zink

[farrell]

After being away many yrs from casting Im getting back. I didn't know about the zink problem and melted about 100 lbs of ww. Some did float so I threw them out, but on second bucket I only had two to float. How can I tell if I have mixed any zink in my ww.

[454PB]

First, welcome to the forum!

It's not zink, it's zinc. If you have zinc contaminated alloy, you will have mould fill out problems and crappy looking boolits. You really have to make an effort to melt zinc WW's, since zinc melts at 787 degrees. Most likely, the ones you found floating and removed were probably made of steel.

[oneokie]

Use Muratic acid to test for zinc. The presence of zinc will cause bubbling/foaming on your ingots. Do not breathe the fumes.

[leftiye]

Farrell, As soon as your wheelweights melt, skim everything off of the top! Lead at this point (barely melted - just after the mush is gone) will be between 550 and 600 degrees if there is not already contamination in your wheelweights. I did 150 lbs today, and checked temp on a batch just after liquefication and got about 580 degrees. Zinc will not melt until well over 700 degrees. If you keep the temp down and skim at the lower temp, the zinc and steel that you miss when sorting will be skimmed off with the clips. I got a handfull of these also today. The fly in the ointment is that some of the remanufactured wws have zinc in them already. These will also melt at a higher temp, and should skim off.

[waco]

if you get the "purple haze" on the top of your pot....
you know you have zink in your mix.
waco

[Tom Herman]

First, welcome to the forum!

It's not zink, it's zinc.

It depends on where you are from. Zink and Zinc are essentially interchangeable. Being from Europe, I tend to call it Zink, although a good amount of folks on this side of the Atlantic call it Zinc.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Paratrooper]

Drop them on the floor one at a time . The lead will THUD and the zinc will RING .

[qajaq59]

Use Muratic acid to test for zinc. The presence of zinc will cause bubbling/foaming on your ingots. Do not breathe the fumes.

Now that is a handy thing to know.
Thanks Qajaq

[13Echo]

Purple haze will also show up on pure lead. Not a good indicator of zinc contamination.

Jerry Liles

[Leadforbrains]

if you get the "purple haze" on the top of your pot....
you know you have zink in your mix.
waco

Yep Purple haze is bad for you. Please pour all of your melt with the purple haze into ingots and ship them to me promptly...... This has been a public service anouncement from the emergency broadside system.

[hoosierlogger]

It depends on where you are from. Zink and Zinc are essentially interchangeable. Being from Europe, I tend to call it Zink, although a good amount of folks on this side of the Atlantic call it Zinc.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

Kind of like tire and Tyre. Americans call them tires and Aussies call them Tyres. Just depends on where you are from.

[WHITETAIL]

farrell, Welcon to the forum!

[Tom Herman]

Kind of like tire and Tyre. Americans call them tires and Aussies call them Tyres. Just depends on where you are from.

And there is Aluminum vs. Aluminium... It's endless... I gave up kvetching about spelling a long time ago... Life is too short. What matters is that we're communicating, and that people understand each other. Beyond that, I let grammar and spelling slide unless it's a scholarly work, then I'll jump on it with both feet.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[jnovotny]

I think too much has been made of the dreaded zinc monster. If you pay attention to your melt as you are processing your ww and pull out the floaters, then don't worry about zinc. And the purple haze is not zinc its found mostly in pure lead. So welcome to the site and enjoy casting without the worries.
John

[Bret4207]

I think too much has been made of the dreaded zinc monster. If you pay attention to your melt as you are processing your ww and pull out the floaters, then don't worry about zinc. And the purple haze is not zinc its found mostly in pure lead. So welcome to the site and enjoy casting without the worries.
John

Ditto. 'Nuff said.

[wildwes]

Once in a while I accidentally melt some zinc WW in the pot, generally when I'm preoccupied and not paying as much attention to what I'm adding as I should, but if I do contaminate it and have fill out problems, or wrinkled boolits, I usually just add some pure lead to dilute the zinc some, and up the flame on the coleman stove a little. I realize this isn't very conducive to having a consistent alloy, and isn't a very "scientific" approach to the problem, but it works fine for me, and generally I don't see it opening my groups up any, as I'm generally the limiting factor, not my ammunition or guns.