Author Topic: Flux ? Do in need it to cast RB's (Read 574 times)

Spot Shooter · « **on:** January 18, 2004, 06:28:36 AM »

Hi Guy's,

I'm new to Grey beards, and just about to get into casting for the first time. I'm ordering a mold and wanted to know if I needed to get some flux to purify the lead.

BTW - any suggestions on a melting pot would be nice. I'm looking at a Lee production four right now. I'll check the rest of the threads.

RollingB,

if your out there!

Thanks,
Spot

The Shrink · « **Reply #1 on:** January 18, 2004, 09:14:46 AM »

Spot Shooter

I think there are a few of us that are using Coleman camping stoves and old cooking pots with great satisfaction, ladel pouring single cavity rifle, double cavity rifle, six cavity pistol, and both single and double cavity round balls in my case. It's clearly the cheapist way to go if you have or can find an old Coleman type stove or have a turkey frying pot. You can put a larger pot on that burner and melt a lot of lead.

Fluxing is done with something that will burn on the top of the lead. Oiled sawdust was used for years, small pieces of candle was work well, beeswax works well. I've never used oiled sawdust, although I have lots of sawdust in the garage, but have lots of candle wax left over from candle making experiments and use that.

Wayne the Shrink

Lloyd Smale · « **Reply #2 on:** January 18, 2004, 01:10:07 PM »

just about anything will flux lube oil. wax. a piece of wood to stir the mix will even do it. I dont get carried away fluxing i flux once when im just starting a run of bullets and seldom after that.

jgalar · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2004, 02:48:34 PM »

I had one of the Lee production pots but didn't like it. The actuator for the bottom flow nozzle runs diagonally across the pot making it difficult to clean your lead. Goobers would stick to the actuator and as the lead level went down you would get the goobers in your bullets or clog up the nozzle. I gave it away and bought the Lee Magnum Melter.

The Lee Magnum has been very good for me. Holds about 20lbs and is wide open so cleaning old dirty wheel weights is a breeze. I actually like using the Lyman ladle more than the bottom pour. With the bottom pour I had to scrunch down to view what I was doing as some molds worked best with contact to the nozzle and some required the lead to flow from the nozzle without touching. Using the ladle I have gotten much better bullets easier than with the bottom pour.

If you are going to use only clean lead the production pot shoud be fine.

waksupi · « **Reply #4 on:** January 18, 2004, 05:57:20 PM »

NEVER clean wheel weights or scrap lead in your regular casting pot. Get something else to use for cleaning. If you should ever run across zinc or copper contamination and ruin your good pot, you will know why!

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #5 on:** January 19, 2004, 04:14:45 PM »

Waksupi,

Hey you old Dog, nice to hear from you.

I got a ton of old lead from telephone cable splice cases that I need to clean up. I hadn't given any thought to the melting the lead first in a not so clean pot, and then doing the clean lead in another one.

Any recommendations of a make shift smelter I can use for the first pour? I just ordered a LEE ladel, and pot, along with a couple of LEE .530 molds.

Thanks,
Spot

waksupi · « **Reply #6 on:** January 19, 2004, 05:19:01 PM »

Still barking up other people's trees!

I have a twenty pound propane tank I cut off, and can do 75-100 lbs at a time in it.

Look around for an old legless dutch oven or some such at the junk stores, or some of the new ones aren't all that pricey.

If you should ever quit casting, destroy the pot, or give it to someone else working with lead. It would not be a good thing for someone in the future to cook in.

Spot Shooter · « **Reply #7 on:** January 20, 2004, 01:54:41 PM »

I'll try the other pot for cleaning up dirty lead, and the crayons to flux.
Thanks for the help guy's, I'll let you know how they turn out.

Spot