Melting range scrap turns to tar

J

julesr

Member
Rating - 100%
12   0   0
Hi all,
I've been gathering range scrap out of the sand berms at my shooting club for a couple months now, and just started melting it for recasting. Within acouple minutes, a thick black tar forms on the surface of the molten lead. It is clearly from the little broken peices of clay pigeons that some people use as pistol targets.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Any quick ways to get rid of the clay peices short of sorting through hundreds of pounds of scrap? This stuff really stinks, and I hate just melting it...
Thx
 
Set up a sluice box or pan it like gold. Find a way to wash or float off the lighter material.

Or do the first melt outside on a farm where you can get lots of air and no one will complain about the smoke.
 
Kryogen said:
I use the 3m with P100 multi gas cartridges. Expensive but why get cancer if you don't have to.
Click to expand...

The mask is very inexpensive compared to your comfort and long term health. The masks only become difficult when it's at or below freezing because of the condensation. Oh, and they don't filter out any stink.

The "tar" sounds more like plastic. It smokes, sticks and stinks.
 
I've never bothered with a mask. I just play the wind. My hot plate never gets hot enough to createlead vapour. I throw in my lead and come back in half an hour when everything is melted. Throw in my saw dust and piece of candle and again leave until the fire subsides. Give it all a goods stir for a few minutes and skim off the crap. Scrape the sides and bottom and I'm good to go.

The ticket is not to treat it like you are making soup, yah don't need your face in the open pot all the time.
 
yomomma said:
I've never bothered with a mask. I just play the wind. My hot plate never gets hot enough to createlead vapour. I throw in my lead and come back in half an hour when everything is melted. Throw in my saw dust and piece of candle and again leave until the fire subsides. Give it all a goods stir for a few minutes and skim off the crap. Scrape the sides and bottom and I'm good to go.

The ticket is not to treat it like you are making soup, yah don't need your face in the open pot all the time.
Click to expand...

The issue is that to reject zinc weights you need to watch and when lead has melted, skim what has not melted.... or they get too hot, melt, and ruin the batch.
 
Kryogen said:
This. and do it outdoors with a gas mask.

I use the 3m with P100 multi gas cartridges. Expensive but why get cancer if you don't have to.
Click to expand...

P100 is just a particulate filter and does not stop gases. (I Misread, you have a duel filter to do particulates and gases. But you still need to be careful as "multi gas" is broad. It could be for acid gases but not VOC or visa versa)

You would need something for VOC's
 
Last edited:
redruns said:
The mask is very inexpensive compared to your comfort and long term health. The masks only become difficult when it's at or below freezing because of the condensation. Oh, and they don't filter out any stink.

The "tar" sounds more like plastic. It smokes, sticks and stinks.
Click to expand...

If you can smell it, you are using the wrong filter cartridge.
 
JoKa said:
P100 is just a particulate filter and does not stop gases. (I Misread, you have a duel filter to do particulates and gases. But you still need to be careful as "multi gas" is broad. It could be for acid gases but not VOC or visa versa)

You would need something for VOC's
Click to expand...
Yep you don't want to play around with vapours from lead, mercury etc.
The results of such can be dangerous.

Sorry for the video but it came to mind. Graphic. Better yet I will just post the link and you can take your chances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkkR0_yvMrk
 
This MSDS sheet I am looking at saying Melting point is 327.43C (621.4F)
Boiling point is 1740.0C (3164.0F)

No idea when it starts giving off fumes though. More then one less than the other? :D
 
I melted off about 35 pounds in my pot yesterday in one go. The same black tar formed, and seemed to slow the melting process to almost 40 mins for the pot, when it normally takes no more than 20. Anyways, with my super awesome voc mask worked well and didn't alow any smell through. I guess with this range scrap I'll just have to bite the bullet and keep going the normal way with my mask on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom