"Get the Lead Out!'

What a happy day!  On the way to work my truck broke down(awwww...) so I was able to get a little done today.  Of course, I was compulsive and didn't really plan it out!

Here's where I got to on Saturday, mold poured and curing.

And here we are Sunday, ready to pour!

So you can see why when I couldn't go to work today,(awww.....), I decided to jump right in and pour some lead!  My lead supply is old tire weights, probably the dirtiest form of lead you can find out there.  What surprised me, though, is that not all the were lead!  Some were aluminum, some were even steel.  And it seemed there were several different alloys used, as some were harder to melt than others.  The easiest to melt were the flat stick-on weights used for custom rims, but they also stank the most, as they had plastic on them.  And of course, all the other weights had those little metal clips in them.  I recommend that if you use wheel weights, try to get the biggest ones you can, or else you'll feel like you're spending all your time fishing out those clips!  I finally gave up.  I'd melt a pot of weights, then pour straight from the pot, holding back the clips with the slag, then just throwing out everything left in the pot and starting a new batch.

The secret weapon to all this was my trusty torch burning MATT gas!

I learned a few things I'd like to share:  When I started pouring the lead, I found that if I poured too fast, the lead would pop like grease in a frying pan, and splatter all over.  And I found that I could get rid of most of the cold joints by keeping the lead in the mold hot with my torch, and keeping the time between pours short.  And finally, that if you use wheel weights, get about 300lbs or more, because you'll be throwing out a LOT of slag and steel!

Here it is, the first half of my bulb!

Hopefully I'll get the other half poured tomorrow, then it's on to cutting ply!