I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about 70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

--
Andrew Butchart

Andrew,
Having done this before, You can use "C" channel for molds You will need at
least 2 to make the process viable. You must be prepared to use a steel pot
large enough to melt all 70 lbs at the same time because of the grease. The
molds should have the dimensions of 4" x 2" x 1". That will give you
approximately a 10# weight. You will need to machine both ends of the 4"
long, 2" x 1" C" channel square. You can then close up the ends with flat
plates at least .250" thick. These should be held together with "C" clamps.
You should use a suitable gas burner to melt the lead. I use one from a tar
pot used for roofing. You can use a simple soup ladel to fill the mold flush
to the top. I suggest using a leveled aluminum plate to set the molds on.
This will aid in cooling the mold. Five minutes of cooling should cause the
lead to solidify. Cool the mold in water befor reuse. This reduces cycle
time.
Steve

"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message
...
I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about
70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the
top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and
so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt
the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this
method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast
a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

--
Andrew Butchart

On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:29:03 GMT, "Andrew Butchart"
wrote:

I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about 70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

Lead melts around 328 degC
Paper and card char well below this.

Wood is in the same class, though the thicker, the more resistant.
I have used a brick form on concrete - the concrete tends to spall
explosive shards. Dry brick with fireclay seams could work for you.

Greasy lead will smoke badly, better wash it first? A soak in water
with Dawn detergent etc. Steel cans would hold up to casting temps.
They would probably be best?

Brian W

Andrew Butchart wrote:
I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about 70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and so
are quite greasy.
snip

Don't want to break your bubble, but for 70 lbs, it simply is not worth
the work and set up cost.

No, your BBQ won't work.

You need a melting pot, a large burner, (I used 2, 500,000 BTU propane
burners), a dipping ladle and metal molds.

(You need to keep lead above about 700F, just to be able to work with it.)

Even a good scavanger will have about $100 USD invested before getting
started.

The above based on collecting and melting enough lead to pour a 20,000
lb ballast.

HTH

Lew

Andrew,
Another point to keep in mind is density. The difference between cast lead
at around 11+ tons per Cubic Meter and lead shot at 7 tons should persuade
you not to use resin and other methods for weights as other materials become
more viable at the lower densities.
Steve
"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message
...
I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about
70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the
top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and
so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt
the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this
method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast
a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

--
Andrew Butchart

Andrew Butchart writes:

I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the top.

I've done this and it works great as follows. You can do 100 lbs of
casting in an hour or two.

[First, don't worry about (a little) grease and/or rubber, assuming you
can work outdoors away from the neighbors. You'll need a Coleman stove,
or gas grill with a side burner, or a turkey fryer. Same applies to the
steel clips or steel weights mixed in. It will all sort itself out as
slag floating in the melt.]

Make your melting pot from a cheap stainless steel bowl from Wal-Mart,
something larger than the volume of the largest object you want to cast.
Use pliers to form a small pouring spout on the lip. Use two locking
pliers (Vise Grips) to be handles on opposite sides of the lip.

Make molds from aluminum foil bedded in (unused) kitty litter in coffee
cans. Form the foil around a model of your desired shape--perhaps an
object already at hand, or an item you want to copy, something you carve
from foam or wood, or cylinders or blocks. The model shape obviously
has to slip easily out of the foil (has "draft"). I used 1/2 inch
dowels to cast lead rods, which I then cut into pellets for scuba soft
weight belts.

You can cast in steel eyes or other fittings in the bottom (forming the
foil tightly, securing with a metal twistie) or top (dangle from steel
wire from a coat hanger).

Take every precaution that a spill won't hit you or anything wet,
including your feet.

Vapor pressure of molten lead is very low, so while you should avoid the
vapors from the melt (do it outdoors), don't be paranoid.

Then lemme know how it turns out.

You don't say what the intended use is, but the eyebolt reminds me of
something I did years ago. I needed a counterweight for a trapdoor, and had
the lead - although it was not greasy it was roof flashings and probably
worse to melt than wheel weights.
I got some metal tins - "jam tins" about 700 grams capacity for jam, roughly
the size to give 10 lbs of lead.

