Okay, a little help with identification please

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
I got these from someone, don't remember exactly, but they said they though they were lead. The pieces look like counter weights that go over a shaft, then slip up onto a larger section.. Don't know. Never got any further explanation.
They are 14" by 7/8" thick. There heavy, but strong, smooth and hard. Don't know how hard. My first thoughts are zinc? Or a high amount of sb and sn, or something else. I took a file to the edge and knocked it right down, seemed softer then I First though.
Of course my first hope is one of you will say "yeah those come from a "fill in the blank",and there like foundry.

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I was going to whack a chunk off and see what temperature it liquifies. Unless someone has a better idea?
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
If everyone on the forum came up with a guess none of them would be wrong. Why? Because it can only be a guess, a SWAG. It most likely is counter weight off something. Most mfg.'s aren't going to order virgin foundry alloy for such a use, they will use whatever they can get that melts and pours into a mold.

See what temp it melts, see how it casts. My hard rule is that I never mix an unknown with my known good alloy. Test it by itself before mixing it with anything.
 

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Rick, l just though I'd give it a shot.. You pretty much are going down the same trail as I'm on.. Just hoping for the needle in the haystack.
No it's not going anywhere near my known alloy until I know. If it melts before 700* then I thinking it's good. If nothing else I have an entire short stack of these, so they could be an alloy by itself. Obviously need to cast and test. I forgot those were on the pallet with my blocks of lead which I had to move for the dirt work project. These counter weights are Looking like a project for winter..

Rick the blocks of lead I have, I cast into 35# loafs and 22# flat slabs. My question is I'm filling a clean spot on each and testing with pencils. Because of the slower cooling, will the test indicate harder or softer then that same lead in bullet form? I know the tests on larger blocks are questionable, but I'm looking for a indicator of what I have.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Any ingot will cool slower than a cast bullet. IF there is any Sb in the alloy cooling rate will determine final hardness. Obviously the mass of an ingot will cool far slower than a 200 grain bullet. Precisely why water quenching increases the final hardness . . . Sudden cooling. Or annealing, heat up and allow to cool slowly.
 

Ian

Notorious member
620⁰ should be your upper limit. Zamak #3 melts just a little higher than that. Judging by the sharp edges those were likely cut out of plate material rather than cast.

My guess is cable weights for a crane, but being selectible/stackable it's more likely they are from some sort of counter-balancing system.
 
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