? on casting

kms1961

September 05, 2009 03:20

Hi all i was melting wheelweights down al was going great then had a batch that turned the top to a purple magenta coller was like a scum on top, skimmed and fluxed but just came back. did i maybe melt a zinc one down? never have seen this before. thanks kevin

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  bpost

  September 05, 2009 05:19

  From my experience what you have is two conditions. One, it is way too hot in your pot and two you have some cadmium impurities.
  
  Drop the temp in the pot and reflux it a couple of times. I found the cadmium impurities make a grainy bullet when casting, but they still shoot fine. It is important to drop them on a soft cloth to prevent fracturing before they cool. After they cooled and were sized I noticed no difference.

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  kms1961

  September 05, 2009 05:29

  thanks i will try that as said first i hve ever seen of this. kevin

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  jonk

  September 08, 2009 06:21

  I've seen what you describe with pure lead but never with wheelweights. Some weights are pure lead. How hard is your bullet? Can you nick it with a fingernail?
  
  If they are filled out and not too soft I'd not worry about it.

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