Melted the lead in another pot - I fancy it was an old cast aluminium
saucepan. Ladled the lead it into the jam tin as it was melted. From memory
I drilled a hole in the bottom of the tin and put the eye bolt through it
with appropriate nuts and washers. In that application it did not matter if
the lead wasn't all liquid at once, and the tin remained as a permanent
container. End result ( after painting, the heat made the jam tin look
pretty sick ...) was a cylindrical weight with an eye bolt... permanently
encased in a jam tin. I had a gas ring large enough to melt about a pound
of lead, so my investment in the project was virtually nil.
I'll mention one safety issue - the biggest one as far as I'm concerned. If
there is ANY water in the lead or the form, you can splatter molten lead
everywhere. And you have to dispose of the dross.

Weights with eye-bolts don't sound very boat like, and if you can live with
the slightly larger size for the required weight, I'd consider selling the
lead as scrap and buying something else of an appropriate size.

The juice can looks another good option, wash the weights to remove most of
the oil, allow to dry, dip them in ( catalysed) resin, and drop them in the
cans. Don't bother to fill the voids, it adds little mass, adds costs, and
gets you into the heat generation issues of large volumes of resin. You
could use other stuff to lock the weights together ( old paint ? ) But if
you go down this path, don't ever think of using the weights for anything
else ...
David




"Andrew Butchart" wrote in message
...
I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about
70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the
top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and
so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt
the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this
method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast
a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

--
Andrew Butchart

The definitive read on lead weight casting, written by Glenn Ashmore, a
frequenter of this NG, can be found at:
http://www.rutuonline.com/html/the_keel.html

enjoy,

Jonathan

Andrew Butchart wrote:
I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about 70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

Don't discard the idea of wood molds just because they char. Carbon
crucibles are common and wood sheathing is used in skyscrapers; e.g. the
Tribune Tower in Chicago to protect the steel from fire. You aren't going
to use the mold all that many times.

At the bottom of
http://derbyrm.mystarband.net/Dayawl.html
is my weighting of the CB for my Chebacco. Since I goofed repeatedly, I got
to see the wood before and after pouring -- no significant change except for
color.

A cast iron pot or skillet might be better than an aluminum one. I've
slagged down an aluminum pot on an electric hot plate. Harbor Freight sells
some cheap ones from China.

I thought the whole process was kind of fun, but I was glad I was wearing
boots.

Roger

http://derbyrm.mystarband.net/default.htm

"Brian Whatcott" wrote in message
On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:29:03 GMT, "Andrew Butchart"
wrote:

I've come into possession of a quantity of lead wheel weights - about
70lbs
worth. I'd like to turn them into 10lb weights with an eyebolt on the
top.
One minor issue is that the weights were stored in an old grease pail and
so
are quite greasy.

As I see it I have three options:

- Melt it down and pour it into forms. The good thing with this, is that
the weights will be all lead. The bad thing is that I don't know how to
make forms - would wood be good enough, or old juice cans? Could I melt
the
lead on my BBQ - kitchen stove is out because of fumes of course. What
about the grease? Should I clean it off first? I'm not keen on this
method
because of all of the safety issues, but it give me the "best" and most
dense result.

- Use polyester resin and 1 litre cardboard milk cartons as a form to cast
a
weight. Would it hold together? Do I need to remove the grease from the
wheel weights?

- Put the weights into a large juice can and somehow seal up the top. I'd
worry about how solid this would be though.

Thanks

Lead melts around 328 degC
Paper and card char well below this.

Wood is in the same class, though the thicker, the more resistant.
I have used a brick form on concrete - the concrete tends to spall
explosive shards. Dry brick with fireclay seams could work for you.

Greasy lead will smoke badly, better wash it first? A soak in water
with Dawn detergent etc. Steel cans would hold up to casting temps.
They would probably be best?

Brian W

Thank you everyone for your comments - the purpose of the eyebolt was so
that I can optionally use one of the weights as a lunch anchor on the
sailing pirogue as well as allowing me to tie the weights down when using
them as ballast. I need the ballast to compensate for the weight of my son
at the bow when solo sailing. Having them tied onto the boat also allows me
to cut them free in case of emergency rather then building them into the
boat. I was going with about 10lb weights as that is a size I should easily
be able to manage.

I might try melting the lead as several people suggest - doing it outdoors
but I suspect that using resin to cast the weights into a can might be my
final result. I have to wait for warmer weather no matter what anyway.

--
Andrew Butchart