I have only limited experience with melting Wheelweights and it was never positive, quite a mess, lots of unusable garbage, a terrible stink and perhaps even a waste of Money considering the extra energy (Propane) needed. Reading the posts we learn that whole Zink weights will float when the Lead is already
in a molten stage. Increasing the temperature apparently will now cause the Zink molecules to mix with the Lead and stop floating on top.

Somehow this does not make sense or am I missing something ?
 
Lead melts at 621° and Zinc at 786°. So just keep the temperature at about 650° and scoop out anything that floats.
 
Your doing it wrong then.

Brassman66 said:
I have only limited experience with melting Wheelweights and it was never positive, quite a mess, lots of unusable garbage, a terrible stink and perhaps even a waste of Money considering the extra energy (Propane) needed. Reading the posts we learn that whole Zink weights will float when the Lead is already
in a molten stage. Increasing the temperature apparently will now cause the Zink molecules to mix with the Lead and stop floating on top.

Somehow this does not make sense or am I missing something ?
Click to expand...
 
And after the whole set up was in place and running let's look at the results. Should we ?

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Whoa! Looks fantastic.

I take it the 500 lbs on the left was the commercial alloy? Do you recall the composition? Also, are the ingots divided so you can separate them easily for melting in a lead pot (like a 20lb pot)?
 
The long left ingots are pure lead. I have a Cabin Tree tester and it shows 6-7 BHN. I bought them from a company in Montreal. Each one is 25 lbs. It will be a bit of a hassle to melt them in my RCBS pot but I'll figure a way. I already casted few thousand bullets with the WW ingots.
For the pure lead ingots I'll have to get my hands on some hardball or a lead alloy with lots of antimony to raise a bit the hardness. I think I could try to cast some .45LC with pure lead and load some low velocity rounds and see what happen. I think is more important the bullet sizing than the hardness.

I actually have a plan. I want to do it by the book. I'll first slug the barrel. I'll cast the bullets and then size them for that barrel(0.001 larger). Then reload and shoot and write here somewhere the results.
 
65lb ingots are a PITA. Almost hate them worst than WWs.

OP> post pics of your equipment.
For the lead did the seller have diff composition. I bought mine from a local place in Richmond that recycles batteries (now that is nasty stuff). They sell pure and 2-4% antimony with 1/2 to 1%tin. The chemist gave me the exact composition for my lead (down to 2 decimal place).

Backbreaking tedious work isn't the worst part; the lube (alox...) stinks when shot and leave residue. Plated bullets are ~$5/lb. Not sure $2/lb for lead is worth the hassle and mess. Once my lead is gone doubt I'll bother to buy lead again. Only bother if it is freebies or to teach the young'uns.
 
If the ingots were 65Lbs I would never buy. I can't handle that weigh on my own. I feel you on this one.
My deal with the seller was for pure lead so I can play with the alloy composition and add different components at will. I like doing things because I love learning things through experiments. They have different alloys of course but I wanted to create my own money regardless.
Now with worthness of the whole thing, what can I say! Saving money is great, but in the end is the joy and satisfaction of making something with my own hands. Learning things even if are costly at first will eventually pay of in a long run.
And one thing I know for sure from previous personal experience. I first have to invest to make a "profit" later on. Good quality equipment makes my life easier and enjoyable. Reloading should be fun and not a chore. At least for myself. Same with guns. To shoot, one doesn't need a 2000$ Colt SAA brand new. Any 300$ scrap gun can punch paper. But is a mater of enjoyment and personal satisfaction in having a such fine piece in my hand and shoot it.

With any passion and hobby is the same. Once you get into it forget about saving money. A passion is priceless. I guess is about how big is the passion for every one of us.

What pix would u like me to post? The smelting setup?
 
Yeah, post pics of the setup.

Totally agree it was lots of fun to learn about smelting WWs and casting lead bullets. Bored of that now cause once it is set up just tedious work.

Part I hate is the smoke from the lube and mess on my guns; must be magnitude worst than plated. If I ever come onto a jackpot of free lead will def. try powder coating.

What hardness tester are you using. Mine is the Lee tester, works well.
Moose_Master said:
If the ingots were 65Lbs I would never buy. I can't handle that weigh on my own. I feel you on this one.
My deal with the seller was for pure lead so I can play with the alloy composition and add different components at will. I like doing things because I love learning things through experiments. They have different alloys of course but I wanted to create my own money regardless.
Now with worthness of the whole thing, what can I say! Saving money is great, but in the end is the joy and satisfaction of making something with my own hands. Learning things even if are costly at first will eventually pay of in a long run.
And one thing I know for sure from previous personal experience. I first have to invest to make a "profit" later on. Good quality equipment makes my life easier and enjoyable. Reloading should be fun and not a chore. At least for myself. Same with guns. To shoot, one doesn't need a 2000$ Colt SAA brand new. Any 300$ scrap gun can punch paper. But is a mater of enjoyment and personal satisfaction in having a such fine piece in my hand and shoot it.

