Melting Wheel Weights Into Lead Ingots - Easy DIY Metal Casting
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 21 янв 2021
- Don't scrap lead wheel weights until you watch this!!! You could be making a LOT more money from them with this easy DIY casting at home technique! I'd actually never done it before but I had to share these results because if you're recycling metal for money like I am, this is a super easy way to make more money scrapping.
Here are the wire cutters I like!: amzn.to/3adv7kz
This is the cheaper version: amzn.to/2wjkMFd
And here are those grips I recommend: amzn.to/2QCJmYl
(If you make a purchase on amazon through the links above, a small amount of what amazon makes on the sale is shared with me. It's a great way to help support my channel, at no additional cost to you. Even if you buy something other than my tool recommendations!)
Please like/share this video if you enjoyed it, and subscribe to thubprint!
/ @thubprint
I love mail! You can send me some here if you like:
Thubprint
PO box 34036 Westbrook PO
Calgary AB T3C 3W2
/ thubprint
/ thubprint
/ thubprint
Music:
Harris Heller
bsmith - Industrial Scrap
*This is my second set of weight discs and I also have the 2 ounce and **enjoyable.fishing** recommend they work great and fit into the tackle box perfectly. the quality is there so I'm happy with them.*
The slow progression of a scrapper into a refinery
😅👍 getting there!
Hahahahahahaha
Want a furnace myself
I'm a bullet caster. For flux, try a hardwood dowel. Scrape the bottom and sides when you stir. Not as stinky as wax or messy as sawdust and gets all the way through the melt. A 1" oak dowel from lowes/home depot last a long time and does a great job ive found without all the downsides
That’s an excellent idea, thanks for telling me! 👌👌
Thank you for the tip
Lol the good old poking stick it works....
You can use salt too I believe
I've enjoyed seeing the progression of your channel over the last couple of years. Everything has improved, and in videos like these you're like the Mr. Rogers of scrapping.
Thank you so much! It’s been a bit slow but I have been trying to get better all the time
I do this all the time because I cast my own bullets. The harder you make your lead the more you can charge. A 9mm round doesn't have to be that hard, so you could mix a 1 to 3 clip on to stick on ratio for low velocity, low pressure application. Now, rifle rounds--high velocity rounds--need to be much harder. A little info on the Brinell hardness scale, and you can really get the most bang for your buck from your lead. You could even cast hard and soft separately, but be aware that the pure lead (the stick ons) melt at a higher temp than the clip ons. You may need to flux just to get them to melt.
Final comment: please please please never do this indoors. Not even with the garage door cracked open. Stick on weights contain rubber and toxic adhesives that you don't want wafting into your home. And while we are nowhere near the boiling point of lead at melting point, lead fumes (though heavy) are released at only 900 f. The candle you are adding burns at 1100-1200 f, so some fumes from the surface lead could be released. These will settle into dust, which will contaminate your work area. Best to do this outside where the work space can be doused in water and then swept to prevent airborne poison. The dust from your buckets is actually not a threat (too heavy to float up), but the very fine dust from fluxing can be serious business!
It is better for Thub to keep all the materials separate (Clip on WW, Stick on WW, range lead, etc) and let the bullet casters control their mix as needed.
Interesting vid, as usual. Here in the UK, clip-on lead wheel weights haven't been sold for years. I still collect lead scraps, but don't sell it. I melt it on a much smaller scale on my workshop woodburner (which was a gas bottle, see the vid on the link below if interested: Thubprint, boot it off if it offends). I use a crucible made from the bottom 2/3 of an old mig gas bottle with 3 blobs of weld on the bottom and cast into a moulds made from the bottom of another. A crucible load melts in about 10 minutes, any fumes are exhausted from your workspace (up the chimney) and it uses zero sequestered carbon - wood fired. I don't flux and don't stir, just pour and the lead runs out clean from under the skin of impurities, leaving the steel behind too. Very little supervision required, get on with other scrapping. Great for the winter as the wood burner keeps things nice and cosy. Just don't get it too hot - wood firing on low draught is ideal. Every once in a blue moon I get the dripper out and make lead shot and sell at mates rates to scuba diving friends. The shot is not perfectly round, but is plenty good enough and 'hardness' impurities don't matter. There you go, a little wrinkle from over the Pond. Here's the link. ruclips.net/video/De1LbSrsZrc/видео.html 'Channel' isn't deliberately monetised - YT have recently started adding ads off their own bat - most of it's ecological bollocks, so pretty niche.
