Pouring my own.

[Bruce W Sims]

Hi, Folks:

There was a nice thread sometime back about metalurgy of different lead sources for
making one's own balls and conicals. The use of wheel weights usually comes up a lot.
Recently I was told that our waste handlers won't pick-up old TV-s because of lead shielding they
can't get rid of. My first thought was that maybe said offending component could re-purposed.
Does anyone know if this is possible? Has anyone done it? Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Blair]

Bruce,

This is just a suggestion on my part, but let the folks that specialize in melting down old electronics do their own thing. Some of this stuff can be pretty toxic.

A good place to buy lead is from a Plumber Supply.
Another source is to check is with the N-SSA, at n-ssa.org just before Spring Nationals (in May) and Fall Nationals (in Oct.). The disadvantage to that maybe the shipping cost, depending on where you live.

You may also want to check with local roofers in your area. They often save lead flashings from doing a roof job and sell it as scrap  to a Salvage Yard.
Hope this helps.
My best,
Blair

[Lefty Dude]

We usually buy from a local Salvage Yard. Roofers bring in pure lead as do Contractors who do X-ray room remodel.

[Dick Dastardly]

Wheel weight metal has changed.  Now wheels are balanced with zinc, steel and other metals.  It's getting harder to find good WW metal lately.  If you score some, give a 50/50 mix of WW and straight lead.  I've found that that mix makes a good casting alloy.

Mark your ingots after smelting and pouring them.

Keep on smokin'.

DD-MDA

[Bruce W Sims]

Thanks, Guys....as always you have given me a lot to think about.
We have a metal salvage yard not too far from where I live. Sounds
like it may be worthwhile to stop by there. Anything special I should say
about the lead I am looking for? Turning that around are there any clues
about what I should avoid? (special thanks for that info about the WW....)

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Lefty Dude]

Both lead types I mentioned will be almost pure lead. and both will be in sheet form of some type, folded and mangled as usual. we usually buy 100 pounds at a time.

[Noz]

Roofing lead, plumbing lead, shower pan lead, xray lead are all good as are "stick on" wheel weights.
A really good source if you can find it is sewer lead. Cast iron sewer pipes were once sealed with pure lead. Every 4 foot joint had 1 pound of pure lead on it. Demolition of old offices are a good place to look. Since lead is considered toxic and the contractor cannot sell it, ask what would happen if some one stole the lead.  Often they will show you where it is and walk  away. If it is not on their lot they don't have to deal with the EPA about it.

[Lefty Dude]

Stick-on wheel weights are not pure lead, maybe 75%-85%. I use them for round balls for revolvers, excellent for Conicals.

[hellgate]

Lrfty Dude,
I recently bought some stick on WW ingots and they were pretty soft. The fellow I got them from said he'd had them analyzed and they came out at 99+% lead so I made his ingots up into .454RBs. They are nice and soft. Maybe not dead soft but pretty close and good 'nuff for the C&Bs.

Regular WWs are way too hard.

I also have decorative leaded glass scrap lead and it is too hard for the .454RBs but fine for my 45/70 TD bullets. I'd say they are about like a 1:20 alloy.

[Lefty Dude]

Maybe they are softer Than I think. I know I separate the SO from the WW ingots, and make each.

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

  Bruce:
Go here:  http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?105952-Lead-alloy-calculators  and download the lead alloy calculator. It's an Excel file that will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about lead alloys including their respective Bhn's, and the resultant Bhn achieved by blending various alloys. I've found it to be very accurate based on my tests with a lead tester.

  Regarding WW's, the stick-on variety are indeed very near pure lead and I treat them as such when blending alloys. Regular lead clip on WW's seem to maintain the same hardness as always, again based on results from my testing. There are however, as someone else mentioned, WW's made from other materials; most notably steel and zinc. Lots of folks get all excited about these but they're very easy to deal with. One just dumps bulks WW's in a large pot and melts them, keeping the temperature below the melting point of the zinc which is around 787° F. Lead melts at a much lower temp so this is quite easy. Once the mix is fluid, the zinc, steel and trash floats to the top of the mix where it is skimmed off and thrown away.

