I made a pretty good buy this morning. 160 pounds of what I believe to be 90% tin / 10% lead solder. 13 ingots ranging from 8 to 17 lbs. Came from an electronic soldering machine when the company shut down.
I measured 3 of the ingots and entered their size into a spread sheet I developed to give me an idea of the density to compare to a chart from 100% tin to 100% lead. all 3 are very close to the same density of 90/10 solder. A lead ingot the same size as the 17 lbs would weight around 26 lbs. Hardness checked with Pencils puts it in H to 2H range. My chart has H in the 20 BHN range. Melted a known solder source and a corner of an ingot with small propane torch and only the flashing would melt at about the same time in the flame. Used a 1/2" ball bearing and dead blow hammer to imprint against pure, WW, and solder. Harder than COWW and about equal indent with the solder.
The size at 4" wide may or may not fit into my Master Caster pot. It is at friend shop. not even the tip will fit into a Lee pot.
Used a sharp 2-3/4" wide masonry chisel to try to cut across the thinest ingot. While I might have gotten thru, I gave up time wise as its going to take another 51 or so cuts, 4 cuts x 13 ingots.
About to pull a carbide tipped blade Mitter saw down off the self but not sure if that would lock up in the tin/lead. lots of lead chips flying thru the air.
Alloys are lost every time they are melted and not wild about melting this down just to get smaller ingots. Any other suggestions?
I measured 3 of the ingots and entered their size into a spread sheet I developed to give me an idea of the density to compare to a chart from 100% tin to 100% lead. all 3 are very close to the same density of 90/10 solder. A lead ingot the same size as the 17 lbs would weight around 26 lbs. Hardness checked with Pencils puts it in H to 2H range. My chart has H in the 20 BHN range. Melted a known solder source and a corner of an ingot with small propane torch and only the flashing would melt at about the same time in the flame. Used a 1/2" ball bearing and dead blow hammer to imprint against pure, WW, and solder. Harder than COWW and about equal indent with the solder.
The size at 4" wide may or may not fit into my Master Caster pot. It is at friend shop. not even the tip will fit into a Lee pot.
Used a sharp 2-3/4" wide masonry chisel to try to cut across the thinest ingot. While I might have gotten thru, I gave up time wise as its going to take another 51 or so cuts, 4 cuts x 13 ingots.
About to pull a carbide tipped blade Mitter saw down off the self but not sure if that would lock up in the tin/lead. lots of lead chips flying thru the air.
Alloys are lost every time they are melted and not wild about melting this down just to get smaller ingots. Any other suggestions?