Firephoto798
New Member
I see a lot of lead alloy formulas described as xxx plus 2% tin. My question is how does one add 2% tin? What is the source and form of the added tin?
2% tin added
- Thread starter Firephoto798
- Start date
Weigh out starting material. Calculate the number of ounces, grams, whatever. Multiply that by .02 and get the number of whatever units you used of tin to add.
Tihis easy to get from Rotometals. The cut wire pieces work well and are small enough to let you get quite close to the exact amount required for 2% u less very small batches are being made.
Tihis easy to get from Rotometals. The cut wire pieces work well and are small enough to let you get quite close to the exact amount required for 2% u less very small batches are being made.
Firephoto798
New Member
Thanks for the feedback.
358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
You can purchase pure tin in ingot form from companies like Rotometals or Buffalo Arms, or you can scrounge "scrap" pewter which is almost pure tin in most cases. I'd recommend buying only hallmarked (manufacturer certified) pewter because there are lots of knockoffs that aren't even close to pewter.
https://www.rotometals.com/search.php?search_query=tin§ion=product
https://www.buffaloarms.com/bullet-...ied-tin-bars-priced-and-sold-by-the-pound-tin
https://www.rotometals.com/search.php?search_query=tin§ion=product
https://www.buffaloarms.com/bullet-...ied-tin-bars-priced-and-sold-by-the-pound-tin
Firephoto798
New Member
Thanks for the input.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
For many Years my go to Alloy was 50 % pure / 50 % Wheel weights with an additional 2 percent tin. I used to buy the tin on ebay.... sold as mini muffin tin wafers The guy had the best price always ....under market value.
Then Because it was impossible for me to get local sourced Wheel weights I went to Range scrap but I was lucky because 40 % of the range scrap from my range is commercial cast bullets!
I know it is a PITA but my wife and I sort out the commercial cast and I smelt that separately from the Jacketed stuff! When I cast I put one ingot of Commercial cast and 2 of the Jacketed lead ingots into my pot as a ratio.
For me alloy hardness is not as problematical as it used to be since I use PC coated bullets
Then Because it was impossible for me to get local sourced Wheel weights I went to Range scrap but I was lucky because 40 % of the range scrap from my range is commercial cast bullets!
I know it is a PITA but my wife and I sort out the commercial cast and I smelt that separately from the Jacketed stuff! When I cast I put one ingot of Commercial cast and 2 of the Jacketed lead ingots into my pot as a ratio.
For me alloy hardness is not as problematical as it used to be since I use PC coated bullets
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
As Jim alludes to, the first question is, What are you using to for alloy now?" You ma not need tin. Used to be people added tin to help with mould fill out. Then we learned that a hot mould made all that easier and you didn't always need more tin. Get the mould hot, which is different than what your pot temp is at, and see how what you have works. Tin is rather expensive.
Firephoto798
New Member
Thanks to all for the comments and responses.
Most of my casting is done with roughly a 50/50 mix of lead and wheel weights with some line-o-type added. I have the pot temp at around 710 degrees and I cast rather fast to keep the mold hot. This mix gives me a BNH of around 12 which is fine for most of what I do. I have a couple of molds, one .38 and one .44, that do not fill out well and wanted to add more tin to see if that helped. If I just add more line-o-type they don't cast well and varying temp does not seem to help either. Mostly I was trying to understand the comment about "....with 2% added tin" to see how it is usually done thinking that maybe adding straight tin rather than the type metal might make things better.
Most of my casting is done with roughly a 50/50 mix of lead and wheel weights with some line-o-type added. I have the pot temp at around 710 degrees and I cast rather fast to keep the mold hot. This mix gives me a BNH of around 12 which is fine for most of what I do. I have a couple of molds, one .38 and one .44, that do not fill out well and wanted to add more tin to see if that helped. If I just add more line-o-type they don't cast well and varying temp does not seem to help either. Mostly I was trying to understand the comment about "....with 2% added tin" to see how it is usually done thinking that maybe adding straight tin rather than the type metal might make things better.
I use an RCBS bottom pour electric pot. When I cast, I always leave a small amount in the pot (it helps to keep from overheating the pot leading to short life as opposed to running it dry). The small amount of molten lead, when I start another batch, also speeds up the melt when filling the pot with bullet metal ingots.
1- Pot is cold, has a couple of pounds of bullet metal left in the bottom from when I shut down.
2- I have a large scale sitting on the bench near my pot. I also have a small postal scale sitting next to it.
3- I weigh the cold bullet metal before putting in the pot on the large scale. Record the weight.
4- Fill the pot with the weighed metal
5-Turn the pot on and wait thirty minutes (I also put the mold on my electric hot plate and turn it on to heat the mold while waiting for my lead pot
to come up to heat.
6-My bullet metal is clip on WW's.
7-Return to the pot (all bullet metal is up to heat except what is needed to to bring the pot nearly up to fill limit). I have a two burner hot plate. One
burner is set for the bullet mold, and one burner is set to pre-heat extra bullet metal ingots. The "extra" bullet metal is heated so there is no
condensation with cold ingots to explode the lead pot when adding cold bullet metal to molten metal.
8- All basic metal is added after weighing. It sounds laborious but takes no time and little effort. Then, it is time to add the tin. I know how much "new
metal has been added. I have a pocket calculator and quickly determine how much tin is to be added. My tin is in small muffins. Say I need six
ounces of tin added to give me my 2%. I simply pick up a muffin, weigh it on the small postal scale. Then, I use a pair of water pump pliers to hold
the tin muffin and simply melt off what I need (checking it with the small postal scale). This, again, sounds laborious, it is NOT! It simply takes a
minute and I am done.