  Regarding sources for lead and lead alloys, the Cast Boolit classified section is a great place to buy them as is eBay. I hit the tire shops of a large-ish town a few miles from me and am able to keep in WW's

Good luck,

CHT

[will52100]

I'd leave the electronics alone, that and car batteries.

I frequent local scrap yards and sometimes come out OK, other times nothing.  Most times I get some sort of alloyed lead.  A couple of scrap yards won't even sell to individuals, they just buy it.

I finally got sick and tired of hunting all over the place for dribs and drabs, and bought a pallet from Rotometals.  Kinda expensive, but a 1000 pound pallet came out to 1.72$ a pound shipped to my door.  The 100 pound ingots are not too much trouble to handle, but not easy either.  Anyway, I'm set for pure lead and it's easy to alloy up with tin and wheel weight lead.  A hardness tester is a nice tool to have as well. 

My 20-1 alloy that I use most often with nothing but lead tin mix, with 260 grain 45's cost .095 cents a round.  Also not taking into account time and electricity to cast my own.  Moulds do wear out over time, and electricity cost as well, but a cent a round should more than pay for that, plus you need to lube the bullet.  I use alox, home made smokeless, and homemade and pearl lube 2 black powder lube, depending on bullet and what I'm going to be doing with it.  Figure another cent or so for that.

So say it's costing me 12 cent a cast and lubed 260 grain bullet cast from pure 20-1 alloy.  Now, that's for the 45 colt, my 45 acp gets a mix of pure lead and wheel weight and scrap lead to bring the hardness up just a bit, so that brings the price down a bit.  I use as much scrap as I can, it's just hard to find good cheap scrap down here.

For my conicals I cast from pure lead, at 1.72$ a pound, a 200 grain conical comes out to .05 cents a round, not counting mould wear and tear, electricity, and lube.

Of course there's a bit of work in chopping the 100 pound ingots into manageable pieces, but I stick then in the forging press with a hack and chop them up.  And I don't have to hunt the countryside looking for suitable lead.

[Bruce W Sims]

Great info and a great link!! Many thanks!

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

FWIW, I checked the classifieds on the Cast Boolit site last night and it appears that pure lead and range scrap are selling for a little over $1 per pound, delivered.
I personally don't agonize much over alloys and have found 50% WW and 50% lead to work well for just about everything.

  CHT

[will52100]

1$ a pound for pure lead?  That's a good price, if I hadn't already got a pallet a while back I'd be getting as much as I could.  Last time I bought scrap lead at the local yard it was 40 cents a pound, and when you add in my gas, wear and tear on my truck, and times when I went there and they had nothing, a 1$ a pound delivered sounds pretty good.

I don't get too obsessive about alloys either, as long as there in the hardness range and cast good.  Unfortunately I've got about 300 pounds of wheel weight scrap that is on the very hard side and low tin side.  Might be some antimony mixed in as some did come from the scrap yard.

[Chance]

New to casting so why should I not use zinc wheel weights in a mix?

Chance

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

New to casting so why should I not use zinc wheel weights in a mix?

Chance

The melting point is way too high. Impossible to melt with ordinary casting equipment.

[pony express]

As I understand it,. they can be melted, if you set the temp high enough, but they won't alloy well with the lead. If you don't set the temp too high, they will simply float on top of the lead without melting. Some I haver seen are marked with a "Z" or "Zi"

[hellgate]

Wow, a two year old thread. Oh well. Some of those zinc weights might even be steel. I keep  a pair of pliers and sort thr weights by giving them a squeeze to cull the Zn and Fe weights.

[Cholla Hill Tirador]

New to casting so why should I not use zinc wheel weights in a mix?

Chance

It has a relatively high melting point, 787.5°. Earleir today I read an account of a seasoned caster trying to cast with zinc. Long story short he trashed an aluminum mold. For sure keep it out of your lead by keeping
melt temps in check.

   CHT