For god sake i hope your going to do it outside. You would never get the smell out of the house not to mention subjecting yourself to the lead fumes - very toxic. I always wear at least a mask of some type while smelting but eventually I know i should get a respirator to be completely safe. That double fan in the window to draw out fumes will not even come close to getting the job done.
Enjoy the new side of the hobby and be safe!
Should I join in with the nervous nellies????????????????????????????????
Um, no......................
I'm with 45/70. Be careful and have fun. There will be NO lead fumes UNLESS you BOIL it. Melting lead does not cause lead vapors. It does cause vapors though, from the stuff that has a lower melting temperature than it. NOW that does make quite a bit of smoke, depending.
You get about ten times the amount of lead in the air when you fire a handgun at an indoor range as you would during a normal casting session.
Don't eat or drink around the lead, wash your hands and all that stuff.
You can do it. Be safe, have fun.
I'll let you know how It goes when I find some wheel weights!
***************WARNING!!!!!!!! WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WARNING**************
45pro's neighbors**************************
Your tires will bounce down the road uncontrollably tomorrow! .
When smelting your wheel weights, there will be lots of smoke. It is the nasties burning off, nothing more. Make sure you keep that melt down in the 680*F and no more. That way, you will be sure to not melt any zinc. As soon as the clips float, scrape them and any non-melted wheel weights off and discard. If they aren't melted by then, they aren't lead, period.
One melted zinc wheel weight will ruin a bunch of lead. You will NEVER get fill out with zinc in the melt. Don't ask how I know this!
The fan pulling fumes away is good. That way, no cooling air blows on the moulds or your pot. In cooler temperatures, it can be a chore to keep the melt warm enough to pour well. A fan blowing on it will just make it that much harder. I have cast with that same pot, in a closed garage down into the single digits outside. Garage is not heated, so, you should be good to go.
Have a fire extinguisher handy, that is just smart anyway. No water on the table. I have had a folded rag in an upside down coffee can lid soaked with water to cool aluminum moulds when I got going really fast. Look at the front of the Lee manual and they have a bit of info on doing something like that.
Pre-heat your mould. It doesn't have to be any certain temp, just make it hotter than the air. It helps dry them if you store them outside and again, water and molten lead is a disaster, and this isn't hype, waiting to happen.
If you want harder bullets, take a 5 gallon bucket, put water in it at floor level and either build a shute or use two towels over the opening. One over half way of the opening and the other the same. Tie them in place around the bucket with twine or something. That way, the bullets hit it, fall through and the splash is contained below, away from the mould. Others have put sawdust on top of the bucket and had the bullets fall through that. Same principle, no splashes.
If your wheel weights have any arsenic at all in them, you can expect them to harden a bit over time. As much as 5 points or so, depending. If you water quench them from casting temperature, you can raise them 15 points or so. That normal lead bullet of 12-15bhn can turn into a 30bhn bullet no problem. You can oven heat treat later too. (If your wife will let you! You just have to buy your own cookie sheets!)
Take several bullets and put them on a cookie sheet. Put them in the oven and take the temp to +450*F. Watch to make sure that they don't slump or anything and let them go for an hour. Drop them in a bucket of cold tap water. Same, same.
Again, fumes are not a problem if you don't boil the lead. Keep the melt below 750*F and you will be fine.
$30 is a lot for a full 5 gallon bucket. Call Omnisource and find out the going rate and offer that.
It depends but, 100# to 130# or more. It all depends on the basic size of the weights they contain, smaller ones fill up space better, and the amount of junk in it.
That will give you a ball park though. Do you have an Omni Source near you? If so, check in their "Retail Area". They should sell you some at going rate, 30 cents/lb to 55 cents/lb, it all just depends on the going rate.
Hey, check your pm's 45Pro. Got a lead on some lead for ya!