Where do you get wheel weights?
- Thread starter chise
- Start date
blacksmithden
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Go around to your local garages/tire shops. If you're in southern Ontario, most will tell you they already have somebody picking them up and turn you away. Go to the next one...and the next one....ect. Failing that, go to your local scrap dealer and see if they have any. Don't get all hot and horny when you see all the lead that isn't mixed with other garbage...ie steel clips, mechanics wire, old tire stickers, some SOB's unfinished coffee, valve stems, etc. That lead is usually too soft to make bullets with. Stick with the wheel weights.
Once you have a pile of wheel weights, come back and we'll tell you all about how to smelt them down into a usable form.
Once you have a pile of wheel weights, come back and we'll tell you all about how to smelt them down into a usable form.
You aren't smelting (melting or fusing ores), you're just "melting" something already made of metal, namely, the wheelweight.
FWIW, "smelting" is prohibited by a lot of municipalities without special permits. Why call it something that it isn't?
"smelting":
Definition (from businessdictionary.com)
M12shooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- East St. Paul, mb
Just go out to your local outdoor range and pick through the backstop berm. I can get 10 pounds of lead in 15 mins. Handgun ranges are the best.
blacksmithden
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well excuuuuuuuuse me !!!
The zinc will just float on top of the wheel weight mix anyway , so it's not hard to separate. It's also a bit lighter and casts well. I haven't tried to shoot any yet but they should make good light plinking loads.
Be careful when melting the lead that there isn't any grease mixed in as well on those weights. It can get trapped sometimes and cause a bursting bubble. There may be other things in the weights that cause the same problems, so wear some suitable safety gear. Like a full face shield and leather apron as well as a cap. Those little lead splatters hurt like hell.
I would like to tell everyone the story of Jim Carmichael's of when his local gunsmith filled his own tooth during the great depression with some gold from an old ring. It's way to long for this thread but can be found in "Just Jim". The story still brings out lots of chuckles around the shooting benches.
If anyone has used the zinc for shooting, I would appreciate some feed back.
I realise that zinc fumes are extremely toxic and that ventilation is extremely important. I have a hood and exhaust fan over my melting pot. No, it's not a cooking stove unit but a cast off industrial system.
Be careful when melting the lead that there isn't any grease mixed in as well on those weights. It can get trapped sometimes and cause a bursting bubble. There may be other things in the weights that cause the same problems, so wear some suitable safety gear. Like a full face shield and leather apron as well as a cap. Those little lead splatters hurt like hell.
I would like to tell everyone the story of Jim Carmichael's of when his local gunsmith filled his own tooth during the great depression with some gold from an old ring. It's way to long for this thread but can be found in "Just Jim". The story still brings out lots of chuckles around the shooting benches.
If anyone has used the zinc for shooting, I would appreciate some feed back.
I realise that zinc fumes are extremely toxic and that ventilation is extremely important. I have a hood and exhaust fan over my melting pot. No, it's not a cooking stove unit but a cast off industrial system.
If you are processing wheel weights with an electric pot, then zinc weights are just another of the many things that you will have to skim off the top during the initial processing.
Pick a nice day to be outside, preferably someplace where the smell of burning rubber and paint won't be an issue.
Zinc weights become more of a problem when you process over an open flame, mostly when doing larger batches from a cold start. Contamination of the melt is the big issue. Zinc contaminated lead is a pain to cast with.
If you are heating the melt up enough to get zinc fumes in the air, you are REALLY too hot, and will probably be having issues like lead fumes to deal with, from being so grossly overheated.
Ever dealt with an oxy - acet torch? The black carbon snots that float all around the shop when the acet burns? Zinc fumes look like that, only in white. Very recognizable. Otherwise, don't worry too much about zinc fumes, unless you are trying to weld the stuff.
You have to go a couple levels of heat above the melting temperature, to get zinc fumes.
The burning paint and rubber, and whatever else is on the WW's makes a plenty nasty smell, though.
Cheers
Trev
Pick a nice day to be outside, preferably someplace where the smell of burning rubber and paint won't be an issue.
Zinc weights become more of a problem when you process over an open flame, mostly when doing larger batches from a cold start. Contamination of the melt is the big issue. Zinc contaminated lead is a pain to cast with.
If you are heating the melt up enough to get zinc fumes in the air, you are REALLY too hot, and will probably be having issues like lead fumes to deal with, from being so grossly overheated.
Ever dealt with an oxy - acet torch? The black carbon snots that float all around the shop when the acet burns? Zinc fumes look like that, only in white. Very recognizable. Otherwise, don't worry too much about zinc fumes, unless you are trying to weld the stuff.
You have to go a couple levels of heat above the melting temperature, to get zinc fumes.
The burning paint and rubber, and whatever else is on the WW's makes a plenty nasty smell, though.
Cheers
Trev
No problem. It's a common mistake. Oddly enough there was a fellow in Edmonton a few years back (a guy who used to sell his cast bullets in a couple of the local gun stores) who was either convicted of or pleaded guilty to "smelting" without the proper licence after his unattended melting pot generated too much smoke. Someone thought his casting shed was on fire and called the fire department. Buddy got charged for "smelting" without the proper permits.
So, it's not a big deal, but the fact that the guy in question didn't know the difference got himself nailed for an offence that he wasn't actually doing.
We complain when the media get our sport's terminology wrong. It wouldn't hurt if we kept our own usage of terms correct.
Recently processed about 1000 lb of ww. I always sort separate the rubber, plastic, paper, steel to avoid noxious fumes. Zinc comes in stick-on, usually coated in plastic, sometimes marked Zn. Ditto for clip-type, I always separate zinc where possible. The dirt and clips which you skim off put toxic lead dust in the air(avoid at all costs). Damp ww will cause steam explosion in lead, wear heavy clothing, high boots glasses and take care.
