Am I fluxing right?

B

BarbreJ

New member
I melted my first WW a couple of weeks ago. Melted the lead on a Turkey frier. When it was all liquid I scoped out trash, added flux (toliet ring wax-about 1/2" cube) it melted, caught fire. Stirred it with a spoon scraping the sides and bottom for a couple of minutes. scooped out the brown/black stuff. repeated.

It seemed like there was always a ring of brown/black around the edges, and when I would scope it always seemed like i had brown/black dross on the top of the ingot. As the lead would get low it would get a skin on top as fast as I could dross it off.

Is this ok, am I doing it wrong? Are these ingots ok to use to cast with?

Thanks,
John
 
...As the lead would get low it would get a skin on top as fast as I could dross it off...
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I suspect that your alloy is too hot. Excess dross forming is a symptom of the heat too high.
It sounds like you are fluxing correctly...any strange brown stuff may be something in the toilet ring wax...bees wax is a little messy that way. Paraffin is a cleaner flux.
In any event, your lead should be ready to go to make bullets.
 
For what its worth, when I melt WW this way, I flux before I take the clips out. It seems to get every little bit off them.
 
I flux & stir 3 times in the smelting stage then again in the melter pot after that , nada !!! sprinkle a little sawdust to form a carbon layer ( chose to smell , pine /oak or cider.) & pour till the pot is empty .

Skim the charcoal off , add ingots & sprues then start again !!!

I used to use left over smelly candles but some are made of something that goes gooey & stinky when in the melt !!!

I flux with cannin paraffin , it works ;)
 
I read all the replies for any of the fluxing threads and wonder....am i the only one who actually uses lead flux made for fluxing??!!...
 
I read all the replies for any of the fluxing threads and wonder....am i the only one who actually uses lead flux made for fluxing??!!...
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Probably... :D

I use maple, cherry, and cedar shavings from my bench planer. Works good and smells like I'm smoking a ham every time I'm casting.
 
I use actual lead flux.

Actually, it was boolit lube I made and once I found out how good it fluxed, it became "lead flux" instead.;)
 
DR

I have the Frankford Arsonal Flux (borax) it leaves a crust in the pots that is very hydroscopic & rusts the pots like crazy !!! & IMHO the wax does a better job of fluxing & blending the alloys .
 
I only cast pure lead so my experiences may be different from those using alloys.
For many years I added the flux materials. This included some kind of black granular commercial product, different waxes, etc. I always wondered what good they did since they are much lighter than the lead and just stay on top. I finally came to the conclusion that what I was cleaning off was mostly what I had added and was doing no good.
At some point I stopped adding gunk and now just stir and skim. My results are as good as, or better than when using 'gunk'.
On another forum I presented this issue and was surprised to find many who agree and do as I do, no flux material.
I melt fairly hot. My measure of good casting temp is when the cast bullets, or round balls, just begin to show a 'frosting' appearance.
BTW, accuracy is not affected by frosting. A too hot cast bullet just takes longer to set up in the mould.
 
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