Melting Lead into shape - lazy person approach

[Haz87]

This is born out of sheer laziness to invest any real time or effort into coming up with something proper - but equally this is likely going to be a once in a blue moon type thing and I don't have any more space for self-made contraptions.

I've been using a couple of sheets of lead, bent into shape as soft Vice jaws for a good number of years. Done me well, but they are now pretty thinned out and torn in places where I've not been delicate.
Being proper tight, I thought rather than buying a new sheet to cut up - surely I can just melt this down and reform it back into a complete sheet.

Essentially I just need it in a roughish rectangle with at least one length being 5" so it covers the full jaw width. Actual thickness I'm not overly fussed so if I end up going thinner but having more, or going thicker and having less, then I can make do...

What I'm after is a crude/simple/free way I can form this. My initial idea was a baking tray as its flat and with the ridges isn't going to lose all the liquid lead off the edge - but then I'm going to have to fab up some metal work and weld in some lengths to "size it" as the chances of me finding a tray that is 5" x a relatively small dimension for a £1 probably isn't going to happen.

So come at me with your cheapest ideas. Worst case I try something and it fails - I'll then have a moment of reflection and realise I should just fork out for the new sheet

 

[voipio]

Some building materials suppliers sell lead in various sized rolls. The smallest pieces tend not to be too exorbitantly priced.

Could you use copper or aluminium sheet, as an alternative, or does it have to be lead?

 

[JEZGUZ]

You're going to have to add some more Lead to what you've got, as once its melted you'll have to remove the dross from the surface before you pour it. It'll be simpler to scrounge a bit from a roofer or scrapyard.

 

[brightspark]

You're going to have to add some more Lead to what you've got, as once its melted you'll have to remove the dross from the surface before you pour it. It'll be simpler to scrounge a bit from a roofer or scrapyard.

church roof have plenty or someones bay window

 

[Morrisman]

I’ve melted aluminium in a baked beans tin over a camp fire, and cast a small cross, in a mould made in the ground. Lead probably melts around the same temp, or less, for a guess.

I’ve also melted lead in a steel pot simply by pointing an oxy acetylene torch directed onto it from above.

 

[brightspark]

I’ve melted aluminium in a baked beans tin over a camp fire, and cast a small cross, in a mould made in the ground. Lead probably melts around the same temp, or less, for a guess.

I’ve also melted lead in a steel pot simply by pointing an oxy acetylene torch directed onto it from above.

any propane torch will melt lead even wifeys gas cooker

 

[dave h 2]

lead melting point is 300C

 

[Morrisman]

lead melting point is 300C

So half that of aluminium.
Easy peasy to melt over a gas stove then, in a beans tin.

 

[Kram]

Melt it in a cheap stainless or steel container, asda sell some small ones in the kitchen area.

For the mold, a lump of wood works well, route out a slot about 10-20% bigger than you want.

Another good option is to fill a container with prepared sand, ram it tight and then ram an object of a similar shape. Pour into the open mold.

Sand is preferably with 10% bentonite clay and slightly dampened

 

[Agroshield]

Flat piece of steel plate.

Four pieces of angle iron (any length). One end of each cut square.

Four G-clamps.

Set the angles up so the corners are hit and miss and clamp to the baseplate. No clamps? Weight them down with bricks.

Really cheap: wrap wood in tinfoil (or maybe self-adhesive foil tape) and make the same mould.

 

[Seadog]

Also, heat the mould before you pour.

 

[gaz1]

use some copper pipe instead

 

[Ian X]

I gave two small rolls of the thickest flashing lead away after storing them for eons without a use. Someone you know or knows someone else will have the end of a roll in their garage or shed. A piece of steel or aluminium channel might work well if you stop the ends with a couple of formed pieces of wood, the wood will char but hold the lead until it solidifies. I guess you would just need to level the piece with good accuracy to maintain a uniform thickness.
I made 700g weights shaped like a cuttlefish bone for a Char fishing rig and managed to melt the lead in an old saucepan heated by a decent blowtorch, your small volume should be very easy, mine took a while.

 

[MattF]

I'd be more inclined to go with @gaz1's suggestion & use copper. Lead doesn't last long on vice jaws, unless you're doing fine work with minimal clamping force.

 

[Kram]

That is true, would say lead is too soft for vice jaws.

Lead is so soft that you can squeze it in vice between two plates to get a uniform thickness.

A good weighty soft tapper can be made by brazing an end onto 22mm or 28mm copper pipe., filljng with lead, then trim 20mm of copper off one end. It will mushroom put and need frequent reshaping but works very well.

 

[bourbon]

You are a bit far away from me, I would have sorted that out for you. I cast pewter in the middle of a field!!

 

[ahebron]

I cast two lead hammers for removing wire wheel knockoffs.
I was given a bucket full of old wheel weights and heated the lot in an pot on a gas camping stove.
I was surprised at how easilyt it all melted
Pulled the dross off and removed the non lead then poured into Mustard powder tins with a 20mm galv pipe pocked as a handle.
Cant buy lead hammers here in NZ.

 

[caprinut]

Get piece of aluminium sheet from B&Q done.

 

[Pond frog]

For rough lead blocks I’ve used plywood moulds, mind you it does bubble a bit.
I’m not saying it’s a good idea just that you could cast lead in almost anything if you’re not too fussy about quality.

 

[Morrisman]

I use two lengths of aluminium angle as vice jaws. They fly off onto the floor every single time I use the vice, at least twice, so I get lots of bending and stretching exercise. Win/win, right…….