m&p45acp10+1
New member
I have been casting for a couple of years with wheel weights. I sort mine before I melt them down, and I skim off anything that is still not melted, or starting to melt at 700 degrees or so. I have never ran into contamination problems.
Well I got a message from a friend that is starting out on casting. He was using a turkey fryer to melt down wheel weight alloy. He did not sort them out. He had some that he eneded up calling me about. I went over to check it out myself. The melt was still soupy with lumpy shiney stuff floating on the surface. The thermometer read 725 degrees. After skimming off the lumpy crud he let the pot go to 800 and a nice purple skin came up on it the surface. I am told that is the preferred temp that some like to pour jig heads at with pure lead. Well after trying to flux it the the lumpy stuff started coming back. I am going to hazzard a guess that it was contaminated with Zn some how. I forgot to grab my phone heading out, so I did not get a picture of it. I helped him pour it out into an old pie pan.
I erred in the direction of caution to not run any of it through a mold. I am guessing that zinc in a mold would not be a nice thing to happen.
Ok now the questions.
If it is zinc should he get rid of the pot he was melting it in, or would he be OK in cleaning it with steel wool, and 600 grit sand paper?
If the stuff ever made its way into a mold what is the best way to deconatminate the mold?
Well I got a message from a friend that is starting out on casting. He was using a turkey fryer to melt down wheel weight alloy. He did not sort them out. He had some that he eneded up calling me about. I went over to check it out myself. The melt was still soupy with lumpy shiney stuff floating on the surface. The thermometer read 725 degrees. After skimming off the lumpy crud he let the pot go to 800 and a nice purple skin came up on it the surface. I am told that is the preferred temp that some like to pour jig heads at with pure lead. Well after trying to flux it the the lumpy stuff started coming back. I am going to hazzard a guess that it was contaminated with Zn some how. I forgot to grab my phone heading out, so I did not get a picture of it. I helped him pour it out into an old pie pan.
I erred in the direction of caution to not run any of it through a mold. I am guessing that zinc in a mold would not be a nice thing to happen.
Ok now the questions.
If it is zinc should he get rid of the pot he was melting it in, or would he be OK in cleaning it with steel wool, and 600 grit sand paper?
If the stuff ever made its way into a mold what is the best way to deconatminate the mold?