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What Do I Need To Know About Using Wheel Weights?
I have just bought a Palmer Hot-Pot 2 and have made the rounds of the hardware stores & home centers (Lowes, etc) and found that no one sells lead. Even their solder is "lead-free." But my wife had the oil changed in her car today and brought back probably about a pound of used wheel weights. I have also bought 8 of the largest egg sinkers our Wal-Mart carries. So what do I need to know about the used wheel weights? I know they have a piece of steel attached and I assume that I've got to fish the steel out of the pot of molten lead. Sounds like fun. Or is there a way to remove them before melting the lead? Also, the weights are not at all shiny as you would expect after being attached to a car rim and traveling thousands of miles on the highways, driveway & back roads of America. Do I need to clean the weights before I melt them, and if so, how do I do that? And if there is some other question that I'm too dumb to ask, supply the answers anyway. Help a newbie out!
Take care
GF
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Today's wheel weights are not or very little lead. Very hard to work with in small molds. Needs to be cleaned very good before use. So much trash it can mess up your pour pot. Sometimes you can find a guy on ebay that sells pure lead. Pure soft lead is all you want to use until you get more into pouring. Might try local salvage yards also for pure lead. Also check your dentist for the lead they use in their X-rays. Some have it laying around and will give it to you or sell for cheap.
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Charlie Weaver USN/ENC 1965-1979
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Charlie Weaver USN/ENC 1965-1979
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I buy my lead on eBay get ten pounds and you will pour heads for a long time
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What about sinkers that you can buy commercially? Are they real lead? I will have an opportunity in the near future to buy some large salt water sinkers. I can probably acquire a good bit of lead quickly that way if the sinkers would be OK to melt down and turn into jig heads.
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They should be fine in most cases. Just check them. If they will scratch with your thumbnail should be good to go. If they are large, home grown and shinny could be wheel weight metal. That stuff works ok in large molds that are hand poured. Unless it is just poured good lead will be almost dark gray colored.
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Have to cut it up.
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Charlie Weaver USN/ENC 1965-1979
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X2!Originally Posted by cray
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