Every video is literally a guide to make a little bit of extra money and I love it, Keep producing great work Thub! Now its time for me to start emailing local Tire shops!
Well thank you for the support! I’ll keep doing my best over here 👌
local stained glass artists may have scrap lead also
Used to melt lead fishing weights for fun as a kid. I'd really like to do this now
Well now you can do it for fun AND profit! 😁
I've been researching the process of melting lead. And tbh I'm a stickler for safety. You're the only youtuber so far that doesn't make me cringe bc the lack of safety precautions. Bare minimum gloves and a respirator right? Wrong. So good on you for being different
Thanks! I was worried I was leaving something out, and I should have had better ventilation still. I’m aiming to make content for beginners and up, so I really need to include safety. I’d hate to think someone could get hurt because I forgot something simple.
Good job. Always nice to see someone making something out of not much.
I have a dump truck load full
Of wheel weights , literally. My dad has a tire shop as did my grandfather before him. We have over 100 five gallon buckets in our warehouse. My family has been hoarding for many years . Nearly forty we are looking to scrap it . We need the space and it’s in our way.
Thank you for this post. Today I celebrated the anniversary of my 21st BD and I found this extremely informative. Long time follower and feel like I am getting closer to graduation with honors from Thubprint University
Well a very happy bday to you! And congratulations on the diploma, we’d better see you at the reunions!😆
you were right, I love this weeks video! Cheers!
Nice, thank you!
Dang, Thubbie! You are right. I had no idea I needed to know all this, and learned SO much. Thanks!
Finally! Something you didn’t know! 😂
@@thubprint - ROFL!
Why is it relaxing to learn about scrapping? But it is!
Great video man. Its nice to see the progress of your channel. Your da man!!
Keep it ip.
What a great - and fun - idea! Thanks, Thub.
It was so much fun!
Love it! I have a lead melter for this reason, got it at an estate sale. Check your eBay sold listings and if you live in the U.S. you can make a bullet casting bundle and ship flat rate.... food for thought! Doing this with copper bars and aluminum works well too. Now that i learned about zinc i am intrigued. Thanks so much
Oh, that’s a good idea! Just weigh the bars and add a correctly weight coin of pewter to go with each. Could work really well!
I really enjoyed this vid, thanks. I've just done my first car battery lead recovery and I'll deffo use some of the advice here for my second run :)
As a bullet and sinker caster I appreciate this video! I got about a lifetime supply of lead and tin. Clip on wheel weights make good bullets. That soft lead makes good musket balls or sinkers as is. I always smelt them seperate as soft. Def more money selling ingots. No need to buy expensive molds. Use cast scone or corn cob molds from thrift stores. Muffin tins work also but break easy.
Heck yeah! It’s a valuable resource and really easy for any diy interested folk to work with. I’ve started keeping the soft/pure lead separate as well, I just wouldn’t bother spending all afternoon sorting through a tire shop bucket for it
Loved the video man. Keep up the good work. The amount of time you spend researching and preparing really shows. Keep doing the thing. From Sacramento, CA. Oh yeah I made the short video on cleaning pressure relief valves, hope it helped you or anyone and I changed the name to Jadrew Scrapper just in case I ever post anymore. Deuces!
I will check it out, and thanks for putting it together! And thanks for saying hi 😊
Love the channel so far! You're a wealth of information!
I am doing my best 😌
Great info!
can you make post-apocalyptic survival and search guide.
That would be cool! I was kinda aiming for that with the mask overlays and whatnot but maybe I just need to really go for it!
You have an excellent sense of humor
Outstanding!👍👍👍
Thub, what a great, interesting and fun video! You are an Alchemist...
I’ve always WANTED to be an alchemist! Do I get to pick a cool hat though?
@@thubprint a cool hat helps, a name like Paracelsus or Nicholas Flamel even more so. You can also make black powder from every day items from a hardware store
I got several pounds of pure lead from scraping 4 cast nets I found in a junked boat. I melted them down using regular brick in a gravel driveway, burning charcoal briquettes, melted them in a stainless steel mixing bowl from a yard sale (25c) and poured into muffin tins from the same yard sale (10c)
I don’t understand where people keep finding all these scrap boats!! 😂
Sounds like a great setup that gets the job done. Can’t wait for garage sale season, whenever we get it back lol
I'm not sure how feasible this is here in Brasil, but this tutorial definitely earned my subscription to your channel. Thanks for all your tips.
