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Jul 17, 2008. 11:26 AMUnit042
says:
This idea is great for making light-duty, small, non-precision parts that won't come into contact with human skin quickly. Solder isn't very hard compared to other metals, but it does have a low melting point, and it's cheaper to melt and cast. Nice ible, I'm gonna try this when I have a chance. My solder station/workbench has blobs of solder from when I've been soldering onto a component, but I had too much on the iron, and it falls off into pretty puddles. I should think that lead free solder (for water supply plumbing pipes) would be safer to use. I have always used lead solder for my electronics because it was cheap, and I was not aware of any viable lead free alternatives at the time.
Jul 17, 2008. 1:05 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
yep. its been a long time since i made this. i havent done casting this way in forever. i use aluminum, and i sand cast it. much better, lightweight parts, sorta accurate. and its not poisonous. you could also use zinc. or a zinc alloy like ZAMAK(sp?). or if you have the correct setup, brass, bronze, etc. zinc is SHINY...Al, too. but zinc is like...woah.
Jul 15, 2008. 5:43 AMRedgerr
says:
Wow! impressive, i will deffinatly use this, although i wont use a torch i have a Soldering gun and it melts it like butter :) thanks for the idea! cant wait to use :P
Jun 13, 2008. 9:45 AMconrad2468
says:
i get a torch and some lead pellet gun pellets and melt them down in the end i made a nice shiny glob/semi-brick of lead and it is very soft
Aug 9, 2007. 4:41 PMandy60
says:
i made the mould from clay i found, ground to a very fine powder, then added a little water and shaped the mold, then i heated it in an improvised kiln for 2 days and its very sturdy!
Aug 11, 2007. 6:43 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
I'm curious... what was your "improvised kiln"?
Aug 12, 2007. 3:00 PMandy60
says:
it was just a tin box lol but it really kept the heat in! if you know any better idea for a kiln let me know but untill then the box works fine:)
I've found decorating filler pretty good, e.g. Polyfilla(R). Thoroughly dried, you can produce some good lead-castings. I've done lost-wax castings in this way, but admit to only having pulled the wax out, never tried melting. I note also that wheel balancing weights are pretty easy to find for a source of lead if you look...
Feb 4, 2007. 2:00 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
What I meant is to keep the mold moist and pliable, not soaking wet. -Update: Do NOT use a wet mold- lead will fly out and burn like heck!
i made a little gun an THEY DONT HAVE TO BE "EXACT" ..and the bullets i make are round..... ..1/16 of an inch round....
Apr 7, 2007. 6:16 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
What do you mean "these"? This instructable was meant to show a method of casting parts in lead, and the bullets were for an example.
Nov 1, 2006. 8:41 AMevilgummybears
says:
to shoot bullets from a weapon (or even put them in the shell) they have to be pretty darn exact. i dont know if this would work.
Oct 31, 2006. 6:32 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
Yeah, that was where my original idea came from. The person who came up with the idea originally used epoxy. I changed that, and used lead, although i've found that you can use hot glue too.
Oct 15, 2006. 6:08 AMCrash2108
says:
I believe that it is safe to have some wet mold because lead/bismuth/tin melts only at about 500 degrees, while other metals like silver or steel melt at several thousands of degrees.
Oct 31, 2006. 3:30 PM_soapy_
says:
The danger is in the trapped steam trying very hard to get out of the sealed mould as it gets superheated by hot molten metal. It fires the metal back out as it leaves, you see. 500F is still just as dangerous as 1000F. Only one of the ultra-low temp. mixes would be safe in a damp mould, as they melt at below 100oC, so won't turn any water into steam.
Oct 12, 2006. 10:25 AMnurd
says:
This was a cool one. I ended up making lego spears with it.... XD @zofo. "dat" isnt a word... and i can barely understand your posts...
Oct 19, 2006. 9:40 PMbigpinecone
says:
what my friend and i did was we took a soup can and put it on the side burner of his grill and melted the solder in that kinda hard to pour, but it's really fun my friend made a cross and i made an ingot it was fun
Oct 2, 2006. 3:23 PMandresm
says:
its also fun to do air rifle pellets but with ice, so u just make the mold and wait.....
