Reducing Wheel Weights for Casting
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- This video demonstrates the procedure of taking wheel weights, melting them down, cleaning the alloy and converting it into ingots, ready to use for casting.
DISCLAIMER: My videos are strictly for documentary, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Imitation or the use of any acts depicted in my videos is solely AT YOUR OWN RISK. All work on firearms should be carried out by a licensed individual and all state, provincial and federal rules apply to such. I (including RUclips) will not be held liable for any injury to yourself or damage to your firearms resulting from attempting anything shown in any of my videos. I do not endorse any specific product and this video is not an attempt to sell you a good or service. I am not a gun store and DO NOT sell or deal in firearms. Such a practice is heavily regulated and subject to applicable laws. I DO NOT sell parts, magazines, or firearms. These videos are free to watch and if anyone attempts to charge for this video notify me immediately. By viewing or flagging this video you are acknowledging the above.
Fair Use: In the rare instance I include someone else’s footage, that is covered in Fair Use for Documentary and Educational purposes with the intention of driving commentary and allowing freedom of speech.
It saves time to leave about an inch of alloy in the bottom of the pot at the end of the day. When i cast again the lead is making full contact with the heat so it melts quickly. Then i can adjust the heat to about 700 f. Then i add handfulls of wheel weights and pick out the zinc and steel weights that float on top of the lead.
I use a propane Turkey fryer and a 6 quart cast iron bean pot.
Good video,
John Davis jax fl
Thanks John. Good tip.
Thankyou for sharing your way of processing Wheel Weight I only seperate the soft stickon Wheel Weight for buckshot and slugs etc .I like your method of Low temp and float then skim off the rest .
Glad to hear you found this video useful Bob.
I made a lot of 38s and 45s years ago I could get wheel weights for nothing at the junk yard and tire shops good vid man
Thanks Steven. Casting bullets is something I get a great deal of satisfaction out of. I cast for 7mm, 30, 38 and 45 calibers. I also make my own gas checks and bullet lube. Use them for hunting too.
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles I have never made the gas checks we did buy some for use on 357s and we tried to make a few 3006 we used gas checks on those but mostly we made projectiles for 38spl and 45acp we got away from making our own when we got into shooting glocks as we heard lead projectiles with no jacket was not good for glocks because of the type rifling in them
@@stevenlawson9460 Yeah, that's the down-side to Glocks. Their rifling does not agree with cast bullets at all.
Good job keeping your pot temp down so the zinc doesnt melt into your alloy. I use chunks of crayon my grandkids leave on the backseat of my car to flux my pot outdoors. Half a crayon does a 6qt cast iron bean pot. I usually flux the pot twice.
Indoors i use marvelux or sawdust.
Cast iron pots hold the heat the best.
I like the old lyman ingot mold but the lee aluminum works fine too.
I mark my alloys with permanent marker. WW for wheel weights, LT for lynotype, PL for pure.
I buy pewter at the Goodwill Store on half price day to get tin. Pewter is 98% tin. I pay about a buck for an old pewter mug that weighs half a pound.
Wheel weights usually have about one percent tin so i add a pewter mug or two too the pot.
Pewter's a good way to go if you know how to tell how genuine it is. I just add some bars of 50/50 bar solder that I purchase from an Industrial supplier. I think wheel weights are generally comprised of only about 0.5% tin, but they have a good amount of antimony. Antimony (and trace amounts of arsenic) are needed if you wish to heat-treat your bullets (or even to get the benefits of water-dropping from the mould).
Zinc melts at 787 lead at 650 or so. Tin melts about 450 to 500
Sorry about the (very) late reply, I somehow missed your comment. Exactly. There's plenty of temperature difference between the two to avoid accidentally melting the zinc into the lead.
Are you using an aluminum pot? For melting the lead?
No, it's not aluminum Carlos. It's quite heavy.
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles I have an aluminum pot, going to start casting I'm new at this, not sure how well it would hold up to heat of that nature, any suggestions on what type of metal pot would be more suitable for casting lead wheel weights?
@@carlosreyes6448 I'm not sure that aluminum wouldn't work Carlos. A good (even second-hand) steel or cast iron pot is what I would recommend. Just like the heavy ones you cook in on your stove. That's worked for me anyway.
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles yes, I'm thinking about cast iron, have one more question. I collected some wheel weights. And was wondering if you can mix both zinc and lead together. Heard it was not a good thing to do. And how can you tell the difference when sorting them out. I know lead is softer
@@carlosreyes6448 There's no need to waste time separating the zinc and steel weights from the lead ones Carlos, because the zinc and steel will simply float to the top (unmelted) to be skimmed off. Just throw them all into the pot together. Watch this video and you will see exactly how it's done. Hope this helps.
