Stick on Wheel Weights

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deerslayer303

New member
Hello All,

I just scored a 20 gallon drum full of wheel weights. There are some stick on weights in there. What do you guys do with the double sided tape on the back? Do you scrap it off and use some kind of solvent to remove the glue residue before dropping them in the pot?
 
I've burned them off in the melt, but it makes a lot of stink and crud. I've taken them off with Goo Gone soaking overnight, but I've never had a huge number to do like you have. I think, in your shoes, I would try soaking a sample in a citrus cleaner a couple or three days to see if that loosens it. Maybe try mineral spirits. The least noxious thing that works is what you want.
 
I get a lot of those with my wheel weights. I put them in a huge pot, melt them, no sticky stuff. All the trash and debri floats to the top. I flux the multon lead, dip off the trash and pour ingots.

No Biggy.
 
Since they seem to be softer than most wheel weights, I cull them out and wait to smelt them down till I have enough to make a batch of ingots. They just go into the pot with the tape still on. It smokes and stinks for a while, I just put up with it and stand upwind.

The last couple of batches of weights I've scored had some stick-on's that floated. I fished them out and they were a lot harder than normal ones. Looks like zinc has made it's way into the stick-on market.
 
The glue will burn off when you smelt them. Then you skim off the ash that floats on top of the lead.

That's the great thing about lead smelting, all the crap you don't want floats to the top and is easily removed.
 
Man, the ones I had were adhered with something that resembled that 3M double-sided sticky foam tape. The stink was pronounced. Strictly an outdoor activity, as my vent fan that usually does OK did not do well with them. Like casting alloy, this may be a regional difference. Of course, I was also melting just stick-ons, and not stick-ons mixed with clip-ons, so the concentration was higher. Anyway, I only had a few pounds worth, so removing the sticky stuff wasn't that big a deal.

I understand both zinc and steel are showing up in the stick-on variety now. With the EPA wanting to get all the lead out of them, this is a trend that will continue, unfortunately. Nobody in Washington seems to know the difference between exposure to lead metal and ingestion of lead oxide or other acid soluble compounds.
 
"Holy mother of fluxing!"

"How much does a 20 gallon drum of wheel weights weigh? How did you load it in your truck?"

LOL, That was not easy, I could not even slide the drum! The tire store gave me a small bucket and I proceeded to go back and forth to dump them in the truck bed. LOL Took a while but hey they were free. My little pickup squated some with them in the bed LOL That shop did tell me that they were glad I came by because they have to pay to get rid of them.

I was so appreciative of the shop I went and got 2 large supreme pizza's and toke them back to the guys at that shop. You know to soften em up for the next load LOL
 
Roger on the zinc and steel stick-on wheel weights. Melted a batch of them this morning and found lots of zinc and steel ones.

I also noticed that some are as hard as regular clip-on wheel weights and some appear to be softer. This leads me to believe that not all are pure lead.

I just throw them in the pot and simmer till melted, scoop out the flaming trash, zinc, steel, then flux and ingot. The process smells like hell, it ain’t the job to do anywhere but out in the open.
 
I treat the lead stick-ons as though they are pure. They have a little tin in them, but not much. They are soft enough for the muzzleloaders and mixed 50/50 with clip-ons make a good alloy for light and medium handgun loads.

Have seen a lot of Zn and Fe but have also seen a single strip of Sn. That was a find and may have been a near once in a lifetime thing with the Sn prices as high as they are.
 
I usually just burn the tape off in the melt. HOWEVER--when it's cold as h3!! and I'm keeping the shop door shut, that kind of stink is a bad thing. What I came up with is to use a hot plate on low. Lay the strip face down and let it heat up. The heat weakens the adhesive really well. A pair of pliers and a paint scraper scrapes it right off. It's a little time consuming, but it works when you don't feel like waiting or smelling the fumes.
 
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