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I have just started ouring 1/16 ounce heads. Did great on first 100 with old misc. lead, then tried tire weights and it would pour fine without hooks, but terrible with hooks. I skimmed the top well, what else can I do? Do I need to change tempature?
I try to find some good soft lead for the 1/16 and 1/32 oz. jigheads. One thing that helped me get better pours with hooks was to put the spout of the melting pot right into the top of the jig mold. You'll learn with practice just how long to lift the handle. I think I run my pot on about 6 but I'm not sure.
Have you smoke your molds? Candle smoke residue is like grease when you're pouring with wheel weights. On the overall the WW work better with bigger than 1/16.
Make sure and flux your lead well!!! I don't smoke my molds, use release spray or anything else. Most of my molds will pour down do 1/16th with tire weight lead, if it starts getting really bad put two lbs of pure in with it then flux and you should be able to pour down to 1/32nd without problems. The thing you have to watch with tire weights is when your sorting them - and yes I sort them. If you find any with Z or ZA get rid of them they're Zinc and they'll mess up your whole pot of lead. I usually keep my pot running at 650.
I quite using Wheel weights hard on the molds and more difficult to form a good uniform head. Use as pure a lead as you can get. You will find that if you can ever find any linotype lead that it will work better than Wheel weight and will shine. Use that wheel weight for lead bullets. Just my opinion.
Redman
I found I could use it in my spinnerbait molds ok but have never been able to get a good pour with it in jig molds even running pot at highest temp and heating mold on hot plate.
wheel weights? ones I tried made a sludge lake on the top of the liquid lead...too much trash...found a re-cycle center and found xray room lead...super fine..pours fantastic very little trash in it but the glue....and .72 a pound....now need to find the time to pour.
Most likely your mold is too cold, resulting in the tire weight lead setting up too quickly before it fills in all the gaps.
Better to stick to the softer, purer lead for the smaller size jig heads; it stays liquid longer at lower temperatures giving a much better fill.
For the tire weight lead you have to be very careful with your skimming and do everything at a significantly higher temperature to get complete fills on the smaller sizes. You might want to go so far as to pour a bunch of heads with no hooks, and then use that lead for hooks in heated molds. The price is right for the raw material, but it is much more difficult to handle for small size castings. For sliding sinkers it is also more abrasive on fishing lines since it is harder than pure lead.
Liftbite
I'd almost bet you had some zinc wheel weights in your pot, that's exactly what happens with them. Next time sort them, Z, ZA or ZN on the weight and it's zinc. Tire weight lead isn't all bad, I pour lots of 1/16th oz jigs with it and no problems.
Does this help JoshQuote:
Originally Posted by Fatman