Weight of Lee ingot's

[zuke]

Does anybody have a scale handy to weigh up a LEE ingot?
I fill mine right up to the top edge so their less likely to break up when I'm handeling them, so I'd like to know how much they actually weigh.

[mooman76]

They are suppose to be 1# and if I remember right they had a ingot mould that had 2-1# and 2- 1/2 #. It really is a matter of how full you fill the mould. Mine came pretty close to a # but I don't have a accurate scal for that range.

[largom]

A general rule of thumb would be 1 Lb. BUT, that depends upon the alloy and how full one pours the ingot. If you are just trying to get an idea of how much material you have then use the 1 lb. figure. If you are blending alloy's such as 2 to 1 WW & PB then that 1 lb. figure would not be close enough for me. Ingot weights could easily vary 10-15%. When blending I weigh everything others may disagree.

Larry

[randyrat]

Also depends on the alloy. For example; an ingot filled to the top made of a lot of tin will weigh less than an ingot of WWs. Or an ingot made of pure soft lead will weigh more than one of WWs.
Puzzled the hell out of me years ago untill i read about it.

Damn how do you get one metal to weigh more than another, figer thayt one out. Of course, that was before i figured out a fellow had to read once on a while. So my english teacher was right, reading was important. She still bothered me( i have a another choice of words i would like to use) .

[cbrick]

The easiest method would be to get a postal scale from an office supply place and weigh them. I use a digital 5# scale (about $35.00) for this but they also have spring type scales for even less.

Like largom I weigh the ingots and then weigh out the correct percentage of tin I'm adding, alloy stays consistent this way.

Rick

[oldtoolsniper]

Having made more than a few ingot molds I can tell you that it is not an exact science. There are far too many variables in alloys to say that you will get a certain weight each and every time you pour. The members here helped me to get the molds I make dialed in to close to two pounds but they still need to be weighed if you are mixing for a specific repeatable alloy.

[fredj338]

It's close enough to a pound for all but the most anal.

[helg]

I fill my Lee ingot mold to the level of inner wall, so the 4 ingots are not connected. This gives 14.3 oz in a big ingot and 7.4 in a small one on my scale, which is less than 1 and 1/2 pounds respectively.

Water capacity of the mold to the level of outer walls measures to 144 cubical centimeters. Pure lead at melting point has density of 10.66 grams per cu cm. With the above numbers, the ingot filled to the outer walls of the mold should weigh 1535 grams or 3.38 pounds, which is more than 1+1+1/2+1/2.

[Recluse]

Hmmmm. Never thought all that much about it.

I use a variety of ingot moulds to keep my alloy separate. I use the Lyman moulds for straight WW alloy, Lee 1-pound for pure lead, Lee 1/2-pound for linotype, RCBS for high-content linotype/super-hard alloy, and Saeco for Lyman #2.

It's almost impossible for me to pour the molten alloy perfectly level in any of those moulds, then have it cool and harden level with the edges.

[armyrat1970]

They are suppose to be 1# and if I remember right they had a ingot mould that had 2-1# and 2- 1/2 #. It really is a matter of how full you fill the mould. Mine came pretty close to a # but I don't have a accurate scal for that range.

Yeah that is the Lee ingot mold that I have. I use it and muffin pans to pour ingots. One thing about muffin pans though is you have to have a few as they get very hot. And as cbrick stated I have a postal scale to weigh each ingot because they are not going to all come out the same no matter how hard you try.

[Oldtimer]

Dont know about the Lee, but with straight WW, my lymaz weighs about 1 lb. give or take a little. (1/2 oz. or so). You can almost never fill to the exact same spot every time you pour. Bob

[JIMinPHX]

You can squeeze a little over a pound in them if you fill them right up. Its hard to go over a pound & not accidentally bridge some of the ingots together. I usually pour mine a little short. 50 of my ingots usually weigh about 47ish pounds give or take 1-2 pounds. They stack in 30 cal ammo cans better when I pour them a tad under that way.