Pouring Dive Weight Moulds

[tjbrh]

I have purchased a couple of dive weight moulds and am planning on making my own weights. If anyone has done this I would appreciate any advice they have to offer. Areas of interest include the actual process of heating and pouring the lead. The tools used in the process such as the heating method, what kind of container to melt the lead in and so on. And finally, the big question, where and how to get lead cheap, or better yet... free!

Thanks in advance.

Tony

 

[icantdive55]

Hi Tony
I got my lead from tire stores but that was a long time ago. Sometimes a friend finds lead at yard sales and gets it for me. I melted it in a pot made for lead. You could use most anything but remember once you melt lead in it you won't use it for cooking again. Even an old frying pan would work. Get a pot that will hold 2 or 3 pounds of lead more than you will pour into a single mold. Having some molten lead in the pot when you add more lead will help it melt faster. I used PAM an anti stick spray from the kitchen to help the molds release the weight after it cooled some. Use lot of caution, fumes, heat etc maens people can get hurt real bad. I melted my lead on a campers propane stove and a charcoal Bar-B-Q.

Then after pouring hunderds of pounds of solid weight I went to the sack weights because they don't hurt when you drop them on your foot. Actually I use hard weight when I dive a belt and sack when I dive intergrated.

 

[FDdiver]

you can find melting pots for lead at places that sell ammo reloading tools. Try midwayusa.com

 

[Couv]

All good advice above. Additionally, it is best to do it outside, use eye protection, long sleeves, hat gloves, etc. Be VERY sure the mold has no water in it.....I learned that the hard way.....just a little bit of water in my mold caused an explosion that shot hot lead at least 8 feet into the air... I owe my eyesight to safety goggles.

c

 

[dave4868]

And don't use aluminum pots....yes, I got one hot enough to melt a hole in it and about 15 lbs of lead trickled down into my camp stove....

Live and learn.

Dave C

 

[do it easy]

I've never done this, but it was suggested to do this outdoors with the wind at your back or use a fan to blow the fumes into the neighbors yard.

 

[OBXDIVEGUY]

You can pluck the lead balance weights off of car wheels at a junk yard real cheap.

 

[james croft]

I've found over 125 pounds of sinkers on a few dives this summer plus a bunch of lead pipe and sheeting. I have five gallon buckets full of sinkers. Dive where folks fish and you should do well.

 

[dwallace]

Tire stores are a good source of used wheel weights to melt down. They will usually be happy to let you take as much as you like for FREE! As others have posted it is best to use a specialy designed melting pot to melt the lead. If using wheel weights the steel mounting clips will float to the surface and can be easily removed.
Work outdoors with long sleeve shirt and safety glasses and make sure no water or moisture comes in contact with molten lead.
While melting the lead heat the mold using a propane torch or heater to achieve a better looking dive weight. My first attempts using a "cold" mold was a weight that appeared to have been poured in layers - still worked but not very pretty.

 

[En Bloc]

Don't forget to check out eBay, I just got 20 Lbs for $30 including shipping, so I only paid $1.50 per Lb not a bad deal in my mind