Oct 10, 2006. 8:17 PMzofo300
says:
do u have to use lead if theres a up and down side to miakeing lead and copper and ect. here copper ones will go rite through your prey down side there not posinis the lead one is the complete oppseit.
Sep 23, 2006. 6:33 PMDark_Helmet
says:
Coudn't you use bismuth shot and melt it in an old spoon? It seems like that would be safer and still meet your requirements. Unless it's metallic, of course. You can get bismuth at sporting goods stores and it's easier to find than lead solder.
Sep 23, 2006. 8:12 PMFrenchCrawler
says:
For me (if I actually felt like going to get it) it would only take about five minutes to get some lead solder (lucky me). The closest hardware store (small though it may be) carries both lead and leadless solder. But I'm all set using the leadless solder for what I need.
Sep 22, 2006. 9:13 PMTrans_Am
says:
You can still buy lead solder you know? Or are you (FrenchCrawler) saying you have some? Lead solder is cheaper too.
Sep 23, 2006. 4:27 PMFrenchCrawler
says:
My dad said he has some in the basement. Where though, he doesn't know. I usually just use the lead-free solder, but one day when I'm really bored, I'll probably sacrifice myself to the basement monsters to find out where they've hid the lead solder (Too many boxes and jumbles of junk down there).
Sep 21, 2006. 7:00 PMAlexTheGreat
says:
try using dried clay moisture tends to explode in high heat and if your using very high heat you have to bake the clay on monday i was casting aluminum and my mold exploded because i didn't bake the clay. the clay was completely dry though, or so i thought. I found aluminum globs more than 10 feet from the cast, so it can be dangerous to cast metal if you're not careful.
Ever considered using epoxy? Granted it's not metal, but I'm sure it's a lot safer for your non-conductive needs. Just be sure to lightly spray your original or die tool with silicone so itwill release from the Play-Doh easily.
Sep 21, 2006. 7:50 PMrotor
says:
Yeah, nothing says "fun weekend project" like flying bits of molten metal. I think the author got away with it because the bits are small. But pouring molten metal over something wet is definitely something you don't want to do. Fun Lead Fact #114: the word "plumbing" has it's root in the latin word for lead: "plumbum"
Sep 22, 2006. 7:47 AMxsmurf
says:
Fun Lead Fact #114 Addendum: In French the word lead is "plomb" and plumbing "plomberie", which much better reflects the etymology.
Sep 22, 2006. 8:17 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
In my above comment, in the last sentence, I was responding to jake.
Sep 22, 2006. 3:51 PMJohn Smith (author)
says:
About the screw, I really don't know. It Is pretty cruddy for a alcohol burner, but it works-kinda. I haven't used it in a while, and the alcohol is dirty. They are pretty hard, but if you were making something thin in thickness, another harder metal would be better.
Sep 21, 2006. 11:01 PMFrenchCrawler
says:
Any reason there's a screw in your burner? Just wondering....
Sep 22, 2006. 5:01 AMmrbob1000
says:
hmmm... it makes no sense to me you kno you could always make a nail if you make long mold of a nail and add the head on the top... yep you could be a maker of fine grade nails
Sep 22, 2006. 6:27 AMJakeTobak
says:
How hard are these things? Wouldn't they be pretty soft? Not like pillow soft, but soft like solder soft.
Sep 22, 2006. 7:14 AMFrenchCrawler
says:
Not, if you use the solder with lead in it (usually thicker and harder to melt). Unfortunately, I have lead-free solder. But there's tales of long lost lead solder somewhere in the basement..... Now I just gotta find it.
Sep 21, 2006. 10:59 PMFrenchCrawler
says:
Nice.. I did something like this but it was just random designs I routered into wood (I was bored :P ) and I also used a solder iron to evenly distribute to solder.
Sep 21, 2006. 8:16 PMgrenades_and_ham
says:
yea i was melting some tire weights for lead for a cap and ball revolver. and there was some water on it. and all im gonna say thank god i actually wore the face shield. cuz that crap would be HOT!!!!!!. i just use a little pot that i bought at the salvation army and a camp stove to melt the lead
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