View Full Version : Cleaning large quantities of lead alloy
Marshall Stanton
03-28-2002, 11:45 AM
Comment on the Tips article:
Cleaning Large Quantities Of Lead Alloy (http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tips/archive_tips.htm/92)
We appreciate your comment on this article.
MikeG
03-28-2002, 12:57 PM
Great stuff!
A couple of comments:
First, muffin tins make good ingot moulds, especially when you can get them cheap (Goodwill, garage sales, etc.). I suspect that waiting for the ingots to harden is one thing that slows you down. They're not real strong so they need to be on something sturdy enough to keep them from bending. A dozen or so of these and you're making a LOT of ingots in a hurry.
Second, to avoid any issues with moisture on the wheel weights being added to the pot, and speed up melting, you could set up a 'preheat' bucket on a small burner - something like an old charcoal or gas grill. Don't have to melt in that bucket, but get it hot enough to drive off any water and also reduce the melt time.
Good article and pictures!
Contender
03-28-2002, 04:30 PM
Excellent Article!
I might also add for the man that doesn't want to use coal, get one of the extremely reasonably priced fish cooker burner platforms that runs on LP gas.
These babies will work very well to render a good load of ingots in an afternoon.
An iron pot can be made from various diameters of well casing.
Here due to the dry conditions, all burning outdoors is suspended indefinately. That coal fire would bring a citation for me. <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://beartoothbullets.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
Regards
Marshall Stanton
03-28-2002, 05:46 PM
For a lead-cooking pot, using the inner tank of a hot water heater, cutting off the bottom one-third of the tank. Depending on the size of the water heater, you can fit 300-400 lbs. of raw wheelweights into the "cooker" Cheap, fast and durable for those wishing to cook-off big quantities of WW's.
FWIW
God Bless,
Marshall
Marshall: Rather than coal get yourself a propane tiger torch. I've used them in a similar 45 gal(Imperial (real) gallons up here guys) drums set up to incinerate camp garbage. The torch will melt glass bottles, aluminum cans etc. No smell just a mild roar. Hook it up to a 30 lb or 100 lb propane bottle and it lasts long enough to do the job(s) and no dirty fingers from the coal. Good plan though for a high volume user. Best.
vBulletin® v3.6.8, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.