Blazinator
Contributor
Posted on the DIY sub-forum as well:
My neighbor is a stained (leaded) glass artist, and has boxes full of lead strips, so I decided to use it ('specially since losing my weightbelt in heavy surf), but:
First off, I followed all the safety precautions like doing it outside, used a respirator, etc. blah blah.
I had a melt pot - small aluminum sauce pot - perfect. I used the burner element from an old grill - but lead cooled at edges faster than it melted.
Trick is to do all the melting directly on the lead pcs with a MAPP gas torch with the big air tip, and use a regular propane torch under the melt pot to keep hot - burner element not aggressive enough (my experience anyway). The MAPP gas torch melts five pounds of lead in about three minutes.
I then poured the lead into the edge (after a little preheating) of an old non-stick, curved sided sauté pan that I had tilted on its edge, resting on a brick - about 30° tilt angle.
Each 3 lb "puddle" of lead cooled in about thirty seconds and popped right out of the pan without a problem. Since the castings had curved bottoms but flat, level tops, the plan was to join two castings together at the flats by puddle welding the lead at the perimeter seam to make one standard weight.
I then wanted heavier castings, so I heated the edge of the aluminum frying pan and bent up a lip so that I could pour a deeper pouring of lead, and was able to get a casting of almost four pounds each - joined together to make a 7.5 pound compact rounded shape that fits perfectly into my integrated BC pocket. The smaller 4.5 lb pcs would fit easily into a pouched weight belt.
The welding of the two halves is real easy - simple puddle welding with the MAPP torch - easier than puddle welding steel with ox/acetylene.
I was able to make over thirty pounds that day, and next time it will only take about an hour or so.
My neighbor is a stained (leaded) glass artist, and has boxes full of lead strips, so I decided to use it ('specially since losing my weightbelt in heavy surf), but:
- I didn't want to spend all day on it (did anyway, but it was fun - next time will be faster).
- I didn't want to buy or weld up a mold.
- I didn't want to wait forever for the lead to melt over the propane burner each time I fill the pot to cast more weight.
First off, I followed all the safety precautions like doing it outside, used a respirator, etc. blah blah.
I had a melt pot - small aluminum sauce pot - perfect. I used the burner element from an old grill - but lead cooled at edges faster than it melted.
Trick is to do all the melting directly on the lead pcs with a MAPP gas torch with the big air tip, and use a regular propane torch under the melt pot to keep hot - burner element not aggressive enough (my experience anyway). The MAPP gas torch melts five pounds of lead in about three minutes.
I then poured the lead into the edge (after a little preheating) of an old non-stick, curved sided sauté pan that I had tilted on its edge, resting on a brick - about 30° tilt angle.
Each 3 lb "puddle" of lead cooled in about thirty seconds and popped right out of the pan without a problem. Since the castings had curved bottoms but flat, level tops, the plan was to join two castings together at the flats by puddle welding the lead at the perimeter seam to make one standard weight.
I then wanted heavier castings, so I heated the edge of the aluminum frying pan and bent up a lip so that I could pour a deeper pouring of lead, and was able to get a casting of almost four pounds each - joined together to make a 7.5 pound compact rounded shape that fits perfectly into my integrated BC pocket. The smaller 4.5 lb pcs would fit easily into a pouched weight belt.
The welding of the two halves is real easy - simple puddle welding with the MAPP torch - easier than puddle welding steel with ox/acetylene.
I was able to make over thirty pounds that day, and next time it will only take about an hour or so.
