JimC
Contributor
I am sorry there are no pictures, I forgot the digital camera. I will take some shots of the finished product tonight and post them after I sand down all the rough spots.
The Prep:
Bucket in hand, I waltzed into the nearest Canadian Tire and inquired about purchasing some old, used tire lead. 10 minutes later, I had bucket of very dirty lead and a good sized tub of plumbers putty. Lead was free, puty cost 5 bucks.
A short stop at Salvation Army and 1 dollar later I had a heavy duty aluminum pot. This pot is worth more than 1 dollar in al salvage. I was hoping to find a cast iron or steel pot, but the al worked perfectly.
I use a Halcyon single tank wing, with no STA so I needed tank band strap holes. I also couldn't use the mushroom bolt trick in the lead, since the tank sits right against the bolt heads. So we had to invent, which is always one of the fun parts of a DIY project. So we cut a 4 ceader shims to 2 inches and tapped them into the cam band holes. Created the putty dams at the ends of the trough and leveled the backplate up.
The Melt:
At this point we had the lead well under way. But after a good 10 minutes the top wasn't melting at all. So we took a propane torch to the top lead and melted it down until it stopped settling. Now each tire lead weight had a steal clip in it to hold it against the tire. We were both expecting these to sink to the bottom. After a few minutes of watching this pile of guck and steal clips we clued in that the clips were floating on the lead. DUH!
2 minutes later we had a good sized pot of shinny lead.
The First Pour:
Welding mitts on, vice grip locked onto the pot for a solid 2 hand grip and a slow pour of lead into the backplate. But now, wait! Its not running under the ceader bridges! Its cooling off to fast, no... my p-weight! My father was doing the actual pour and we poured the whole pot into the plate. Hosed down everything and dropped the lead out of the plate. It was a disaster, and 15 pounds of lead. Way to much.
Back to the melting pot with you!
The Second Pour:
This time we got our act together. We got the pipe clamp bench out (did I mention my Father is a plumber?) and clamped the plate down so we could get at the bottom. Redid our plumbers putty and got the propane torch ready. Lead melting in the pot we prepared the plate with judicious use of the propane torch. The pour went smooth, with the hot plate. We ran the torch during the pour to ensure good flow under the ceader bridges.
A bit of water and cooling time later, we pulled the ceader out, dropped out the lead and drilled the bolt holes.
Its just over 8lbs, and looks like a work of art if I do say so my self. Net cost, 6 bucks of materials and about 3 bucks worth of napthaline.
The Prep:
Bucket in hand, I waltzed into the nearest Canadian Tire and inquired about purchasing some old, used tire lead. 10 minutes later, I had bucket of very dirty lead and a good sized tub of plumbers putty. Lead was free, puty cost 5 bucks.
A short stop at Salvation Army and 1 dollar later I had a heavy duty aluminum pot. This pot is worth more than 1 dollar in al salvage. I was hoping to find a cast iron or steel pot, but the al worked perfectly.
I use a Halcyon single tank wing, with no STA so I needed tank band strap holes. I also couldn't use the mushroom bolt trick in the lead, since the tank sits right against the bolt heads. So we had to invent, which is always one of the fun parts of a DIY project. So we cut a 4 ceader shims to 2 inches and tapped them into the cam band holes. Created the putty dams at the ends of the trough and leveled the backplate up.
The Melt:
At this point we had the lead well under way. But after a good 10 minutes the top wasn't melting at all. So we took a propane torch to the top lead and melted it down until it stopped settling. Now each tire lead weight had a steal clip in it to hold it against the tire. We were both expecting these to sink to the bottom. After a few minutes of watching this pile of guck and steal clips we clued in that the clips were floating on the lead. DUH!
2 minutes later we had a good sized pot of shinny lead.
The First Pour:
Welding mitts on, vice grip locked onto the pot for a solid 2 hand grip and a slow pour of lead into the backplate. But now, wait! Its not running under the ceader bridges! Its cooling off to fast, no... my p-weight! My father was doing the actual pour and we poured the whole pot into the plate. Hosed down everything and dropped the lead out of the plate. It was a disaster, and 15 pounds of lead. Way to much.
Back to the melting pot with you!
The Second Pour:
This time we got our act together. We got the pipe clamp bench out (did I mention my Father is a plumber?) and clamped the plate down so we could get at the bottom. Redid our plumbers putty and got the propane torch ready. Lead melting in the pot we prepared the plate with judicious use of the propane torch. The pour went smooth, with the hot plate. We ran the torch during the pour to ensure good flow under the ceader bridges.
A bit of water and cooling time later, we pulled the ceader out, dropped out the lead and drilled the bolt holes.
Its just over 8lbs, and looks like a work of art if I do say so my self. Net cost, 6 bucks of materials and about 3 bucks worth of napthaline.
