Bathtub of Liquid Lead

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Last Post 12 February 2022

CBA Member

mrbill2 posted this 30 January 2022

Pouring a lead keel for a sailboat. Check out the bottom pour pots.

Enjoy

W.Parks

mrbill2

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Online CBA President

John Alexander posted this 30 January 2022

Gives a whole nuther meaning to a "pot of lead."

Good to see you back on the forum.

John

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CBA Member

mrbill2 posted this 31 January 2022

Want to see them pour the lead in the next EP118

Thanks

W. Parks

mrbill2

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CBA Member

JimmyDee posted this 31 January 2022

Want to see them pour the lead...

I've watched a couple videos of builders pouring keels. It's tricky business; I've seen a couple blow-outs.

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CBA Member

gnoahhh posted this 31 January 2022

Been there, done that. Quite exhilarating to have an iron clawfoot bathtub brim full of lead empty itself into the keel mould - in under 30 seconds. Whoosh, at 800 degrees. (I guess I made the drain pipe too big.) As fun as it was, I don't ever want to do that again. Ever.

In 2005, a buddy and I built a wooden 34 foot sail boat for a client from the ground up. Took us 2 1/2 years. When it came time to pour the keel, I got elected because I had 35 years of bullet casting under my belt....

Even worse was getting that humongous chunk of lead out of the sand mould in the ground after it cooled.

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CBA Member

Eutectic posted this 01 February 2022

A hot job. Don't they ever flux to clean up the alloy??

Great fun to watch. I think if I had to weld overhead I would have on a full suit.

Steve

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CBA Member

max503 posted this 02 February 2022

Dig them crazy ingots.

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CBA Regional Director

Tom Acheson posted this 02 February 2022

When I was working, our company was a supplier of equipment to foundries. I can recall visiting a foundry out east that had a govt. contract to make parts for Abrams tanks. They poured some kind of steel alloy, an armor based formula. The turret was made in one piece/pour, from an overhead ladle (nothing close to our ladles) into a huge floor mold. The molten metal took forever to cool. If the part did not turn out OK, they had to recycle the metal and re-melt it. Nothing involved in their work was “quick and easy”.

Tom

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CBA Member

mrbill2 posted this 06 February 2022

Making the sand mold to pour the sail boat keel.

mrbill2

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CBA Member

JimmyDee posted this 07 February 2022

Thanks for keeping us "in the loop."

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CBA Member

JohnForrest posted this 08 February 2022

Ive been watching this kid a couple years now. He had an earlier poor almost go south but he caught it. A good episode is getting the LIve Oak sawed somewhere down south.