Melting Wheel Weights

[mvriley315]

I have a bucket of wheel weights that I want to melt into ingots. I used a new Lyman Mag 20 pot to melt another bucket I had, but it took almost 8 hours to melt the other bucket. I want this pot to last me a while and I don't really care for the idea of running it for 8 hours straight to smelt down wheel weights into ingots. I was thinking about using my turkey fryer with an old pot from Goodwill to speed up the process and then use a ladle to spoon out the molten lead into ingots. Do you have any thoughts on my idea? Pros and Cons??? I'm open to suggestions.

 

[red_zr24x4]

Whats your heat set on? We have a couple of Lee pots and I think a RCBS or Lyman pot and they melt a load of lead in maybe 10 min. on the first batch(initial start up) and maybe 5 min when reloading.
As for the turkey frier and a pot, yes it will work but I would suggest a cast iron pot. And be careful.

 

[tatic05]

Newer weights are not made of lead, but zinc. Not sure if you know or if it even matters but just thought I would throw that out.

 

[wolfman]

Turkey fryer and a "smallish" cast iron dutch oven style pot will work great and last forever. Remember lead is "heavy" and be sure to not overload the legs of your burner. Having a leg fold up and spill 20 or 30 pounds of 900 deg lead could make for a very bad day.

Check out Cast Boolits for a lot more info.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Having a leg fold up and spill 20 or 30 pounds of 900 deg lead could make for a very bad day.

Understatement of the day right there...

 

[midget]

Do not use your casting pot to melt wheel weights, they are too dirty... Get your self a cheap propane burner and a frying pan and melt/clean the lead in there. As someone else had mentioned, go spend an afternoon on cast boolits. It will teach you nearly everything you need to know...

 

[mac45]

I'll second Castboolits. Great site.
After you poke around there for awhile, go here...
From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide For Handgunners, Table of Contents - Fryxell/Applegate
...and read Dr. Glen's book. It's a free download.

 

[pdg45acp]

I have a bucket of wheel weights that I want to melt into ingots. I used a new Lyman Mag 20 pot to melt another bucket I had, but it took almost 8 hours to melt the other bucket. I want this pot to last me a while and I don't really care for the idea of running it for 8 hours straight to smelt down wheel weights into ingots. I was thinking about using my turkey fryer with an old pot from Goodwill to speed up the process and then use a ladle to spoon out the molten lead into ingots. Do you have any thoughts on my idea? Pros and Cons??? I'm open to suggestions.

My experience has been that most Wheel Weights are now Zinc and you need a thermometer

Sort out the ones that have Zn marked on them.

In case you miss a few Zn marked weights make sure you don't get too much above 700 degrees when you render WW into ingots.

Zinc melts at about 780 and you want the Zinc WW to float to the top so they can be skimmed off.

If you got into the 800 degree range I'd toss that batch because you can be sure you got zinc in the mix.

 

[woodsie57]

mvriley- your plan will work fine if your wheelweights have been in that bucket for a few years,before zinc [and steel] weights became common. Some states have banned lead weights altogather. using a thermometer, as previously mentioned would be a good precaution. I've melted 200 lbs of lead from old w/w's that had been in a garage a few years with no problems. Used a setup like you described,goodwill steel pot, coleman stove,ladle, and it worked great. Got a bucketful last yr,found a lot of steel and zinc,probably 15% or so. Cast bullet website will help 'ya tell the difference.

 

[wolfman]

Having a leg fold up and spill 20 or 30 pounds of 900 deg lead could make for a very bad day.

Understatement of the day right there...

That is why my smelting pot has it's own support legs independent of the burner stand !!
My pot will hold right at 1.5, 5gal buckets of raw wheel weights, and if you add to it as they melt, will end up holding 2 full buckets for about 200+ pounds of lead

 

[BE Mike]

Agree with the caution re' zinc. For melting scrap lead into ingots, I have an old cast iron pot and use a Coleman propane-powered camp stove. It works slicker than a whistle.

 

[dleak]

good info from all ive melted about 1500lbs this past year starting w ZERO experience ... just LEE reloading manual for reference ... now i have all you guys excellent looking setup wolfman !

