Cleaning ball mill media?

[athlon]

Hi, been using my lead ball mill media to mill Red Iron Oxide and the media is now covered with a thick layer of rust!

How can I clean the rust off them?

 

I also went to a tire company to score some lead weights that I could cast some new media from, but they only use zinc weights nowadays. Can I use zinc as media?

[dan999ification]

soapy water [if this wont work run them in the mill] and rinse very well, as for the zinc, casting presents its own issues and milling sulfur containing comps with it probably aint too wise, its not very heavy, it oxidizes quickly...... not really ideal for me

 

 

dan.

Edited December 10, 2011 by dan999ification

[Arthur]

Mill media can be cleaned by milling some kitty litter to bentonite powder, if soap and water has failed.

 

Lead wheel weights have gone from the UK and lead is now best found from scrapyards as redundant roofing material or redundant water pipe. Though I have and use both, I prefer ceramic media to lead media. Ceramic has to be bought not made, but it is lighter so a rock tumbler will turn more, and when used with a rubber barrel it's almost silent so the neighbours have nothing to notice, which helps me a LOT!

[athlon]

Thanks, have to try the bentonite way as other attempts has failed. I thought about sand also if the bentonite fails.

 

I'll ditch the zinc media and try to find some proper lead instead.

[Arthur]

Zinc filings used to be used for bluish sparks and IIRC the formula was called Granite stars -see Weingart or Davis.

 

To clean the media first try anything that doesn't matter about a bit of iron oxide (usually used as a catalyst so be careful) the try something that doesn't burn (eg clay for nozzles etc)

[Blackthumb]

I like to try new, sometimes 'unorthodox' ways of getting a job done. This Summer I picked up large handfuls of quartz stones from my gravel pile. They are free and perform well as media....use them for BP

[athlon]

I like to try new, sometimes 'unorthodox' ways of getting a job done. This Summer I picked up large handfuls of quartz stones from my gravel pile. They are free and perform well as media....use them for BP

 

Thanks, gonna do that right away as I have a yard full of them!

[Peret]

There's plenty of lead available in an old car battery. Break or cut the top off, flush it out with plenty of water, then just melt the lead out of the plates with a blowtorch.

[Seymour]

Despite it's own messiness, I find charcoal is a very effective substance to mill the mill clean, and the contaminated charcoal can be used to make a mix that it's compatable with. While Fe2O3 is not that big an incompatability risk, you could use it in an Fe2O3 containing glitter. You get the idea.

 

While soapy water and a cloth can be surprisingly effective for cleaning many pyro things (ball mills, bright flake.... and even Red Iron oxide), it is easier to let it clean it's self during useful running if possible.

[oldguy]

Hi, been using my lead ball mill media to mill Red Iron Oxide and the media is now covered with a thick layer of rust!

How can I clean the rust off them?

 

Throw several stainless steel mesh pot scrubbers (available cheap at about any grocery store) in the jar along with the rust coated lead media & let it spin in the mill for 5 minutes.

Check every 5 minutes until the lead looks clean.

Then pour the media in a plastic colander and rinse it with hot water to remove the rust dust, then allow the lead media to air dry.

 

 

[Mumbles]

Quartz can and will spark, so I'd avoid it's use as a milling material. It's frequently used in lighters. The sparks are triboluminescent (generally). It's unclear if they have enough energy to light something like BP, but it's one of those things I don't want to find out the hard way. They can light butane at least. Even without the sparks, being a hard crystalline material it will chip and fracture into the composition. Something like quartz will drastically increase the friction sensitivity of compositions. This would be especially bad if a chemical milled with that media were to be used in something like chlorate compositions.

[dan999ification]

piezo electric discharge can jump a spark gap and ignite gas-air [and stoichiometric pyro comps] mixes in various ranges typically the igniters used in cigarette lighters discharge over 600 volts and quite a few amps [which is enough to ignite bp] they do have a high metal content though and im sure the stones discharge less but still discharge, im doing a bit of research on different types of media mostly ceramic but the quartz keeps cropping up on most searches especially the civil war era ball mill disasters.

 

dan.

 

edit: im not sure about the bluish sparks [ havnt researched granite stars] but i do know zinc/ sulfur burns green and makes a rocket propellant

Edited December 12, 2011 by dan999ification

[athlon]

Quartz can and will spark, so I'd avoid it's use as a milling material. It's frequently used in lighters. The sparks are triboluminescent (generally). It's unclear if they have enough energy to light something like BP, but it's one of those things I don't want to find out the hard way. They can light butane at least. Even without the sparks, being a hard crystalline material it will chip and fracture into the composition. Something like quartz will drastically increase the friction sensitivity of compositions. This would be especially bad if a chemical milled with that media were to be used in something like chlorate compositions.

