Jaguar Warrior Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Hi All, Just saw this on a TV advert and tracked it down: http://www.wickes.co.uk/professional-metal-tray/invt/600099/ It has a nice sloped ramp to melt lead ingots on, and a straight vertical edge at the end for bolting drippers on to. It looks like stainless to me. What do the men from Del Monte think? - is it a or a ?? I'm trying to avoid welding stainless and this isn't a good time in my life to branch off into casting aluminium - sorry Fruitloop and Sitsinhedges! JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Just get a local fabricator to weld you a pot up. Drippers are going to be your main problem, it's difficult to drill such a tiny hole in stainless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derbyduck Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Hi All, Just saw this on a TV advert and tracked it down: http://www.wickes.co.uk/professional-metal-tray/invt/600099/ It has a nice sloped ramp to melt lead ingots on, and a straight vertical edge at the end for bolting drippers on to. It looks like stainless to me. What do the men from Del Monte think? - is it a or a ?? I'm trying to avoid welding stainless and this isn't a good time in my life to branch off into casting aluminium - sorry Fruitloop and Sitsinhedges! JW Hi if you look close you can see where the legs are spotwelded !so its on the thin side which will make it hard to tap out for the drippers ,but you could fit them with locknuts ether side with copper washers or gromitts maybe ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) just finished casting one 5 mins ago from what i can see it just wants finishing off with a grinder . there galv steel sorry the zinc might spoil yr lead Edited March 19, 2011 by fruitloop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaguar Warrior Posted March 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 Hi if you look close you can see where the legs are spotwelded !so its on the thin side which will make it hard to tap out for the drippers ,but you could fit them with locknuts ether side with copper washers or gromitts maybe ? That's what I was thinking, stainless or copper washers and plain nuts. My lock nuts are nylock so the plastic would melt away. The tray looks stainless to me, not galvanised - would'nt zinc react with some acid paints like primers? It could be aluminium but looks too thin for that and still be rigid enough to pick up one handed whilst full of paint. I've tried to ask the Wickes' website the question but the website is playing up and it will be Monday before they reply anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted March 19, 2011 Report Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) That's what I was thinking, stainless or copper washers and plain nuts. My lock nuts are nylock so the plastic would melt away. The tray looks stainless to me, not galvanised - would'nt zinc react with some acid paints like primers? It could be aluminium but looks too thin for that and still be rigid enough to pick up one handed whilst full of paint. I've tried to ask the Wickes' website the question but the website is playing up and it will be Monday before they reply anyway. tru but how meny times do you put ech primer on ali with a roler i still say galv due to the price aswell if it was stanless steel it will be 3 or 4 times the price.all being well you might be lucky and it works perfectly we never know untill we try Edited March 20, 2011 by fruitloop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 copper washers in mine and plane ss nuts on the back dont tap the holes as the dripper might not line up and then you over tighten them and split the bolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampire Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Have had one of those roller trays and its steel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaguar Warrior Posted March 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 Have had one of those roller trays and its steel I take it you mean stainless steel not uncoated mild steel or galvanised steel? Cheers JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vampire Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 I take it you mean stainless steel not uncoated mild steel or galvanised steel? Cheers JW The one i have sitting in the garage is mild steel judging by the rust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Green Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) You really need something thicker than that to disperse the heat evenly. something that thin will have hot spots and cold spots. Think in terms of 1/4" thick. Cast iron saucepan or similar. Edited March 20, 2011 by Vince Green Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floating Chamber Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) Each to his own. The most successful (and simple) shotmaker was marketed by Steve Hughes in the 1990s. He would demonstrate it at Game Fairs. It was a simple sheet-metal box with a spot-welded 'ramp' and six 0.7mm holes drilled 10mm from one end. The box was mounted on a tank containing water; a blow-lamp was used to keep the ramp warm. It was a simple procedure to melt the lead and just 'ladle' it into the box. The results were quick and amazing. The shot was round and made at a fantastic rate. Here is a quick sketch I made some years ago to explain the simplicity. The sizes of the holes are wrongly stated, they should be 0.7mm in diameter - but I was in a hurry! Strangely enough, my mate called me on Saturday evening to say he'd made me one from stainless. It seems all my mates are ditching the dripper version for this simple design. Edit: Some of my mates have this box 'hinged' in order to clear the holes with a pricker. Edited March 20, 2011 by Floating Chamber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaguar Warrior Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Edit: Some of my mates have this box 'hinged' in order to clear the holes with a pricker. Now thats more like it! Thanks FC. No-one seems prepared to argue with our Jedi master I'm just trying to de-mystify the dark art of metallurgy and get to the hardcore science behind it. I'm a bit wary of blindly following advice along the lines of 'you need stainless steel bolts for drippers, plated with Inca Gold, and blessed by the hand of Mother Theresa'. I can throw in some science about drippers, but after this my knowledge dries up. I've used medical 'drip sets' a lot. Here, a drop forms when briefly suspended from the end of a cylinder, and breaks away when its weight gets greater than the surface tension forces holding it in place. This is related to viscosity. A more viscous alloy will hang for longer and form a bigger drop, though in real life might not be measurable. Question 1: Does the specific lead alloy affect the shot size from any one dripper size in real life? I would also guess that as a liquids viscosity decreases with temperature, as the molten lead cools and thickens, the shot size should increase, though by how much I wouldn't like to guess. Question 2: Does the temperature of the molten lead affect shot/drip size in real life? About sloping pans - i'm guessing that the whole idea of a sloped pan is to allow solids to be placed in without dropping the temperature of the molten lead further down the slope, and therefore avoid constantly struggling with attempts at temperature regulation by moving/removing the heatsource. If the lead reaches the molten pool it must have melted and therefore won't cool the molten pool. This is why I like the paint tray - it has a nice deep pool at one end Question 3: Is this thinking correct? Question 4: The 'hinge' on FC's mates drip pans - FC, is this at the other end to the drippers, on the base, so that the pan can be tilted back slightly until the drippers (holes) appear above the level of the molten lead and can be aimed at and prodded from above? If thats the case, it means I couldn't tip back my paint tray far enough due to the depth of the front pit and would have to prod from below or blindly from above, adding a 'negative' to the paint tray idea. Thanks for all the helpful replies JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitloop Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 it all afects the shot size temp, hole dia, aloy content,and depth of lead in the pan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floating Chamber Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 (edited) This is a sketch of the complete set-up that three of my buddies had running at my old unit. The production rate was amazing; I was not really interested in shotmaking at this point, as I had done it thirty-odd years in the past. I was up to my neck in new factory shot at 50p a kilo at the time and could not be bothered. However, I will confess that I would, from time to time, visit this set-up and extract a good 10 kilos from beneath the rails without their knowing; a kind of rent! I'd load this into 'pigeon-poppers' for my mate, Mick Cox! In those days, ingots of wheel weights would be blended with flashing to produce amazingly round and hard shot. My first attempts at shotmaking was with the 'Silver Stream' in the 1970s. I used .22 bullet lead. The American staff at R.A.F. Bentwaters (in Suffolk) were amazed at its sphericity. I made thirty-odd pounds of shot one afternoon with one camping 'Gaz' cannister on a blow-lamp. Today, that is SLOWWWWWW! Edited March 21, 2011 by Floating Chamber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaguar Warrior Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Wow! :blink: This must be the Formula One of shotmaking. Thanks for the info, FC JW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cookoff013 Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 wow FC, makes me appreciate factory ammo more. shot making history ! wow ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.