 

[dsol]

I have a big cast iron pot bought at a yard sale for $10 and the Bass Pro fish fryer on sale for something like $30 or so. I never let the raw junk touch my casting pot, the dirt will ruin it in a hurry. I smelt wheel weights and flux the hell out of it with sawdust and candle wax. I dont use a thermometer, but I check each and every damn wheel weight before they go in the pot. I take the bigger ones and tap them against a solid piece of steel, you can hear the difference between lead, steel and zinc pretty easily. The smaller ones, I test a corner with a pair of dykes (wire cutters). You cannot even dent the zinc or steel, so you know right away if it is lead. A little bit of zinc in the melt will ruin the lead, it will not fill out the mold well at all and be wothless for bullets.

Also, when my son and I hit the range, we always bring back a large coffee can full of range scrap too. When I get three or four of those, I smelt them seperately as it is usually a little softer than wheel weight lead. If there is a lot of hard cast bullets, it can be harder, but all the 22lr bullets and lead inside of jacketed bullets is very soft. A side bonus to that is the recycling place here will pay $3 a pound for the copper jackets if they are pretty clean so I make sure I melt all the lead I can out of them.

Roofing lead, pipe lead and stick on wheel weights are all nearly pure lead, very soft. So that is a seperate melt too. That I mix 50/50 with my wheel weight lead with maybe 1% or 2% tin by weight to harden it a little and let it flow in the molds better. The range scrap, I usually thrown in about 3% or 4% tin. Both mixes make great pistol bullets. I get my tin from yard sales, old rolls of solder and any pewter knick knack junk I can get cheap. Pewter is 90% or better tin, and getting it at thrift shops or yard sales is a lot cheaper than the $10 a pound the metal sellers want. I picked up 3-1/2 lbs of pewter in the form of a big bowl and two big wall sconces for $10 just this weekend. I probably have 15 to 20 lbs or so of probably 80% or better tin ingots. I figure with the rolls of 60/40 solder and all the pewter I smelted together, the little ingots are at least 80% or so tin. My pewter and solder smelting is done in a little cast iron pot on an electric hot plate.

Yard sales, thrift shops, smaller garages/tire shops, roofers, and shooting buddies are your friends when it comes to finding lead and tin to cast your own. My ingot molds are cast iron corn bread and muffin molds I have found at yard sales too.

I started casting my own bullets (boolits) last year because my son developed a taste for shooting my .357 and .45 Colt lever actions. His habit got real expensive even loading my own, so I thought for plinking, get a few inexpensive Lee molds and shoot more for less money. Well, I do shoot more, but not really saving much money. Bought several 6 cavity Lee molds for 38 and 45 plinkers. Then found me some nice Hensley and Gibbs 4 cavity molds for 45 and 38/357 for a steal at $75 for both at a gunshow. One of the few times I have found a really good deal. Then found one for an old 38 S&W. Then picked up an exceptional 2 cavity 158 grain hollowpoint mold on castboolits. Then got in on a group buy at castboolits forum for a piece of art, brass 4 cavity hollowpoint 140 grain mold for my 38's and 357's from a maker over in Europe.

Nope, I dont think I have saved much money, but it sure is fun.

If anyone out there in the southern half of the state knows where I can get my hands on an old sailboat, I will split the haul. A lot of times the keel is made of lead and can be 500 or more pounds, just hard to get that cut up and hauled home, but worth it if it is free or cheap enough.

 

[CountryBoy19]

My experience has been that most Wheel Weights are now Zinc and you need a thermometer

Sort out the ones that have Zn marked on them.

In case you miss a few Zn marked weights make sure you don't get too much above 700 degrees when you render WW into ingots.

Zinc melts at about 780 and you want the Zinc WW to float to the top so they can be skimmed off.

If you got into the 800 degree range I'd toss that batch because you can be sure you got zinc in the mix.

Interesting... can you define "most" for us?

FWIW I've been buying from an undisclosed large tire shop for the better part of a year and I'm still getting 85-93% good lead wheel-weight. Zinc falls in at about 2-6% and steel about 5-9% composition by weight.

Also, FWIW, save your zinc weights. On castboolits there is a member that makes cannonballs. He will trade pound for pound his pure lead for your zinc. Minimum of 40 lbs. You pay shipping to him (flat rate box) and he pays shipping to you.

 

[mvriley315]

My wife just told me that she would let me have one of her Wolfgang Puck stainless steel pots she no longer wants to use. I know many of you have said to use a cast pot. What do you think about stainless steel? Would that be acceptable??

 

[dsol]

My wife just told me that she would let me have one of her Wolfgang Puck stainless steel pots she no longer wants to use. I know many of you have said to use a cast pot. What do you think about stainless steel? Would that be acceptable??

Just do not use an aluminum pot to smelt in, I have read stories on castboolits where those have failed with predictable and disastrous results.