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I'm needing to make some ingots/billets of lead
Around 3/4" in diameter and 5" long
Was thinking on a piece of board with hole bored into it and standing some 3/4" ID alu pipe and pouring into that
For those that play with this stuff, will the slugs come out of the alloy pipe easily while they are still hot?
And anyone in the Wellie area interested in pouring it for some beer (have the lead)
any reason you want them round?
i can see getting it back out of the ally tube being a pain in the arse
i always cast sinkers, the big bottom bouncing kind and use them as my ingots.
cheap moulds from tackle shop for 15 bucks or so
also good for fishing
greg
I wouldn't use alloy, it doesn't handle heat at all well. Carbon steel would work better. Do they have to be totally round when finished?
The slugs will be going into an extrusion die to make wire, and then processed further to make jacketed bullets - so do really need to be round
Seamless pipe would be ideal
The idea of alloy was that once the lead had solidified, the heat in the alloy tube would allow the billets to fall/be tapped out due to expansion of the tube
Good in theory?
DLM - Extrusions To easy.
They want around $13 or so a kg... vs me making my own wire in exactly the sizes I need for around $2.50/kgQuote:
Originally Posted by Wirehunt
Last time I did something like this used pipe like you suggest but thick wall steel split it first then clamped two halves togeather.When cool un done clamps and out comes a sausgae perfect with just little seam marks
Made heaps like that hardest part cutting pipe nicely in the power band saw built cradle to hold the pipe to feed it through in out of wood. Many years ago but it worked. Frost plug on bottom modded and welded to one half of pipe only.
Slit with a thin milling cutter weld in ends and hinge together like a spit roast, use black pipe
Make sure you put a little preheat into them before pouring to get rid of moister.
13 a kilo sounds good to me, they will be able to get the size very close and it saves a lot of hassle for you. Should be done outside blah blah.
They wanted a fortune to make the dies for the size I need and 500kg run.
I need different diameters and already have the tooling to extrude it
5x the price + tooling and 5x the amount is just not an option
What ever you go with , fill the mould to overflowing , this ensures there are no air voids , Could you cast it in half rounds like solder ? or even get a bullet mould of about the correct size and machine out the grease grooves . the alloy lee ones are cheap enough and you have to cut your wire to length any way
An easier way maybe to cast the lead into clay moulded with a stick of the right size the dried in the lovely weather we are having an broken off the solid lead, you should be paying for this expertise!
just drill holes in the ground, fill with lead and then dig them up
Now that's real smart, I'm impressedQuote:
Originally Posted by Spook
I am not sure of the name but there is a type of sand we use in metal for aluminum. Just get a metal bar the thickness you want and fill a bucket with the sand and push the rod into it, it'll hold the shape.
Cant have any inclusion in them as that will fuck the extrusion die
Happys idea then?
Maybe - but I'm sure they can be poured in straight pipe and fall/knock out easily = lot less work, esp when you need ~100 billets done
Big stack of tubes
Seen a vid around, but need to look further for it
It would be a lot quicker. you would have to pre heat the pipe wouldn't you?
1st batch would have enough heat in them - can return those billets to the melting potQuote:
Originally Posted by Toby
In my experience it won't release from the pipe, maybe highly polished SS? What are the expansion / shrinkage rates of the materials.
What about a slit tube inside a solid tube, pour your lead in and hit the pipe out of the pipe and spring off?
That sounds like it should work
Nothing wrong with your ears aye!Quote:
Originally Posted by Toby
Can hear you miles away
Spanners
Keep it simple.
Weld some mild steel blocks to an old set of vice grips/welding clamps etc, include some locating lugs or taper dowels if you need accuracy and repeatability, close tightly together and drill down through the join in the diameter and depth that you require.
Close the grips heat the mold, Pour the lead, open the grips, repeat.
Cheers
Pete
Lots of ways to skin a cat!
The reason for preheating the mold is to get rid of moister Spanners. It can be explosive when the molten lead hits ANY water.
People don't seem to realize how dodgy it is Tussock, especially when you start doing bigger quantities.
This is basically what was suggested
Attachment 7128
Attachment 7129
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Corbin uses a tube like I was thinking about - steel i think
To make lead wire, pure soft lead is first melted and poured into the billet
tubes to form lead cylinders (or billets) about 4-inches long. There are two
tubes and one base. The base is normally mounted to your bench top with
two long screws, provided, or fastened to a piece of two by four lumber
which can then be clamped in a vise. The tubes slip over a plug on this
base, which seals the lead and holds the tube upright during pouring.
Wearing heat-resistant gloves, you can remove the tube within
seconds of pouring the lead, set it aside, and slip another tube over the
base. Pour the second tube full of lead, and then give the first tube a
sharp down and up shake to dislodge the lead billet. Switch tubes, and
continue making billets in this manner.
Have done the calcs - the billets I'll be making will be just under 1lb each, so would have to do 220ish for 100kg, or do 20 of them and stash the rest of the lead LOL
I'd do something similar. But without a lathe I'd use rectangular ali, add a couple of hinges, and a handle to each side. Then just drill it with the desired diameter to the depth you want. Job done. If wanted a bit of timber with a couple of slots to hold the handles together and hold the thing upright, leaving two hands to pour with. Much faster to operate than locating pins and clamps.
Vise grips ;) Cheap and fast to use, C type and cut them to suit.
Actually going to try the seamless tube way and see if it works :ORLY: seems to be a few doing it that way, and I dont have access to any machinery at this time to make a mould
If it doesnt leave th chamber it will bump up when you hit it, but keen to know the resultQuote:
Originally Posted by Spanners
If you can use sch80 or heavier. In fact for 3/4 try and find some sch160 (a boiler shop should have it)
That is a 100% tidier but sorta same concept of how we did a similar thing years ago and what I was meaning in comment above. We just didnt have access to great tools so made do. ThatsQuote:
Originally Posted by Spanners
a nice clean result on the final product ours was a little rougher than that. Brings back memeories of going through the electric motor factories in Brazil and seeing 1" inch diameter rolls of copper goin into machine at one end
and coming out at sizes like 0.32 of a mm at the other with 16 coats of varnish applied and dry... Oh and also of Cobacabana Beach in summer of course ... OMG ...
How are you melting the lead ? a bottom pour pot is probably the best way to get consistant temp and helps pouring without voids in the lead . You should flux then skim your lead to remove impurities like oxides , a lump of beeswax works well , as for moisture in lead , a drop of sweat off your brow can blow up enough lead splatter to blind you , Wear a lead fume mask if you can find one .