Well I’m glad you found it, and thanks for saying hi!
That was quite interesting, cheers Thub :)
Thanks!
invest in a steel cauldron. you can find them sometimes at yard sales. put the cauldron over a rocket stove made of bricks. you wont need to worry about the cold weather...
I would LOVE to have that setup! I could use it to heat the garage too..
Your video series is awesome
Thank you so much! I’m really enjoying doing these 😊
big fan keep doing the thing
My god my mind has been blown away, this is such an original and out of the box idea! I freaking love it, great work man!
Thanks! I had to say thanks to my buddy who helped me with it, but I’m probably going to be doing it a lot now lol
Never thought about those for that. I need some for some new 50 cal round ball so that maybe the supply chain I need for that thanks for the idea.
@@thubprint m
I was an automotive jobber in the 90s. one thing I sold was wheel weights. I had about a half ton that I never liquidated odd and unusual sizes etc. I have a rocket stove I made out of brick and used a cat iron pot someone gave me. I used junk wood so the fuel was free. I sold off about 800lbs but will hang onto about 200 lbs.
Top stuff mate keep BBQ the numbers
Really cool. When I was a kid, my stepdad used to make jig heads for fishing and we melted a lot of pails of wheel weights with a propane torch and a ladle in the vice. It was a good deal for him. The weights were free and he had free child labour to hold the torch on the ladle. Thanks for the tips. I am trying to figure out how to maximize my scrapping as there are no decent yards within hours of me.
That was a genius video!
And so much fun to make 😁
It's great to tune in to your videos very informational keeps me going thanks for your hard work much appreciated, watched you and your little daughter yesterday on a video lovely see the bond yous have best of luck buddy all the best to you and your family, keep up the good work ✌
Your demeanor and content has led you to a new subscriber. Cheers
Awesome stuff
Thanks!
Really enjoyed the editing on this one. Voice description over video was 👌👌
Thank you! I want to come up with plenty more projects like this one, it was fun to get it all put together 👍
First time seeing your videos. These are excellent tips. I’m very intrigued. I’m looking forward to trying this technique as soon as I get a camping gas stove.
Always good to leave it better then when you found it. Good Advice from a Good Video.
Hell yeah, dude!
Im def gonna be keeping an eye out for the wheel weights from now on. Im gonna check out some of my local car mechanics n junk yards because in my area they really dont think about scraping the scraps or saving stuff like that to sell. especially the ones that specialize in tire changing n balancing ive seen buckets outside of their shops next to the dumpsters. Im gonna start a led smelting empire lol. Especially with the way America's economy is goin in the toilet its only a matter of time before the olds days n obsolete ways are teaching us how to make a living n survive.
😂 I think you missed the part about scaling problems!! But all the power to ya bud 👍
Oh no I watched the vid i wasnt thinkin about selling it to a scrap yard im really interested in casting it into ingots like you did cuz i actually have a buddy of mine that makes swords who melted down some silver i had been collecting for like 5 years into ingots. So i was thinking about what you said and tryin to make the ingots to sell locally because where i live if theres 2 things the people here love its fishing and shooting guns in the woods n at ranges lol. Im sure i can find some people that make their own fishing weights or cast bullets especially around here. But either way its def something im gonna look into n see if it would be worth doin because in times like these every penny makes a difference.
Wow, my mind is blown away once again on your knowledge of how to make some extra cash on every day items. Thanks for the video.
It’s how I live! 😆
Thank you of another information 👍👍
Happy to be able to share it 👍
i like the format
Thank you! I’ve been really enjoying it
try magnet fishing in the warmer weather along with cleaning up the river you can get serious metal out of it including fishing weights if you go to the right area, some places have a community cleaning group that cleans the rivers but with the virus some places are neglected, best places to try would be city canals or if there is a river that flows near or through the city that works too
I DEFinitely want to try magnet fishing 👌👌
I’m having a hard time finding a good magnet though, the Amazon ones all have reviews that make them sound kinda weak
@@thubprint go look up the magnet fishing uk they have a website with way stronger magnets and you can see how bad the english canals are they might have links to the magnets too
Thanks for sharing
I heat up old projectiles from old army camp that metal detect. Get lead & copper/ brass from jackets. Win/win
I gotta get me a kiln and then I can melt the good stuff!
Another great vid
😊
For sorting wheel weights, use a pair of wire cutters to see if it is lead or zinc. You will not be able to cut or dent the zinc. Use a magnet to see if it is lead or steel (obviously test away from the clip). I stick a hard drive magnet to the back of my wire cutters for easy access.
