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sdb777
Administrator
| Joined: | 16 October 2005 |
| Location: | Cabot, Arkansas USA |
| Posts: | 1264 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 11:31 AM |
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If one had the proper safety equipment, could a car battery be taken apart, cleaned(acid bath, and melted down for handloading(cast bullets)?
Has anyone ever attempted this? If so, what were the results?
Scott (got to do something with 'em) B
____________________
Archery Tech at a BIG BOX store....
I know where the bathroom is...please ask me!
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Charley
Administrator
| Joined: | 9 September 2005 |
| Location: | San Antonio, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 2207 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 01:16 PM |
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| Everything I've ever read about batteries says that is a very bad idea. The plates contain cadmium and other nasty metals. I'm a lead scrounger of the first order, and even I won't do it.
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"You all can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas" David Crockett (and probably George Bush)
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 609 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 02:51 PM |
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i give it a try once.then i decided the 10 bucks they give for an old battery wasnt so bad after all.besides cad they also contain calcium or strontium. a quote from the lyman 3rd ed CAST BULLET HANDBOOK "while lead-calcium and lead-strontium alloys have properties which are well suited for use in batteries,they have no place in bullet casting.if either alloy is accidentally mixed with regular bullet alloys,a dangerous situation can arise. for example,if lead-calcium and lead-antimony alloys are melted together,calcium and antimony will combine in the melt to form an intermetallic compound.this compound and others like it have low solubility in lead,and since the compound is less dense than lead,it will float to the melt surface where the unsuspecting bullet caster will remove it with the dross.the result is a melt with a reduced antimony content.the second and more critical aspectof the problem relates to the subsequent handling of the dross.either in moist air or in contact with water.the intermetallics contained in the dross can react to form poisonous gasses such as stibine or its arsenic counterpart arsine"
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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sdb777
Administrator
| Joined: | 16 October 2005 |
| Location: | Cabot, Arkansas USA |
| Posts: | 1264 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 04:02 PM |
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So you guys think it would be alright if I were to fire up the lead pot under the crack head neighbors window?
Apparently, something is being done with the thousands of batteries being turned in. Maybe they are made into Chinese made toys?
Scott (didn't say I was going to do it) B
____________________
Archery Tech at a BIG BOX store....
I know where the bathroom is...please ask me!
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 609 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 05:56 PM |
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| the way i read the piece in the handbook was mixing the alloys was where the danger came in.trying to add antimony will give the same dangerous result. using the battery alloys as is to cast will probbally cast poorly.the handbook does show some tin in batterey alloys so adding more shouldnt be a problem.however the hardness and suitability for bullets remains to be seen.another problem could arise from someone remelting range scrap.the alloys will undoubtedly be mixed.then the previously posted dangerous situation may arise.it might be that the best method to convert batteries to bullets is to keep the alloy at a temp just above the melting temp of lead and skim off the alloying components,leaving as soft as an alloy as possible.then using the remaining lead for an application that can use a soft alloy. a battery that will bring 10 dollars can be converted to wheelweights.if you have to pay 50 cents a pound for weights you will get 20 pounds which will yield about 16 lb of ingots.i doubt that considering all the oxides in the lead of a used batterey that the average batterey will yield this much.you cant just place a batterey in a melting pot and melt it down.they have to be disassembled and the plates peeled from the paper seperators.on old batteries these are often corroded so badly there is nothing left to melt.factor in the time it takes , the clothes that will get holes in them,and all the hazardous crap to dispose of and i dont think it is a very good idea.the battery alloys can be recycled and made into new batteries,the plastic recycled into new batterey cases and the acid can be used to manufacture of other products. Last edited on 26 May 2008 06:54 PM by wheezengeezer
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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SCSlim
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 2 May 2008 |
| Location: | Boise, Idaho USA |
| Posts: | 153 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 26 May 2008 06:08 PM |
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| My great-grandad on my mother's side once predicted that the day would come when we'd be exporting our lead to the Chi-coms - one round at a time. Or, they may come here looking for it. Keep your powder dry.
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NRA Endowment Member
Ride hard, shoot straight, and always speak the truth.
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Bountyhunter
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 8 June 2008 |
| Location: | Rabbit Ears, New Mexico USA |
| Posts: | 16 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 20 August 2008 02:57 AM |
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| Battery lead is full of cadmium and arsenic. Batteries are recycled into more batteries. It is not economically feasible to separate the alloys.
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NRA Life
Whittington Center Life
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miestro_jerry
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 28 June 2008 |
| Location: | Somerton (AKA BFE), Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 626 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 24 August 2008 02:54 PM |
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I have been told that the alloys, which have changed over the years when new types of lead acid batterys came out, are too hard to separate and throwing the lead plates into cauldron to melt the lead down is really damgerous.
Recently we had some farm battery thieves are here, they learned their lesson when they tried to salvage materials from the batteries.
Jerry
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A Closed Mouth Gathers No Foot
NRA Patron Member
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 609 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 24 August 2008 03:10 PM |
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miestro_jerry wrote: I have been told that the alloys, which have changed over the years when new types of lead acid batterys came out, are too hard to separate and throwing the lead plates into cauldron to melt the lead down is really damgerous.
Recently we had some farm battery thieves are here, they learned their lesson when they tried to salvage materials from the batteries.
Jerry
the bad thing there is always another worthless idiot waiting in line to replace them.sometimes they go to more work to avoid working than i can understand.
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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Gutshot
HB Full Member
| Joined: | 1 September 2008 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 8 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 2 October 2008 07:36 PM |
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| The batteries made today are not made with solid lead alloy. The plates have a plastic material fromed into a screen then sprayed with the lead alloy. the amount of lead alloy one gets from a average auto battery is not worth the effort. Steal wheel weights from enviro's hybrid cars. Those cars won't go fast enough to cause the wheels to vibrate as for them to notice.
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wheezengeezer
addicted handloader
| Joined: | 16 July 2007 |
| Location: | Jeddediah Jones Swamp, Kansas USA |
| Posts: | 609 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | pistol |
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Posted: 2 October 2008 09:16 PM |
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Gutshot wrote: The batteries made today are not made with solid lead alloy. The plates have a plastic material fromed into a screen then sprayed with the lead alloy. the amount of lead alloy one gets from a average auto battery is not worth the effort. Steal wheel weights from enviro's hybrid cars. Those cars won't go fast enough to cause the wheels to vibrate as for them to notice.
i was thinking of hangin out at the democratic convention and recycling their hazardous metals for them.
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I was raised in the 50's on gunpowder and jackrabbits.salt and pepper wooda made'em taste better
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miestro_jerry
HB Life Member
| Joined: | 28 June 2008 |
| Location: | Somerton (AKA BFE), Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 626 |
| Photo: | [Download] | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | I load everything! |
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Posted: 6 October 2008 10:05 PM |
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Many people around here still believe that batteries are made that they were way back in the 50s and 60s. Some one told this as a fact and they believe it, most likely grandpa or an older uncle.
The battery in Grandpa's Chevy Nomad Wagon weighted a ton, the one in my current John Deere tractor is the same physical size, but weighs a lot less.
Technology has changed, but personal beliefs have not.
Jerry
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A Closed Mouth Gathers No Foot
NRA Patron Member
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