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Posted: 10/27/2013 2:10:49 PM EDT
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Ok I know what everyone is thinking... batteries are corrosive and dangerous but I am talking about new battery terminals. These have never been installed on a battery, they were factory rejects. So here is the question, does anyone know exactly what they are made of? I think they are pure lead, but I want to confirm this so that I don't get these in trade and find out they are useless... or worse find out after I start alloying with it.
Thanks, Lamlae |
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No there is not. Quoted:
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Toxic gas byproducts during heating. No there is not. I think he's confused. These are the clamps, not the posts. I melted down a bucket of then and made ingots. I still haven't ever made a bullet though. I'm with you in be anxious to contaminate anything else if there's zinc etc in there. |
| I don't know the answer to your question. However, I watched an episode of Mountain Men and Eustace smelted components of batteries and cast the lead into .36 cal. balls. He then used the balls to hunt squirrel and had no qualms about eating the squirrel. It seems to me the temp needed to melt the lead would have sterilized it. I would do it outdoors on a breezy day though. Good luck. Be safe. |
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lead, I always assume they have some poisonous impurities so I do my first melt in the outdoors in a well ventilated area (arsenic being a big worry for me)
once they are fluxxed to death they cast nice soft roundballs for smokers, and I can alloy them for nice hardcast in everything else |
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I'm not a chemist, but I don't think they would make something that has electricity running through it out of zinc.
Zinc is a fairly active element and I'd imagine would not react well in an environment that included both acids and electricity. Melt it below 700 degrees and if it melts it's not zinc. |
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BETTER MAKE SURE THEY ARE EVEN LEAD!!
I work at a little hardware store. I had a customer come in complaining about the cheap ass battery clamp that I sold him cracked. I said he must have over tightened it,,, it's hard to crack lead. He said it wasn't lead. I thought this guy was a nut. So I went and pulled one off the self. To my shock,,, it says "LEAD FREE" right on the package. [%| In case you guy's didn't know it, all your plumbing fitting's, faucet's and such thing's will be going up in price. There's a new law that everything has to be lead free by 2014. A retailer won't be able to sell their old inventory. So watch for sales. 
I just found this on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Road-Power-Lead-Free-Side-Battery-Terminal-/290878138148?pt=Car_Audio_Video&hash=item43b9b02724&vxp=mtrhttp:// |
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Quoted: Ok I know what everyone is thinking... batteries are corrosive and dangerous but I am talking about new battery terminals. These have never been installed on a battery, they were factory rejects. So here is the question, does anyone know exactly what they are made of? I think they are pure lead, but I want to confirm this so that I don't get these in trade and find out they are useless... or worse find out after I start alloying with it. Thanks, Lamlae |
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I've smelted quite a few of the cable ends. I treat em like pure lead as do the guys on castboolits.com, an awesome website by the way
When in doubt about zinc get some toilet bowl cleaner, I use "The Works" with hydorochloric acid and put a couple drops on the piece in question. It helps to scrape an area clean of dirt, contaminates & oxidation first with a wire brush or even a pocket knife. If it foams & bubbles it's zinc. |
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The terminals and tie bars between cells of a lead acid battery are just plain lead. The plates are alloyed. wonder if anyone actually breaks open batteries for the lead. Would need a place to dump the liquids, and smelting it outside definately. I'd imagine that would cook off any bad stuff eh? Part of me wouldn't mind getting into making my own bullets, but reading just a little bit on it...seems so involved and especially if you want to do it right and avoid leading your barrel. |
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wonder if anyone actually breaks open batteries for the lead. Would need a place to dump the liquids, and smelting it outside definately. I'd imagine that would cook off any bad stuff eh? Part of me wouldn't mind getting into making my own bullets, but reading just a little bit on it...seems so involved and especially if you want to do it right and avoid leading your barrel. Quoted:
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The terminals and tie bars between cells of a lead acid battery are just plain lead. The plates are alloyed. wonder if anyone actually breaks open batteries for the lead. Would need a place to dump the liquids, and smelting it outside definately. I'd imagine that would cook off any bad stuff eh? Part of me wouldn't mind getting into making my own bullets, but reading just a little bit on it...seems so involved and especially if you want to do it right and avoid leading your barrel. Forget about it. It is so increadibly toxic and dangerous in so many ways that you really, REALLY want to just forget about this idea. Please? |
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Forget about it. It is so increadibly toxic and dangerous in so many ways that you really, REALLY want to just forget about this idea. Please? Quoted:
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The terminals and tie bars between cells of a lead acid battery are just plain lead. The plates are alloyed. wonder if anyone actually breaks open batteries for the lead. Would need a place to dump the liquids, and smelting it outside definately. I'd imagine that would cook off any bad stuff eh? Part of me wouldn't mind getting into making my own bullets, but reading just a little bit on it...seems so involved and especially if you want to do it right and avoid leading your barrel. Forget about it. It is so increadibly toxic and dangerous in so many ways that you really, REALLY want to just forget about this idea. Please? There have been zillions of batteries melted down in wood fires to recover the lead. Don't hang around to play with the fire. Don't be surprised by the mess left behind. If I needed to do this for some remarkable reason, or I just had a lot of time on my hands, lots of batteries, and the need, I would dump and flush the electrolyte, then dunk the batteries in a solution of baking soda or washing powder. After all that I would rig up some way to make a hot fire that would burn the nonmetallic part as much as possible to leave only ash behind, and catch the lead in a reasonably clean container to keep it from falling to the dirt. Hardly worth the effort without a large supply of feed stock. |
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Quoted:
Forget about it. It is so increadibly toxic and dangerous in so many ways that you really, REALLY want to just forget about this idea. Please? Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
The terminals and tie bars between cells of a lead acid battery are just plain lead. The plates are alloyed. wonder if anyone actually breaks open batteries for the lead. Would need a place to dump the liquids, and smelting it outside definately. I'd imagine that would cook off any bad stuff eh? Part of me wouldn't mind getting into making my own bullets, but reading just a little bit on it...seems so involved and especially if you want to do it right and avoid leading your barrel. Forget about it. It is so increadibly toxic and dangerous in so many ways that you really, REALLY want to just forget about this idea. Please? note: No way for me to even attempt since i doubt i'll ever get into casting. Plus if I ever do.....i'd be wearing protective gear like breakin bad, so i'd have to do my melts away from my yard, family (think lead) and at that point....hell i'd melt a battery for the lead. thus....i'll just by the brass ones instead...too much trouble for me at this point. |
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I don't know the answer to your question. However, I watched an episode of Mountain Men and Eustace smelted components of batteries and cast the lead into .36 cal. balls. He then used the balls to hunt squirrel and had no qualms about eating the squirrel. It seems to me the temp needed to melt the lead would have sterilized it. I would do it outdoors on a breezy day though. Good luck. Be safe. You cannot remove the toxicity from lead by heating it. Sterilization with heat will work to kill germs, bacteria and other living organisms, but toxic materials like mercury, lead, arsenic, etc. won't be neutralized by heating. Please don't try to reclaim lead from battery plates. There's so little lead and so much health risk that it's just not worth it. |
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If the terminals are soft, then melt them. I've done a couple--they melt like they're pure lead. Pure lead (620F), BTW, melts a little hotter than the crimp-on wheel weights (COWW) (580F'ish). They'll need to be cut in 50/50 with COWW if you plan on shooting them in anything other than blackpowder roundball form. I don't have an interest in messing with the batteries themselves. Wheelweights are pretty easy to come by and are free or close to it. |
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