Weighting an STA

[Jerome O'Neil]

So, I've collected about three million tons of lead over the years, and figure I could put some of it to good use by weighting my backplate up a bit. I want to dump some molten lead into the single tank adapter. Of course this means

• Dealing with fire, which can burn down the house, cause severe pain, and other side effects.
• Dealing with lead, which is a lovely, lovely neurotoxin, particularly when heated.
• Pouring molten metals into another metal, which I'm not smart enough to fully understand the repercussions of. And yes, that sentence ends in a preposition. So deal! And also, the whole "pouring" thing. That's new, too.

I've got both stainless and aluminum STAs. I'll probably weight up the stainless one first, as the aluminum ones are generally travel plates for sunny climes.

Anyway, anyone ever do this? Anything I should keep in mind to reduce the risk of burning my face off? My wife would be mad if she came home to a three alarm fire.

 

[tbone1004]

are the sta's designed to be weighted or no? some of them that are more "v" looking aren't designed to take a weight and you may not get any performance out of them. The ones that are C-channels are though and those should be fairly easy.

other than that, read up on some old threads on here
Casting lead weights---Lessons learned

 

[Jerome O'Neil]

The aluminum ones are Vs. The stainless is a c-channel.

Thanks for the pointer! I knew I wasn't the only guy that has done this.

 

[tbone1004]

highly unlikely you'll be able to get any amount of lead in the V's that would be worth the effort. The ones with c-channels are obviously designed for the weight insert. When you pour into that, make sure that you only pour up to the cam band slots. If you want to make it profiled like the branded ones, you'll probably have to make a mold. Shouldn't be that difficult with wood, but you have to cover it in water glass so it doesn't explode, make sure it is perfectly dry etc etc. May or may not be deemed worth your time.

You could also pour into the STA up to the cam bands 2-3x and then trim the center sections out and glue them together to build up the center section. Probably easier that way

 

[Jerome O'Neil]

If I was going to mill out around the cam bands, could I do that with a standard woodworking router (which I have) and some jigs, or is there some other machinery I need to convince my wife to let me buy?

 

[tbone1004]

I'm not sure how lead behaves with a router. Unsure if it would bind it up really quick like aluminum does since it is so soft.

 

[dberry]

Trimming lead with a router strikes me as a really bad idea. Even if you have a speed control to slow down the router I'd wager it would (1) bind (galling), (2) spread finely divided lead everywhere, and if you're REALLY lucky (3) heat up enough to melt the lead and send a spray of lead droplets everywhere.

Casting lead isn't all that hard, but you do need to be careful (and work outdoors.)

 

[JamesBon92007]

I agree with @dberry about not using a router to trim the lead.

I have cast a lot of lead diving weights in aluminum molds and it's never splattered or anything but I heat the mold on the stove first to make sure it is completely dry. You will need an old stainless steel teaspoon to dig out all the crap that will be floating around in your molten lead. I just dump it into an old can and throw it away. I have made molds from wood and the biggest problem was it did not come out very smooth. I don't remember what kind of wood I used but something sappy like pine would be a very bad choice.

Also, I use an old 8" cast iron skillet to melt the lead in. Obviously this skillet will never be used for anything else ever again. I melt my lead on the stove because I don't have a stove outside. I turn on the exhaust fan. If you have a BBQ with a burner on the side that would probably be great.

 

[dm9876]

From some limited experience, Lead (similarly copper) is hell on cutting tools. It's doable but forget about it as a planned approach (and certainly not with woodworking tools). Casting it right is the way to go but that part I have no experience with. I recall from reading about it (and as others have mentioned) the mold should be free of moisture, ie warm it up first because the steam caused by the molten metal coming into the mold will cause splatter / explosion of molten metal.

 

[Jerome O'Neil]

OK, so the router is right out!

I have an outdoor stove to heat on, so that's easy. I think the approach I'll use is to just use forms within the c-channel to fill to the appropriate spot. I'll get some new cast iron from goodwill or something. No way does lead come near my kitchen.

Thanks for all the advice.