Cast all of your "alloys" separately. By that mean that you should not mix clip-on WW's and Stick-on WW's since they are different alloys (Stick-on WW's are softer). Bullet casters will trust you more if you let them know where the lead came from.
Neat! Good advice and I didn't know you could use a camp stove to cast any metals at all. I know aluminum has to be much hotter than that, but it's still really cool seeing lead on a camp stove. Great video!
It was great fun 😆
No problem for lead. To save on costs i melted lead with a homemade rocket stove. So the fuel cost me nothing.
You had my subscription at antiquated lead/acid car batteries.
I used to pour lead as a child with my dad out in our back garage. I'd also weigh out the gunpowder too.
That sounds cool! I’ve never been hunting, would definitely like to
@@thubprint Same here. Whenever we went, the only kills I'd clean was the beer cans.
getting a little more sophisticated Thub.
And having fun doing it!
You’re the man
😁👍
Should heat the molds up to prevent steam explosions.
Ohh, yea fair point
As long as they're kept in a dry place I don't bother.
I found this out with a pour it made a mess and bubbled up over my mold
GREAT JOB.....
Genius
Another interesting video
Thanks!
Candle wax, that's a new one. That was freaking awesome!
Excellent video. What do you do with the left-over steel/zinc/slag?
Even two years ago a 10 dollar bucket of wheel weights was a unicorn. More likely 50-100 at a dealership.
Nice my work has buckets of these lol
See how many you can get!
I've a bucket of weights & other dirty lead that I may try this with. Thanks. Do you have a video about light ballasts?
I don’t have one for light ballasts yet, or not exactly. I did one awhile back where I found a bin full of light fixtures, I called it “how much can you make in one day scrapping” or something. I was surprised at how little I got for the ballasts so I’ve never thought about them again.
Good advice my friend. Greetings from Greece😃
Well kalispera from Canada! Island or mainland?
@@thubprint mainland... From Athens 😁
ive done stained glass for many years and use the lead off cuts to make sinkers. cheers Thub
ladies and gentlemen may I present the man, the legend, the OG himself.....Sir Thubs!
🤣
Nice
Very cool 😎🤟🦊
Thanks brother!
Nice👍
Spend $5 on propane to make $4 more. This summarises the metal scapper RUclips space so, so well.
Great video as ythe comments agree! I le in cornwall UK here Ti. Ws mined heavily. I spoke to a gravity miner and he asked if I could bring a sample in for him. I never knew the price 15000 a ton
It’s interesting to find out where all the metal comes from! I had no idea until I researched this that one of the main supplies of lead for NA is in a little town not far from where I grew up! (Trail BC)
I was really glad when Brunswick Smelter closed down. I hauled truckloads of lead out of there quite often and every time was a huge hassle with the shipping staff. You should look into a Devil Forge furnace and make ingots to make you dollar on all your scrap.
Not a great operation huh? Yea, the devil forge looks like a good one for sure. I’ve been comparing it to the smaller tabletop electric ones, I think they both have their place depending on a person’s intended useage
awesome
Loved doing it 😊
thanks
I work at a tire shop and I pocket every lead weight so Im winning especially now that I know about this fuckin awesome shit!
Very nice ideas idol
And fun!
pretty nice project. whas up tothis melting thing, dont know if you know, but "street copper" is good in that, maybe you can get some ideas there. thank you for this vid and stay healthy. you your family and everybody out there. greets from good old germany
Well I wouldn’t want to be straight up grabbing ideas from other people’s channels! I’ll check it out though 👍
@@thubprint dont wanna do an advertisment, its just caus hes nearly only melting stuff. thougt it might be interesting. its no shoutout or that
ive melted zinc with charcoal and a steel "crucible" mix drink shaker. used a bunch of diecast car castings i didnt want and got a 5lb ingot
can you do video on the pewter recycling for the ammo guys buying the ingots of lead??? i searched and could not find Thank you
It’s next ☺️
I actually have a melter for lead. My father used to make lead balls for muzzle loaders.
I poured lead in to molds that was Han Solo in carbon just for fun lol and if you're looking for a lot of lead Believe It or Not sailboats have alot in it and I have a video up showing a chunk of lead in the back of the truck it was heavy it was a big pay day
Nice! How did you come across a boat to scrap out?