 

I was just kidding about using it as media and cannot for my life understand why a person would even give such an advise more than wanting to hurt people?

I usually use quartz rocks when I'm out hiking to start a fire when struck against a knife...

[Blackthumb]

Sorry for the error in judgement...I do not use the clear quartz crystals...should have chosen my word better. They are solid white and red pieces of what are probably tumbled pieces of granite from the local area. I know that many materials emit 'light' or luminesce when disturbed...even wintergreen life savers will do so when broken.

 

 

"I was just kidding about using it as media and cannot for my life understand why a person would even give such an advise more than wanting to hurt people?"

Athlon....I would never include data that would intentionally hurt or harm anyone...maybe you should choose your words a bit better also...no offense...

I've learned to keep quiet.....

Edited December 12, 2011 by Blackthumb

[Peret]

I usually use quartz rocks when I'm out hiking to start a fire when struck against a knife...

 

When you strike a spark with steel and quartz - or flint* or obsidian, which are the same thing - it's the iron that makes the sparks, not the quartz. You won't start a fire by striking two quartz pebbles together. There's nothing special about the quartz except its hardness - diamond or carborundum will do equally well at knocking microscopic pieces off the steel, which then ignite in the air because of their surface energy.

 

Quartz is piezo electric and will produce a voltage across it when stressed, but not nearly enough to spark. The element in piezo lighters is a special ceramic, and it has to be hit very hard to produce enough voltage to spark.

 

(* I mean REAL flint, not the Munz metal they use in lighters)

[oldguy]

Peret is right on the money there.

If you doubt that, try striking 2 baseball sized river water rounded quartz cobbles together in a dark room.

You could whack them together until they disintegrate into dust and never create sparks.

 

 

[dan999ification]

yup, the iron content makes or stores ferro electricity, the piezo unit in a lighter has to be struck with a spring loaded hammer and has a high metal content for ceramics.

i have some ceramic media that have sparked a bit of a debate, though i doubt there dangerous to mill with they will only be used for inert milling just incase.

 

dan.

[athlon]

I guess not everyone has a jar with a steel rod in the center...

 

I just wonder how cleaning of lead media got to recommending quartz?

If I would have needed tips on new type of media I would have said so!

Edited December 13, 2011 by athlon

[dan999ification]

it went off topic but what needs to be said needs to be said safety wise.

 

dan.

[TheArchitect23]

ive only skimmed here, so forgive me if i missed something.

 

zinc as a ball mill media is not the best choice. i have never seen "rust" on any of my botched medias that became contaminated with zinc before.

they normally just end up a little to light. wear a bit less thoe.

 

do you have a picture of the "rust" on a media to post?

i can only picture oxide growing on the media if it was keep wet or humid for quite some time ( this would be white to greyish). that however would come off with time, run your mill with nothing in it ( just media ) for a few days. washing and DRYING the media every so many hours. Or just run it as is, contaminating your BP a little.

 

if you actually have red / orange / black rust on your media, you probably shouldn't be using it at all. items that rust usually spark.

 

trash those puppy's and find some new lead media. if you cast your own, use wheel weights from cars. lead pipes, x-ray vest sheets. ebay even.

if you do not cast your own, go to ebay and find a " lee lead pot " with "bottom pour ". 60-70 USD with 20-50 lbs of lead. $125 area. you will have media for a longg time, and buying it will be equal or more expensive for a lesser amount.

 

EDIT = Cannonball fishing sinker molds work great for media btw.

Edited December 15, 2011 by TheArchitect23

[dan999ification]

the rust was from milling iron oxide [not zinc] and hasnt formed but is present, dont throw lead media away if you cant clean it, melting it down will make the iron float for collection or burn off, the wheel weights mentioned were/are now made with zinc or zinc alloy

 

dan.

 

 

[Col]

I`d keep it for milling oxide and cast a new batch. Clean lead flashing from the local metal recycling place costs £1 a kilo for cash

[TheArchitect23]

the one sentence I miss. Anyways I agree, melt it down and re cast as you can flux off the crud. Worst case keep it for milling more oxide.

[athlon]

Milling some scrap charcoal cleaned the media very good, but there's still some Iron Oxide in the pits of the lead. I'll just use it for oxide as I have media for the other stuff already.

Thanks everyone for tips.