Battery terminal herdness

[Mobular]

Like some others in our hobby, I am scooping lead wherever I can. I am now eyeballing the terminals on old car batteries. Does anyone know the hardness of these? I just want to melt similar hardness leads when it comes time to making more ingots.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

i can't say for sure, but it sure feels like pure lead to me, they scratch really easy. lead is lead, so get them if you can you can figure it out later.

 

[yomomma]

They are considered pure...just like the clamps that go on them



rust read up a bit

I guess newer batteries would have alloyed lead

 

[ErikT]

Yes, they are pure or very nearly so.

 

[zuke]

I have a bunch that are going into the next big melt.

 

[crash277]

i have a few car batteries someone could come grab them if they want them. wouldnt wanna have to dispose of the acid in them, but they have lead plates as well. get about $2-$8/ battery for scrap weight.

 

[yomomma]

A lot of nasty chemicals in them besides the acid and lead

 

[Mobular]

Thanks for the info on the terminal hardness. I won't be trying to get to the plates for the above mentioned reason of way too much nastiness found inside the cases. I'll just be salvaging the posts.

 

[mg34]

DO NOT SALVAGE WHAT YOU THINK IS LEAD FROM BATTERYS AS THE MELTING PROCESS WILL CAUSE YOU SERIOUS HEALTH CONCERNS. leave battery recycling to the pros who do it right and safely.

 

[Mobular]

^ Yeah, no worries there.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

DO NOT SALVAGE WHAT YOU THINK IS LEAD FROM BATTERYS AS THE MELTING PROCESS WILL CAUSE YOU SERIOUS HEALTH CONCERNS. leave battery recycling to the pros who do it right and safely.

cutting the battery terminals is plenty safe, it's the plates or insides of the battery that can cause the issues if your not setup correctly (eg factories that do it)

 

[hatman1793]

I really like the battery terminal idea. Both terminals could be harvested, but I would extricate the crusty parts first for a clean melt. Batteries are NOT salvageable so leave them alone.

 

[sawzall]

Battery terminals are alloyed, they are no longer pure lead. I melted down a bunch of them by themselves a while ago just to see what they are like and when hit together, the ingots ring like much harder lead. I suspect they have some zinc in them to help deter corrosion but I have no acid to test them with. I do know that if you cut them off with a hack saw and look at them from the bottom you can see a distinct separate core of different metal. Can't extract it though, I tried. It may be the harder material used for strength coated with closer to pure lead.

 

[Mobular]

^ This is true. I recently cut the posts of a newer battery and found that there is definitely two pieces to a post....the outer lead and the core......

 

[Raton57]

I found about 10 truck loads of lead last night. Have no idea how one would move it. It's one inch plate from a tower or a 100 feet by 10 feet wide. They are using track hoes to move it right now.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

I found about 10 truck loads of lead last night. Have no idea how one would move it. It's one inch plate from a tower or a 100 feet by 10 feet wide. They are using track hoes to move it right now.

easy, put your back into it!