oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) What should the ration of lead to antimony be for ball mill media?I have a 5 lb antimony ingot & over 30 lbs of scrap lead.Looks like its far cheaper to make my own, rather than already made.Thanks. Edited March 22, 2011 by oldguy
Mumbles Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 I often see 6% or so advertised, but I have no idea if that is ideal, etc. I will warn you that it takes significantly more heat to alloy the two than to just melt the lead. Essentially you h ave to get it hot enough to melt the antimony as well.
oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) I often see 6% or so advertised, but I have no idea if that is ideal, etc. I will warn you that it takes significantly more heat to alloy the two than to just melt the lead. Essentially you h ave to get it hot enough to melt the antimony as well. I have a gas burner that will melt aluminum & magnesium.I used a cast iron dutch like pot with a heavy lid, to make 50/50 magnilium with it.I made a jury rigged kiln like affair out of fire-brick with the burner jetting up through the bottom.With a piece of 1/4 inch steel as a kiln lidAntimony melts about that same range as Mg/Al, as far as I can tell.That burner should do it, shouldn't it? Edited March 22, 2011 by oldguy
dagabu Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 About 800° F is what you will need. 5-20% is the range my Lyman's book calls for, they get brittle after that.
oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 About 800° F is what you will need. 5-20% is the range my Lyman's book calls for, they get brittle after that. Thanks, I think I will go for 10% antimony.That just makes simple math for this feeble minded oldguy.
oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 Want to temper them? A heads up on how to do that would be greatly appreciated.
dagabu Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 Crank the old oven up in the kitchen to "broil" throw one of the wife's good cookie sheets in the oven with one ball placed in the center. Now you are going to need a good thermometer, the kind sit a rack or hang from one, they cost about six bucks at Wallmart, when the ball starts to slump, write that temp down, subtract 10° and that is your temp for hardening your balls. Get the oven to stay at that heat and put another ball in the oven for a half hour, take a look at it and see if it is starting to slump, if it is, turn the temp down another 10°. You need to be right at the place where the lead isn't slumping but is darn close. Go fill a 5 gallon pail full on nice cool water, not cold, no ice is needed for this. Take the balls out and quench them in the cool water one by one after they sit in the oven for 2 hours at your temp. This method is VERY effective on wheel weight lead (with the metal tang).
oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 (edited) Thank you Sir....... LOL, the wife gets a bit mad about strange things in the kitchen oven.She just would not understand the explanation, I'm just hardening my balls So, long ago bought my own stove for hobby purposes @ a thrift store for $50 & installed it in the garage.Plus, I have the type oven thermometer you refer to.All good cooks do.Oven dial can be +/- 50F. Next newbie question.What is the best ball mill media for milling down Mg/Al? I am really getting tired of hand crushing Mg/Al.Just about ready to put my home made big bertha ball mill togather.Cannot wait to see how 12 inch wide X 14 inch long dual jars work. Edited March 22, 2011 by oldguy
dagabu Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 Sorry oldguy, I really dont know, I had to hand crush it down too. Once it was around 4 mesh I could ball mill it down. I'm thinking it would take a real big jar and billiard balls to smuch this stuff down.
oldguy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Posted March 22, 2011 Right now I use a small lab scale jar crusher (meant to crush rock) to get it to about 1/4 inch minus.And a very heavy steel fence post driver inserted in a slightly larger bore capped on one end steel pipe to crush it down down finer. But, it is a labor intensive tiring task pounding away by hand with the driver. I am in the process of building duel 12X14 inch jars from pvc sewer pipe, lined with 1/2 inch thick conveyor belting.Those should do it for 1/4 inch minus, with large heavy milling media.At least I hope so.
Mumbles Posted March 22, 2011 Posted March 22, 2011 I've heard you will need SS media, or at least brass to mill MgAl. Lead won't cut it. It will get torn up by the jagged MgAl particles. MgAl is said to be quite a bit harder than either of the pure metals. Al is 15, Mg is 30 on the brinnel scale.
oldguy Posted March 23, 2011 Author Posted March 23, 2011 I have a 5 gallon bucket of stabilized Zirconium Oxide ¾ & 1 inch balls & about 30 lbs of 1 inch cone end cylinders.I was told it is harder than steel & even wears better. Will that work? For what it cost .....I would hate to mess it up. LOL, maybe billiard balls are not a bad idea.
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