The guy was moving and he had to get rid of it so he paid me and I dismantled it and burned the wood that I could and sold off what I could
I make fishing lures. I melt it down in my wood plugs, as ballast weight. Any lead I come across I save it. Someday I am going to get a melting pot or a ladle for melting led into plug bodies, and actual molds.
That would be the next tricky part, getting it into those tiny molds.
Fantastic thinking my friend! I haven’t come across or had the opportunity to even consider what to do with lead wheel weights. Just recently i brought about 10 pounds of lead i peeled from a bunch of weird coated wire i found by the superior water front near my work... i found it walking on my lunch break. It was either some kind of fishing or net weight, or old electrical wire? But i digress, now im questioning wether i should have saved it for future smelting and private selling🤔 it was very corroded tho and kind of made me nervous having around... in fact when i first started peeling it off the wire inside I wasn’t wearing a respirator and quickly realized what an idiot rookie mistake that was
That’s wild, I’ve never seen anything like that!
I've been collecting scrap lead for a significant number of years and processed it on my kitchen stove🤣 However, I never thought of trying to sell it as I always thought the price was too low, it's just fun to do. Here in the UK, we have stringent gun control and I'm unaware if there are people who make they're own bullets unlike Canada and the US!! Definitely one to think about finding a market to sell it on, thanks 😁 LIAYFI...
Fishing weights. Or make your own dripper and make lead shot for scuba diving. It won't be perfectly round, but plenty good enough - just pick out any sharp bits. I melt on a wood burner in the shed, does it perfectly, exhausted/extracted to the open air and quick if done on a gentle bed of embers on low draught - just don't get it too hot. Heard of charcoal? The old colliers also used to make white coal (small chips of very dry wood) for sale to lead/pewter founders as charcoal used as fuel burned too hot (as did coal). Here's a link to the wood burner as it's a very simple jobby made out of a butane cylinder. ruclips.net/video/De1LbSrsZrc/видео.html
Very interesting video.... Any ideas what can be done with the metal cans from Chef Boyardee?
Oh those just go in as tin shred/light steel, they haven’t had any real tin in a long long time lol. You could always make a string+can telephone!
As a diver, I use lead for my body weights to help myself sink. Something for you to think about. Because dive weights are expensive af
That’s because some diving company made them expensive . Put them in a special shape and package and we buy them because they are “for diving” so they must be special. They are just ripping you off.
Sort the Zn by sound, on a metal bench there is a tone difference. Try not to melt for bullet casters is that is your final customer. Fish weight is another good source to sell to. Some down riggers use 10 pounds
how was I not subscribed to this channel?
I don’t know but I’m glad you are now! 😁
Ohhhh that car battery bit was point on. Also don't forget you can get silver from those weights aswell
Fr? How do you get silver out of them?
@@thubprint you cupel them. The cupel cup soaks in the lead leaves the precious metals. Results will vary but I thought that'd interest you some. Make that dollar stretch even more
Sub and like ! Great chanel, I have a question Thubprint would it be posible to melt lead on a propane BBQ with a drainhole on the bottom ?
Hmm… I guess you could, but how would you mix flux in to remove contaminants?
@@thubprint the lead go stuck on the bottom of the bbq, it was to cool when dripping down, finished the job, but the bbq was a total waste. just sold the brass and lead too, it was still worth it.
I have found that there are 3 kinds of wheel weights...pure lead, Antimony and steel. Out of a bucket of the latest weights, I'll bet I threw away over 25% of the newer non-lead weights
Thumbs Up
Cheap suggestion to help:
Buy and use Ceramic insulation for your pot.
This was one of your best videos. Very interesting and nice presentation. Kudos to you sir up there in the great white north!
Thank you! It was fun to put together 🙂
I didn't realize that stick-on weights were lead, i thought they were zinc. Thanks for the info!
Hi, I hope you read my comment, I found some lead metal detecting, a handful of fishing weights, two tire weights with the iron bit, and a few chunks from an old house built in the 1900s or something, I have no idea what they were they are just big chunks of lead, total weight is a kilogram give or take a little
Should I just cast ingots like you did?
I was planing to try and take a chisel to the two iron bits on the tire weights so I just have lead left over, and take it to the scrapper like that
Very cool video Thub! Have you thought about melting down copper into ingots as well?
Oh absolutely I’ve thought about it! Just don’t have the equipment right now lol
have you seen the devil forge furnace models? They seem to be serious professional melters. Not used one personally but a handful of casting channels I watch use them.