Lead pouring and keeping cool

Started by gstours, February 21, 2020, 05:31:47 PM

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gstours

After complaining about the hot ladle handle it was decided to make improvements.
   The ladle I usually use has a 12 inch handle, is cast iron, has a 20 ounce capacity or so, butt even with heavy leather gloves on the heat transfer to your hands gets uncomfortable 😣.
   The ladle needs to stay hot inthe molten lead to prevent sticking to the cast iron.    So?
       Here is a low cost solution that works great 👍.   The iron handle is first wrapped with fiberglass insulation like used in a house wall,  then wrapped with two inch fiberglass mesh tape ribbon like used in a boat repair.   Simple masking tape was used to prevent unlaying.   It works amazingly well to prevent heat transfer and improves the accuracy of the pour as your more comfortable and possibly safer.

gstours

Oh ya, I forgot to add that 1 inch wide Teflon tape was the outer wrap over the fiberglass mesh.   These are the best heatproof things I had laying around to use.   Thanks.

El Pescador

Gary,

Your Heavy Leather Gloves???    Are they welding gloves??

Wayne
Never let the skinny guys make the sandwiches!!  NEVER!!!!

Donnyboat

Good idea Gary, I use leather cloves and have 3 buckets of water, to dip the gloves into, just keep rotating from one bucket to the next, I have a 4 burner gas flame to keep the lead  hot & do the melting with the oxy flame, the man taking the sinkers out of the cast, uses one welding glove & a light glove on the other hand, that is easier to work with, cheers Don.
Don, or donnyboat

gstours

My heavy welding gloves are still getting hot maybe cotton liners may help.   Butt this insulating the handle certainly is the ticket, 
    DonnyBoat.  Do you dip the gloves in water first?  Never tried this?   Oven gloves or something like that may help as well?
  Thanks.   Just wonderin? ;)

jurelometer

#5
Water is a very efficient conductor of heat.   That is why you are not supposed to use a wet oven mitt when pulling something hot out of an oven.  Dry insulation protections your hands  because it is a poor conductor of heat.   The water changes all that.  And it is hard to get the glove off while you are getting third degree burns on your hand from the steam.  It can happen very quickly.   Plus having dripping wet gloves with melted lead nearby is not so great from a safety perspective.

It is harder to work safely with this kind of setup.   This is not to say that Donny has not found a way that works for him.  But not something that I would try.

Monitoring the lead temperature helps.  Getting the temp way above the pouring temp does not help the pour.   A bit of tin or antimony in the lead allows for a dramatically lower pouring temp. You can find recipe tables for the alloys online.  

I try to remind myself to go slow and let stuff cool a bit before handling.   A trip to the burn unit can really slow down your production.

-J

Donnyboat

Thanks for the question Gary of the cloves, they are light leather cloves, & of coarse as they get wet, they strech a bit that helps to take them of quicker, Jurelometre, thanks for the warning, as you said take your time, dont rush it, I do the heating & the poring, but it helps if some one is on the vice taking the sinkers out of the mold, that way the mold stays hot, & the lead poors better, cheers Don.
Don, or donnyboat

MarkT

I didn't realize that staying cool would be an issue in Alaska in February!
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

Dominick

Scary proposition wet gloves and high heat.  Be careful.  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.

Brewcrafter

Agree with everything said about wet gloves - not a good idea IMO.  Fond memories of casting sinkers with my Dad back in the day (I do feel really bad about all that linotype we melted down as letterpress shops began to go out of business - today job case letter type is actually worth something).  I still have all the old stuff (including the Coleman 2 burner white gas stove!) but one neat trick that you might want to incorporate - If you can score a solid silver or well made silver plated ladle from an old punchbowl set.  Much lighter than that cast iron ladle, and won't have the same thermal mass.  My Dad was always really careful about water (or more particularly, sweat) dripping into a mold before it was closed up and then pouring lead into it - apparently he had a friend that sent molten lead in an explosive, steam fueled blast out of the pour hole of a mold and he didn't want to repeat the experience when he was pouring lead.

sabaman1

Water should be nowhere near molten lead, thats a recipe for disaster and someone getting hurt!
JIM

jurelometer

Quote from: Brewcrafter on February 24, 2020, 03:57:37 AM
[snip...]
  My Dad was always really careful about water (or more particularly, sweat) dripping into a mold before it was closed up and then pouring lead into it - apparently he had a friend that sent molten lead in an explosive, steam fueled blast out of the pour hole of a mold and he didn't want to repeat the experience when he was pouring lead.

The bullet casting guys call it "getting visited by the tinsel fairy" .   I guess that is because of what the immediate area looks like after the blast.     Can also happen if you toss some lead in the pot that has some trapped moisture.    Not something that I want to experience.

-J

CapeFish

Great idea with the fiber glass, thanks for sharing. I haven't done this in a while, casted enough sinkers to last me a while, but I am running low now so when I do it again will use this modification on the handle of the pot used for melting the lead. I usually get away with a cotton cloth and leather gloves, but it can get darn hot after a while. On another note, what do you use to keep the fumes at bay? I usually try and work outside with a draft or keep the doors open and used a 3m mask. Unfortunately the mask was used by a labourer who suffered from drug resistant TB while sweeping so I decided it is best to throw it away and not use again.

gstours

Thanks for sharing your thoughts folks.   I let this topic soak a little while to see if my thoughts were in line and wasn't suprised much.   Yes water is a very good conductor of heat and 🥶 cold.   I've had a few minor pops (mini explosions) where water or dampness made a shower of molten lead fly and stick to everything close by.  Clothes , tools, gloves 🧤 and even safety glasses,  thankful for those.  Now I,m more careful and try to be more aware.
   I try to preheat large pieces of lead first by placing next to the heat source for a while before placing it in the pot.  Always store lead indoors to prevent moisture as well.   As mentioned preheated molds are easier to work with.  I hope we all have helped a newby to do some lead pouring in a safe controlled manner from the start.   Thanks 🙏.

Dominick

Quote from: jurelometer on February 24, 2020, 06:41:27 AM
The bullet casting guys call it "getting visited by the tinsel fairy" .   I guess that is because of what the immediate area looks like after the blast.     Can also happen if you toss some lead in the pot that has some trapped moisture.    Not something that I want to experience.

-J

I never heard the term "getting visited by the tinsel fairy" before this post but did experience it once (thanks for that Dave).  When I was 17 I  worked in a factory that rebuilt electric motors.  It was an exciting place but extremely dangerous.  On a hot summer day one of the workers was making babbitt bearings.  Since it was so hot the worker, a big hairy fellow was working with his shirt off.  Another worker had gone past the molten babbitt with a piece of metal that he had plunged into water to cool down after welding.  He was still shaking water off the piece when he went by the molten babbitt.  The water hit the molten babbitt and the tinsel fairy appeared.  That molten babbitt when off like a bomb.  No one was seriously hurt.  I had to hold back a laugh as I saw little silver balls of cooled babbitt hanging off the chest hairs on the babbitt worker.  Funny now but a little funny and scary then.  Dominick
Leave the gun.  Take the cannolis.

There are two things I don't like about fishing.  Getting up early in the morning and boats.  The rest of it is fun.