Hey what type of burner are you using?
It's actually a propane heater intended for warming the garage, but I took the top skirt off to use it for melting lead. Works fine. Just one way of delivering a good, hot flame to the bottom of the melting pot.
Good job but Just an advice Always wear a Mask FFA2P3 when you melt lead and wear Also protective glasses gloves and a protection suit that Is useful to protect you from lead particles.
Thanks for your input Mega Dome 911, but there's also a thing of taking protective measures too far. For instance, I've been casting bullets indoors for over 40 years and, as proven by my last blood test, my lead levels are still normal. People often don't realize that, because lead doesn't "boil" at casting temperatures, there's no dispersion in the air. What IS more important to pay attention to is lead dust and lead handling. That's where more substantial amounts of lead can be ingested, causing harm. A tiny splash of lead isn't that dangerous either (I've had it hit my exposed skin many times), so long as you shake it off right away. Glasses are a very wise precaution though; you wouldn't want to have molten lead hit your eye ball.
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles yeah you are right Man, I agree with you lead handling and sanding are still dangerous that's why I use gloves, lead dust can penetrate into the skin
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles so Just One thing if lead doesn't boil there 's no dispersion in the air? Did I understand? Or am I wrong? It Is very interesting to talk about that with an expert finally
@@megadome9116 yes, the lead doesn't disperse into the air under casting temperatures (the boiling point is much, much higher at 1,380 degrees F). But there are other components besides lead in the alloy (like arsenic), so it's still wise to have ventilation when casting indoors. I have a video showing the inexpensive ventilation system I concocted here if you'd like an example: ruclips.net/video/H1towNszDxo/видео.html
In my first reply I should have mentioned that, when it comes to melting down batches of raw wheel weights, you definitely want to have very good ventilation (never do that indoors) because there's all kinds of impurities (like rubber and plastic) that get melted off during the process and they can produce quite toxic fumes. I once did it in conditions where the ventilation wasn't quite sufficient and felt slightly woozy for the next day.
I wouldn't worry about lead particles penetrating the skin. Our bodies are designed in such a way that our skin provides a very good barrier. But handling lead and then eating or things like that should be avoided. After handling lead I always wash my hands good with soap so to avoid that (in fact I just did so minutes before typing this, after lubricating a batch of bullets downstairs). I hope you find this helpful.
@@TheWaytoNativeChronicles yes of course thank you, so melting lead outside I don't need a ventilation sistemi, do I? Because I always melt outside
Also a bit of antimony, maybe BHN 12?
Straight wheel weights have a fair bit of antimony already (about 5% as I recall) that puts them around 12 BHN. I later add some Linotype and 50/50 solder, which bumps up the antimony and tin levels a bit more. I like about 2% tin for casting. If I want additional hardness, I heat-treat the bullets (oven style) to get them up to 18 - 22 BHN.
Tin is melting at 449.42 deg F
Sorry about the (very) late reply, I somehow missed your comment. Yep, that it does, if memory serves me.
Make a soup Daddy.
Good way of putting on weight, a diet like that!
Reducing wheel weights. You are wasting your time and not getting the lead hot enough.
What an odd statement. At this stage, all that is being done is melting down to remove the metal clips (that float to the top to be skimmed off) and then pour the lead into ingot form. Obviously, since it pours to form ingots, it's hot enough.
Also, since batches of wheel weights often contain some that are made of zinc (which you don't want to be included in the melt), it's very important to not let the heat rise so high that the zinc melts (as Jason says, about 137 degrees higher than the temperature lead melts at). In other words, in this context, the greatest danger is getting the lead too hot.
Hardly a waste of time, I've made many thousands of bullets this way for over 40 years (ruclips.net/video/jqCXPhuc_Ls/видео.html), used for inexpensive target shooting and to put meat in the freezer as well (ruclips.net/video/vt-0aodL_UM/видео.html). Cheers.
If you are going to make a critical comment, perhaps you should give some supporting data.
yes you must get it so hot that all those clips and zinc melt into the lead too! LOL
You cannot melt zinc with lead,it only takes a small amount of zinc to ruin the whole batch,hence the skim off......howevere you can make bullets with 100% zinc,so save your zinc.
Lol, wasting time huh, says the guy in the youtube comments section.