Casting indoor

[HABCAN]

dragonrider's post #11................+1.
I smelt only out in the open-door garage in the Spring as soon as local temps hit 20*F, then cast all year only indoors in the 'gun room', and if fluxing (very seldom) needed, open the window and any smoke sucks right out. No fans. No filters. Been smelting/casting like that on and off for over seventy years and no ill effects. (Started with lead soldiers as a CHILD.) Never had a visit from the Tinsel Fairy. Maybe being properly scared to death of molten lead has something to do with it.

[gwpercle]

The real danger comes from spilling lead on the formica counter top or vinyl floor....wife gets upset !

[RKJ]

Yeah I'll probably get flak for this but...I cast indoors.
READ: CAST...Not smelt.

All smelting is done outside for what should be obvious reasons. Clean lead is then used in my bottom pour which I don't flux (never needed to) & thats done in the air conditioned back room of our house.
I also don't cast daily. Maybe once or twice every 4-6 months as needed.

But ya know what?
I don't use those sanitizer wipes for grocery carts the store offers.
I eat bacon.
I use real butter.
I take 4-5 advil instead of the recommended 2.

Yeah. I live on the edge

My God Man! Stop the madness.

I cast in my basement garage and have the door open most of the time and a small fan blowing.

[Frank V]

I have cast indoors & would open a window, but moved outside under the carport.
Now I have a garage & cast in the garage. I open the big car door, & the door in the back of the garage. Usually there will be enough air movement to pull the smoke out the smaller door in the back. I adjust airflow by how high I open the big door.

[Yodogsandman]

I smelt outside on a good day. I cast inside my closed barn, mostly. When I flux or reduce inside, I leave for a little bit and let it clear out before going back. I thought I needed a fan for a while but, my blood levels were real low (<3).

I did have slightly elevated lead blood levels (<10) for about a year that I traced back to gathering range scrap. I screened the bullets from the sand, shaking vigorously and then dumped them in a bucket. This put lead oxide dust in the air which I must have ingested by breathing it in.

[michaelcopeland2]

I got it

[groundsclown]

So I see I'm like most here & cast indoors. No special fans or ducts. All done in the FL room (those from FL or the south know what that is) which is also my reloading/computer room.
Again I don't flux, no need to & the only smells I get are from the 2 cycle oil I use on the sprue plate...applied with a bare finger!! But then I pump my own gas like a man

I'm not suggesting everyone throw caution to the wind. Quite the opposite. Do what YOU feel comfortable doing...or what your spouse feels comfortable with.
Personally I'm more concerned with the dust from emptying my tumbler...And even then I dump it into a separator & churn away without a mask. I do wash up often though when casting/reloading etc.

[glicerin]

X2 BNE: suck the fumes from top of lee pot thru a small hood to outside. Mostly for flux fumes( wax may eventually choke the fan), and dusty oxides from the lead surface.

[Boolseye]

I did have slightly elevated lead blood levels (<10) for about a year that I traced back to gathering range scrap. I screened the bullets from the sand, shaking vigorously and then dumped them in a bucket. This put lead oxide dust in the air which I must have ingested by breathing it in.

Same here. I was at 16 a couple years ago, don't know where its at now.

[toallmy]

Just been casting for about 6 months in the basement with a lee 20 . Much better than the barn with my smoking gas burner it almost choked me first time out . I melt up my lead and clean it up outside . I flux with beeswax in the house .I am going to get the doc to check my lead level next trip to office,but I am more concerned about handling the lead I am a hevie smoker.that's what is going to get me.

[Ola]

This video gave me the idea. Because there isn't a suitable hole nearby in any of the walls of my reloading room, I couldn't do it the same way. So I included a flexible duct pipe. The other end is attached to the fan, and other end is above the pot. It sucks the fumes right out.

Just in case someone gets interested:

-a computer fan (had to buy it because didn't have one big enough. used, 2 dollars)
-a used transformer (actually a charger from a battery operated drill. Free)
-a flexible duct pipe (hardware store, about 12 dollars)
-some duct tape

[Swede 45]

I do pretty much all my casting and melting indoors at work.. (Isn´t it great to be able to do private stuff on pay time? )
I have a hooded outlet fan above my workbench that extracts 860 liters of air / second.. (Aprox 30 cubic feet/sec ?)

At home I cast in my garage when needed.. got my bench along the outer wall..got a old kitchen fan mounted above the pot with ventexhaust outside..
And that fan has a worklight that gives good lighting of the pot too ..

[varmint243]

My lab tests are back
It seems my lead level is elevated
I salvage range scrap, cast, reload, and shoot.
I smelt outdoors and cast at the edge of my garage with the big box fan blowing out the door.
I believed I was being appropriately careful, apparently not careful enough
Others should take note
There is no substitute for actual testing/test results


================================================== =======================
Lab Test: Lead
Lab Type: Chemistry/Hematology
Ordering Provider: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Ordering Location: MARTINSBURG VAMC
Specimen: Blood (substance)
Date/Time Collected: 21 Aug 2015 @ 1402
Collected Location: MARTINSBURG VAMC
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test Name: LEAD
Result: 18 High
Units: mcg/dl
Reference Range: (0-10)
Interpretation: --
Performing Location: MARTINSBURG VAMC 510 BUTLER AVENUE , MARTINSBURG, WV
25405-9990
Status: Final
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments: Testing performed at Quest Laboratories, Chantilly, VA.
================================================== =======================

[Texantothecore]

I cast on a rolling cart from hf. Just roll it onto the driveway and cast away. I also use a shop fan. It works for me.

[white eagle]

Lab results are not a worry at least long term
had the same tests done mine was elevated as well
however I had just recently worked around lead
after I stopped it went down,confirmed by retest
I cast in a semi open area in a garage with the door open
never enclosed might be at more risk of contamination in a totally
enclosed space.....food for thought

[jmorris]

I cast in my shop and the smell is just too strong...

What is the smell? I smelt outside as there is stuff burning out of the pile of scrap but when I re melt the ingots and cast there is no smoke or smell.

[trapper9260]

I cast indoors but smelt out side.I set up usen the chimmy that can not be use for wood stove or furnace anymore because of the shape it is in.So I got a bathroom fan from Menards and then made a hood and put AL flashing on the bench also a small light and the fan sucks the fumes so much that it draws all the heat out of the house and then put a board over it with holes drill in it to control how much heat would be draw out.Have no problems.

[Cherokee]

Melt and flux and clean my alloy outside, pour igots for casting later. All casting is done inside in A/C basement, no special vent arrangemens. Been doing that since 1968.

[robertsm53]

Flux outside, and cast on a bench with window fan in front of me sucking from behind me and blowing directly out the open window

[porthos]

I cast indoors . I made a alumimum frame out of aluminum 1x1 angle. it sets around my furnace . above the furnace is mounted a small fan (I think that they are called computer or instrument fans) on top of the frame a funneled hood is above the fan, connected to the hood is a several foot section of flexable 3 inch duct work such as used for cloths dryers. I have glass block windows in my basement. the windows have a 2 block section that is a screen. it vents the fumes outside. I think that it works well.