Pure lead help needed.

[bullseye308]

I have started casting some lead balls and might have run into a problem. I am using a Lee 4# pot with the temp set on 7, and lead from 1/2" sheet that is real soft(should be pure). When it melts I get the rainbow like I like but can't get it to go away and it starts to build up. After a few min it gets clumpy and fluxing with beeswax doesn't seem to make it wanna be one with the lead again. I skim it off and it seems to come back faster than the last time. After half an hour of this it starts turning colors in the ladle as soon as it comes out of the pot and leaving a skim in the ladle.
I have tried stirring with a fireplace match, piece of paint stick, dropped walnut shavings from a planer in it, and fluxing with beeswax. I have even tried combinations of these with the same results, lots of crap wanting to be skimed off. Is this normal, is it just me, if I need to keep that stuff in there how do I do that?

BTW, this lead is from a sheet that was 24"x8"x1/2" and was 35#. It was used in a business that made things from pure lead and this was left over. The few balls I did get cast are nice and shiney with no inclusions and the sprues are rainbowed nicely.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

Sounds normal to me...you don't skim once and stop...you repeat fluxing with parafin now and again and kept skimmin'...color sounds right. Do you have Printers lead or is thin like roofing lead. If it's a problem you can order it on eBay 40-60-100lb. in ingots of soft lead to your door. That's what I do.


SG

 

[bullseye308]

It came in 1/2" thick sheets 2'x2' and weighed 100# each. I had 3 plus one @ 35#. I believe this to be pure, as the guy I got it from had thinner pieces as well and they were easily bent by hand. I've got at least 400# of this pure and another few hundred of pure with a slight bit of tin added to work with. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. I am pretty familiar with WW's, but I think I like the rainbow better.

 

[Smokin_Gun]

I just used up the last a that stuff I had gotten some 20 years ago....that's good lead, if it like what i had...mine was in 50lb. strips about 8-10" wide. I cut it with a bia axe...or a sawsall... go make more boolits. Did the bullets come out ok?

SG

 

[Zeke/PA]

It really sounds to me that the lead is too hot.
Cut back on the temp and see what happens.
Zeke

 

[bullseye308]

The balls looked great after the mold got up to temp. No wrinkles or anything. Might try it again tonight with the temp a little lower and see what happens.

 

[bullseye308]

OK, it's 5 degrees outside and I aint gonna sit out there and cast. High tomorrow is 24, so it looks like I have a couple days to gather more info before I get back into it. If I understand correctly, I just need to keep the temp down some and flux more, is that the consensus? I have beeswax and parrafin, which is a better fluxing material?

This is pure sheet lead, it scratches easily with a fingernail. Once it melts and gets up to temp it starts to oxidize(rainbow). When I skim this off it reforms almost immediately and builds up again and soon needs to be skimmed off again. Is this just lead oxidizing, and should I be able to flux it back into the melt? If so, I don't seem to be able to do that and have to skim it off.

 

[Chawbaccer]

Skim it off, that stuff won't turn back into lead. You can save it until you have enough to experiment with smelting.

 

[Zeke/PA]

It is not necessary to skim this "rainbow" off as it is only a surface oxidation.
The Impurities that form just after you flux are another matter.
Zeke