wheel weights

hound2013

hound2013

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Location
barrys bay ontario
i just got some today i want to sort them to make sure i got lead and not steel .on the weights there are numbers and letters what do they mean can you give me a break down so i can sort them properly.????? hound13
 
A few that I know are the periodic table symbols - Fe is steel / iron; Pb is lead; Zn is bad news - zinc. When smelting up a batch, pay attention to the melt - the lead will melt first, then as you are stirring, there will be wheel weights that have not melted - they are zinc - get them out. A very little zinc will completely wreck your batch if you are trying to cast excellent sharply filled out bullets. I read that the flat stick on type are pure lead (soft) and are suppossed to be perfect for muzzleloader, but I have not actually done the hardness test on them to compare to the wheelweights, which are an alloy, not pure lead.
 
Iron is attracted to magnet, lead is not.
Iron and zinc are too hard to cut with an electrician's side cutters, lead is pretty easy to cut.
 
I throw everything into the pot after picking out all the stickons and whatever FE is spotted. Set the temp controller to 600°F, wait for everything to melt, scoop out solid stuff. Zinc won't melt till 700°F
 
thanks for the info guys i seen the size of it and thought it was too small but even the guy i got it from said thats his biggest seller.......im going to keep it hound13
 
You'll find that after a while, it gets easy to separate a bunch. The really large ones, typically used on truck tires tend to almost always be lead. Iron ones have a different look to them than zinc and lead. For zinc, sometimes it can be hard to tell. Worst case, I keep my melt between the lead and zinc melting points, this way the zinc will always rise up.
 
I would strongly recommend getting a separate setup for melting the wheel weights or any other raw lead. Helps to keep crap out of the casting pot and casting leaks. And stainless steel, steel, cast iron, etc tank, pot, pan will do. I use a refrigerant bottle cut in half to do all my "smelting" in to make clean ingot's. I use a $50 bass pro fish propane fryer for a heat source.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
I would strongly recommend getting a separate setup for melting the wheel weights or any other raw lead. Helps to keep crap out of the casting pot and casting leaks. And stainless steel, steel, cast iron, etc tank, pot, pan will do. I use a refrigerant bottle cut in half to do all my "smelting" in to make clean ingot's. I use a $50 bass pro fish propane fryer for a heat source.
Click to expand...

got that base covered i got an old roast pan until i can find something else ..... hound13
 
Seperating all the wheel weights one by one is way too much for my level of patience. I usually just process a 5 gallon container through 6 or 7 smaller batches. I pull out the stick ons for my muzzleloader and the rubber things each batch...and dump them in a pot. The thing is though, i keep the temperature around 300C-320C and check it often with infrared...as zinc will melt at 420C. When i filtered the stuff one by one last time i got only one zinc and a very few steel from a 5 gallon...so i just didin't bother this time.
 
hound2013 said:
thanks for the help guys took me all afternoon to sort the wieghts out of a 5 gallon pail i got about 50 pounds of lead is that about right>>>>> hound13
Click to expand...

Yeah, 50lb of lead from a full 5 gallon pail...kinda sucks as the shops around here want $50 a pail for raw wheel weights. That's like $1 / lb for raw wheel weight lead. Factor in time and fuel costs to collect and melt it down, it's not exactly cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom