Melting lead for ballast

[Steve Mansell]

Hi,
I'm running out of places to fix lead ballast to on my Fokker D7. I have collected all the small lead offcuts and want to melt it so I have a single small sheet. Is it safe to use a food tin can (Heinz 57) and a blow torch, (no, not in the kitchen!) or do I need to use something more substantial?

Cheers
Steve

[Paul Williams]

I have used bean cans in the past, cut it down a bit and bend a pouring spout and use mole grips to hold it

[Bob Thompson1894]

and dont breathe the fumes!

[Steve Mansell]

Many thanks,

Fumes from the lead, or from me after eating all the beans!
Steve

[Richard Cohen]

My method is exactly that !
Steel tin (cleaned) with a pouring spout bent into top lip. I make a mould from hard wood offcuts to the size I require. I put the lead scrap in the tin, then heat it up on the vice jaws till liquid (with workshop door open to ventilate). Lift off with big grips and pour into mould. There is a bit of smoke but it cools solid in 20-30 seconds. quench and knock out of mould. VOILA !
While I am in a smelting mood, I make up lead ingots with any remaining lead which I can use at a later date.

Rich

[Steve Mansell]

thanks everyone, all done! (didn't burn the shed down either).

[Dave Cooper]

Steve - just as a safety feature, make sure that there is no water / moisture etc. trapped in the bottom of the tin before putting the solid lead in. I use your method too, plus, I use some heat-protective gloves (same as for putting logs in the wood-burner). Lead splatter /burns can be nasty. Also, some eye protection would be good too.

Dave C

[Steve Mansell]

Dave, I have a load of PPE from work, so I was suited up with gloves, goggles etc. because this is new to me I didn't want to take any chances! Need more weight in the nose though, should have left the Z38 magneto, instead of going electronic with a rcexel unit.
Live and learn
Steve

[Dave Cooper]

Steve - glad to hear the safety side is up to scratch !
I wonder if there's any scope to move engine /cowl further forward a few mil's ? I had to do this recently on an electric conversion and found that around 4-5mm did the trick without spoiling the scale effect and better than carrying all that dead weight around...

Happy CG hunting !
Dave C