Melting Lead At Home And Casting - Any Tips

[Fr J Hackett]

For an angel I used a clay plant pot with a stainless eye bolt through the drain hole secured with a washer outside and nut and washer inside with another washer secured by two nuts half way up the bolt to aid grip the whole lot was dried/ preheated in the oven to 200 C and the lead melted in an old saucepan with barbeque charcoal and a dinghy pump to get it really hot ie a small furnace.

 

[srp]

mould making

(in response to Blowing Old Boots)
Dry sand won't bind together. Casting sand contains an oil called (I think) Petrobond. You can buy small quantities of casting sand from educational suppliers like Technology Supplies http://www.technologysupplies.co.uk...g_Materials_220144.html#a120_2d112#a120_2d112 , but the carriage charges might put you off.
You can use ordinary motor oil but the fumes are probably toxic. The sand should be just moist enough to clump when you squeeze a handful in your hand (the 'moist' bit refers to the oil content, as others have said water has no place in a casting process). I would think that play-pit sand is the most suitable if you insist on making your own up, as it is kiln-dried before packing and has a negligible clay content, unlike soft sand from a builders merchant which is full of both water and clay and therefore completely unsuitable.
If you want to make complex castings you'll also need a casting box (consisting of a cope and a drag), a rammer which you can make yourself from an offcut of wood, a couple of tapered plugs to form the runner and riser, some parting powder (which I think is just French chalk) and a board to work on. A two part mould with a runner and riser will give you a much better casting, as the head of molten metal ensures good reproduction of detail from the mould and helps eliminate shrinkage voids.
If you're making anodes, I'm told that the fumes from zinc are worse than those from lead - it might be worth checking this as I've never cast zinc.
If you get really good you can try the exercise my grandfather, as a foundry manager, used to give his apprentices for their final 'passing-out' piece - to cast a cup and saucer, with a spoon in the cup, in one piece. In bronze.

 

[William_H]

Casting with lead

I have melted lead in a large fruit juice tin can over a camping cooker. Primus I think. You just have to be patient. I have a mould for diving belt weights made of Aluminium. I cast a weight then cooled it with water to get the weight out and used it again. Yes any moisture in the mold really causes dangerous problems.

My little boat has a centre board (keel) of fibreglass wood and about 100kg of lead which is lifted vertically.
I decided I needed more balast. The centre board was lifted out and placed on the ground upside down.
I made a mould of fibreglass over the bottom of the keel using release wax. The mould was removed after hardening and clamped glued into position about 40mm above the existing normally bottom edge. (keel is upside down) I drilled a large hole in the mould and poured the molten lead in.
The fibreglass was destroyed but held together well enough for the lead to cool into shape. The fibreglass mould was removed (destroyed) to reveal that the keel had a nicely shaped shoe of about 15kg of lead attached to the tip. This was ground down a bit a covered with fibreglass which adds to the bonding of the shoe to the keel. Yes the fibreglass sheath has to be repaired occasionally as I hit rocks etc but the shoe is now hardly noticeable and still withdraws into the hull happily for trailing.

Now maybe I was lucky to get away with fibreglass but apart from a dreadful smell it seemed like a good idea. regards olewill

 

[Alcyone]

Make sure whatever pan you use to melt the lead has a VERY secure handle. You will likely be lifting much more than the pan was designed for. Plastic handles are likely to leave you with a nice hollow lead cat.

 

[Fantasie 19]

..and make sure the area is well ventilated - the fumes are nasty...

 

[cid]

moulds

Many thanks for the advice just to finish it off any tips on mould making, so far: -

• 
  Perrier water bottle poked into a bucket of sand for a lead line sinker!
  The dent in the top of a brick to make ingots.
  Dropping through air to make pellets

I guess the sand mould should be dry sand that sticks together to keep a shape.

I guess a cement shape made around a former could be used. What about clay?

I made fish weights using old copper pipe cut to the desired lenghts with a bit of wire stuck down the centre.U just place the pipe pieces in a tray of sand upright with the wire looped out over the top and pour away.Good luck I caught 2 mackrel yesterday.Fishing very poor this year

 

[Swinranger]

Here's the set up I used

 

[alan_d]

There was a tower in N.London (or East?) used to make shot. Dated from Napoleonic wars.

Not thinking of the one that used to be on the South Bank, next to the Festival Hall, are you? Picture here.

 

[DownWest]

Looks like it, thanks.
A