9- We all know that using this method it won't be EXACT (as if I were a scientist) but is VERY close. I keep the bullets from each pot separate, so that
I don't accidentally load bullets from different pots that might vary. Using my "system" seems to be overly careful, but I cast match quality bullets
all the time using this method and bullets in the same batch weigh the same and are the same alloy, etc.
Short answer to the original question, just simply melt off the tin ingots to give you the added tin you need to bring up the alloy to 2% tin.
Sorry for the extra details, but hopefully it will be useful information.
FWIW
Dale53
1- Pot is cold, has a couple of pounds of bullet metal left in the bottom from when I shut down.
2- I have a large scale sitting on the bench near my pot. I also have a small postal scale sitting next to it.
3- I weigh the cold bullet metal before putting in the pot on the large scale. Record the weight.
4- Fill the pot with the weighed metal
5-Turn the pot on and wait thirty minutes (I also put the mold on my electric hot plate and turn it on to heat the mold while waiting for my lead pot
to come up to heat.
6-My bullet metal is clip on WW's.
7-Return to the pot (all bullet metal is up to heat except what is needed to to bring the pot nearly up to fill limit). I have a two burner hot plate. One
burner is set for the bullet mold, and one burner is set to pre-heat extra bullet metal ingots. The "extra" bullet metal is heated so there is no
condensation with cold ingots to explode the lead pot when adding cold bullet metal to molten metal.
8- All basic metal is added after weighing. It sounds laborious but takes no time and little effort. Then, it is time to add the tin. I know how much "new
metal has been added. I have a pocket calculator and quickly determine how much tin is to be added. My tin is in small muffins. Say I need six
ounces of tin added to give me my 2%. I simply pick up a muffin, weigh it on the small postal scale. Then, I use a pair of water pump pliers to hold
the tin muffin and simply melt off what I need (checking it with the small postal scale). This, again, sounds laborious, it is NOT! It simply takes a
minute and I am done.
9- We all know that using this method it won't be EXACT (as if I were a scientist) but is VERY close. I keep the bullets from each pot separate, so that
I don't accidentally load bullets from different pots that might vary. Using my "system" seems to be overly careful, but I cast match quality bullets
all the time using this method and bullets in the same batch weigh the same and are the same alloy, etc.
Short answer to the original question, just simply melt off the tin ingots to give you the added tin you need to bring up the alloy to 2% tin.
Sorry for the extra details, but hopefully it will be useful information.
FWIW
Dale53
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), a PVC pipe cutter available from a home improvement store for about $8 very easily cuts off the precise amount of tin needed. I also use a postal scale to weigh out the ingots and the tin.
fiver
Well-Known Member
or just loosening the sprue plate.
or changing your pour technique to allow air to escape.
or running a razor or X-acto blade across the vent lines.
or lightly stoning the top edges of the mold.
or all of the above.
and sometimes [a lot of/most of the times] the mold just needs some break in runs to work it's best.
or all of the above.
or changing your pour technique to allow air to escape.
or running a razor or X-acto blade across the vent lines.
or lightly stoning the top edges of the mold.
or all of the above.
and sometimes [a lot of/most of the times] the mold just needs some break in runs to work it's best.
or all of the above.
Firephoto798
New Member
Thanks, I will try some of those ideas. As far as how are they not filled, the bases are not always filled out. I have worked with the sprue plate and also angled the mold when pouring.
JonB
Halcyon member
As others pointed out, you don't always need to add tin.
Anyway, the tin I have scrounged is as follows:
>Beer cooler tubing (AKA: Block Tin), ask your local scrap yard.
>Lead-free solder from a factory wave solder machine cleanout, from a Seller at the other forum.
>recovered Plumbing/autobody solder (it's usually 50-50 or 60-40), word of mouth with Plumbers or craigslist.
>One time, I got a bucket of rolls of old fine wire rosin-core electronic solder (63-37) from a guy how does building cleanouts ...BTW, smelting that into ingots is smoky/stinky/messy until you figure out out how to get the flux absorbed in sawdust.
Anyway, the tin I have scrounged is as follows:
>Beer cooler tubing (AKA: Block Tin), ask your local scrap yard.
>Lead-free solder from a factory wave solder machine cleanout, from a Seller at the other forum.
>recovered Plumbing/autobody solder (it's usually 50-50 or 60-40), word of mouth with Plumbers or craigslist.
>One time, I got a bucket of rolls of old fine wire rosin-core electronic solder (63-37) from a guy how does building cleanouts ...BTW, smelting that into ingots is smoky/stinky/messy until you figure out out how to get the flux absorbed in sawdust.
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Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Read what Fiver said a buncha times. Let the alloy run over the sprue plate to get it hotter.
Are you using a ladle or that tool of satan, the bottom pour? A ladle allows a lot more flexibility IMO, but many people have wonderful success with a BP. Either way, there are tricks to each that help.
Are you using a ladle or that tool of satan, the bottom pour? A ladle allows a lot more flexibility IMO, but many people have wonderful success with a BP. Either way, there are tricks to each that help.
Firephoto798
New Member
I'm using a bottom pour pot. As I noted, this only happens with 2 molds. All of my other molds seem to do very well with my alloy combo.
Thanks for all the comments and input. Much appreciated.
Thanks for all the comments and input. Much appreciated.