With any passion and hobby is the same. Once you get into it forget about saving money. A passion is priceless. I guess is about how big is the passion for every one of us.

What pix would u like me to post? The smelting setup?
Click to expand...
 
I'll be more than happy to post pictures with set up when I'll be back home. Now I'm on the road, truckin'. For the whole(brand new) smelting set up I paid 72$. Plus 5$ the skimmer and ladle. I'm set for many many years to come. I know if I was to try harder I could get something cheaper but I think the amount is decent. I was almost to buy a thermometer but then searching in my hoarding boxes I found a brand new thermometer. I have no idea when I got it and how but it has to be over 6-7 years ago.

The hardness tester is a Cabin Tree. This one was expensive. But I can measure bullets and really thick ingots. To work with it is just a walk in the park. To measure a bullet hardness with this toy takes exactly 10 seconds. Overall I love it.
 
Ok, so here I am with pictures of my set up in action. It was a nice day and I took my time smelting the last bucket of COWW. Took a bunch of pictures in different stages, just to show it how I do it.

Posing set up:
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Now because posers suck let's see the thing at work:
at first the creator made this
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and here it how it gets transformed:
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put the lid so it will heat up faster:
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then watching from inside, safer than standing out in the smoke:
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almost ready:
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removing the clips and everything else:
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it is still a lot of nastiness that has to be removed:
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then I said let's do it by the book so I won't worry about anything while casting. So a lil bit of saw dust is the best for headache:
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I love the flames:
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clips and dirt:
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this is what I'm talking about. now I'm ready to pour it into ingots:
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and here the cycle starts again after the smelting pot was emptied so when I fill it again I won't meet the tinsel fairy:
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same thing over and over again:
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see the fumes coming out:
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that's why I always wear my respirator with P100 filters for organic vapors:
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when the pot is almost empty the dirt and other impurities are so visible and a nuisance to get them out:
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the more I dig the more I get out. this is so annoying, but it has to be done no matter what for a clean ingot and enjoyable casting experience:
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a full bucket full of clips and dirt. this is I think the most dangerous part as most people think is safe to remove the respirator and then handle the clips and dirt inhale lead and other impurities DUST not vapors:
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but in the end is all worth it as I see the results:
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can I brag a bit? of course I can :
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waiting to fill the whole bucket with SOWW and smelt into soft ingots:
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YES, that bucket is full with Linotype ready to harden soft lead:
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So this is it gentlemen with my set up. Today's catch was 92 lbs of clean muffins. Is true, I lost the everyone's favorite shows Kradashian and Oprah show, but what can I do. Someone has to work in order to provide the family with goodies.

I think I'm addicted to lead. I caught myself thinking of new ways to find lead scrap while my wife was talking to me. That's the first sign of addiction I guess.

Show your smelting set up. I love lead ####. I'm an addict.
 
Almost exactly the same setup that I use, only a bit different...The stand and burner are from WalMart, right? That's where I got mine from. Instead of setting the dutchoven on top of that base, I found out that a propane tank with the ends cut off will snugly fit my dutchoven, and I cut 3 pieces of angle iron for legs. My burner sits on bricks.

To keep the wind from blowing the heat away, I used 3 or 4 firepit bricks. I processed almost a ton of lead this way. (I cheated and used a metal table so I wouldn't have to bend down so much)

And, I'm like Zuke. I also add wheelweights to the mix as I go along. Speeds things up a bit, evens out the blend, and if you're careful the first shovelful cool off the melt enough to add as much suspect damp wheelweights without worrying about the tinsel fairy. The heat evaporates the water long before the molten lead gets to it.

Before you get too much further, let me urge you to go to Princess Auto (or wherever is cheapest) and pick up some el cheapo metal stamps to mark your ingots. I don't care what you mark them with, but please stamp them with something. You will save a lot of gray hairs in the future doing it this way.
 
Such a nice cast iron dutch oven. shame to see it trade food duty for lead duty. Should have used a junker steel pot and keep that grande damme in the kitchen. *sniff. a tear for the fallen.

Otherwise first class setup. thanks for sharing.
 
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