SWO Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Someone gave me a can of misc. scrap lead. I melted it down in small batches to pour in my lead ingot mold. I don't have a large lead pot, so I used my electric melter that holds about 2 lbs. Most of the ingots are normal, but 3 of them crumbled like a block of chalk. Any idea of what material this was? It looked like lead and melted in about the same amount of time, but was a little whiter in color than the other lead ingots that I made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Question: What Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSC Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Another "WAG" Did you flux the melt ????? I have had some thing like this before ... mostly with wheel weights ... try a good fluxing .. My JSC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogajiga Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 SWO, are you saying the cooled solidified ingots were crumbly or when you remelted them to pour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWO Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 SWO, are you saying the cooled solidified ingots were crumbly or when you remelted them to pour? They crumbled after I removed them from the ingot mold after a remelt. They were still hot, so I used a pair of pliers to move them and pieces broke off. I did drop a piece of wax in while the lead was melting to flux it. I remelts them again last night and let them get a bit hotter than what I probably did the night before. This time, they held together and didn't crumble. I didn't realize lead had those properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ogajiga Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 OK, I've worked with old wheel weight and battery lead scrap which hot ingots crumbled when grabbed with pliers too. I learned that hardening metal antimony causes a lead alloy to form a grainy structure that in sufficient quantity weakens intermetallic cohesion(aka crumbly) especially when hot. The more antimony present in an alloy the more powdery the surface appearance & the higher pitched the "clink" when dropped gently on concrete. I keep high antimony alloys separate from softer when melting into ingots, since they are best used for larger castings only. I would caution that wheel weight melting temperature should be kept as low as possible to avoid melt contamination with the occasional zinc weight which will melt at 787*F. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man Babble Posted February 3, 2022 Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 The same thing happened to me today. I was melting wheel lead weights noticed they were taking longer then usual. Then turned slushy crumbled up into tin foil. That have to be made of tin not lead. I also noticed a rotten smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentrod425 Posted February 3, 2022 Report Share Posted February 3, 2022 I've had lures/pours crumble if I tried to release them from the mold too early. Think the lead was too cold when poured or not allowed to fully solidify prior to releasing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basskat Posted February 4, 2022 Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 If you dump them out of the ingot mold before it's cooled enough just about any lead wants to crumble. Try giving it a few minute s longer to cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
