Gentlemen, Would like to try your suggestion of adding material to cover the melted alloy in my Lee pot, but I don't have a cat. I have heard elsewhere that the basic component of this cat litter is the same as the Oil Dri that is used for cleaning garage floors and I do have that. Have any of you used Oil Dri to cover your lead melts?
Thanks.
Docones

That'll do'er, Doc. Same stuff, different package and price.

This is new to me.Can you explain what your talking about?

Kitty liter is a kiln dried clay that is very absorbant.
<incorrect information redacted. Please see oldfeller's post below about when and where to put the kitty liter.>

The melting lead filters down through the kitty liter leaving behind all of the dirt and oxide. The kitty liter eventually floats to the top of the melt and the lead flows under the liter. Another benefit is that the layer of clay on the top keeps the melt hot. When you need to add more lead set it on the top of the clay and it should melt and flow down through the layer of litter.

Obviously this only works for pots with a bottom tap on them.

Question: Regular or clumpable?

[ 12-02-2003, 02:37: Message edited by: djl4570 ]

No, don't throw the kitty litter down into the bottom of the pot, that could jam up your valve the first time you actuated it (the lead flow might suck down some kitty litter that was jammed behind the valve post).

Melt the lead BARE to fill the pot up, scrape and flux it normally the very first time when you first melt it (the only time you'll have to do this) then add 1/4" of kitty litter to the top of the melt. Then put up your old fluxing stuff, you won't need it any more.

Thereafter, try to keep the pot full of molten metal at all times for consistent casting and a maximum heat reserve for quickly melting new ingot when you add one.

It is easy to judge when your lead level is at the top of the real steel melting pot, the kitty litter is flush to the top of the rim ring and starts to try to spill out on you.

Fluxing, if you just MUST do it, from then on consists of just stirring up the lead underneath the kitty litter - forcing it to circulate up into contact with the floating kitty litter/alias solid flux.

Scraping the walls of the pot occasionally/rarely is recommended as well, but you do this by reaching through the kitty litter with a long handled steel tea spoon and scraping the walls. This action and all stirring actions take place right through the kitty litter barrier layer. From now on the barrier layer of kitty litter stays in place at all times.

Adding ingot by laying it on top of the kitty litter constitutes a "fluxing". Throwing a sprue on top of the kitty litter constitutes a "fluxing". You are fluxing all the time as the top of the metal is in contact with the flux at all times. Your metal started out clean and it stays clean with no effort on your part.

When you get ready to start a casting session from a cold hard full pot is the time you change your kitty litter. Take your cold LEE pot over to the trash can and dump off all the old kitty litter and replace it with a brand new 1/4" layer of fresh kitty litter. A old paintbrush is good to have to help get all the old stuff out, although it really isn't necessary.

Then plug it up and let it melt. Stir it a time or two to make sure it is all molten and go to casting. This is the easiest fluxing you will ever do as you really never have to do any fluxing from now on.

Try it, you'll like it a lot.

Oldfeller

[ 12-01-2003, 15:54: Message edited by: Oldfeller ]

oldfeller, the part about keeping a full pot makes sense, as long as the metal is of the same mix/alloy. I was wondering what happened when the kitty litter got to the bottom of the pot mmmmmmmm more to think about. thanks , 243winxb.

Thanks oldfeller. I was not clear on the details. It sounds like a great idea.

[ 12-02-2003, 02:36: Message edited by: djl4570 ]

If you put kitty litter on top of molten lead do so very carefully. Don't stick something into the lead to stir it until what little moisture is in the kitty litter is driven off by the heat.
Best is to add the kitty litter to the top of a cold pot full of alloy.
mes

My best friends Dad use to work for a chainlink fence manufacturing mill back in Pittsburgh. They coated the wire with a galvanize mix. Anyways they had a big rectangular pit that the molten mixture was in and he said that top was covered with charcoal. I had wondered about trying that on my pot. Anyone experimented with charcoal on the alloy top?
JOe

Starmetal, I use sawdust as my flux, which turns into charcoal. In the process of fluxing, I add about a tablespoon of sawdust, stir well, scrape the sides of the pot and then skim the burnt sawdust and junk off the top. Then I add another tablespoon of sawdust that just sits on top of the alloy. It turns to charcoal and helps reduce oxidation of tin. It probably works like kitty litter, although I have never tried kitty litter.

I have been quite pleased with sawdust, especially the price. I use western red cedar sawdust which has a better than average odor. It does smoke for a few seconds when added, so be prepared for that. Turbo

Thanks Waksupi. With the Oil Dri I won't have to worry about whether any additives have been mixed in, as I would with the kitty litter. Also, at $7.99/50 lbs at the local Ace Hardware, I have to think Oil Dri is even cheaper than kitty litter. Docjones.

I dunno nothing about OilDri, but some kitty litter is vermiculite which has an asbestos content. I would not want to find out whether it releases asbestos fiber when heated to 800 degrees. Make sure you get the expanded clay version.

Check your bag before you buy it.

Most brands of inexpensive kitty litter are "steam expanded white clay" or "steam expanded diamacious earth". Vermiculite likely costs too much to use for cheap kitty litter any more.

Asbestos content would likely be illegal now, since all the bunny huggers wouldn't want their sweetums kitties licking it off their feet after taking a dump and poisioning themselves or breathing in the stirred up asbestos dust while covering up their mess.

The organic clay (white clay) has a large content of organic matter, ditto for the diamacious earth which is little sea critter's rotted remains. Both break down very slowly due to the heat, reacting with the lead to steal away any oxygen atoms that become available (lead oxide minus oxygen = clean metal). This leaves your lead clean and your kitty litter slightly brown.

How long does kitty litter actually last? I have been lazy and had not changed it for 3 casting sessions before I noticed it didn't work as well as before. So I changed it.

Yes, if I added kitty litter to the top of molten metal I would let it warm up for 10 minutes or so before ????trying to force any of it below the surface????

Question becomes, why would I want to do this strange unnatural thing? Just let it sit there on top of the molden metal. It does not stick to your stirring spoon at all, so you needn't worry about that as an issue.

You guys are just too durn used to stirring things around under the surface of the lead to get them to work -- kitty litter does just fine sitting there floating on top just like it naturally wants to.

Try it, it works great.

Oldfeller

I read kitty litter or oil dry can be replaced, or are same as BENTONITE.
Is that correct?

Bentonite I got from an industrial drug store is an impalpable powdwer,like flour, but light brown color. It is an inert material, no reactions with melted lead are perceived, no pops,no fizzles, although it is pushed down pot bottom and revolved.
Is bentonite as good as candle wax, beeswax,etc for cleaning sand and dust from range pick up lead slugs? .

Thanks for your answers.

BA Shooter

Probably not. Oily, sticky stuff is probably better for trash pickup, that stuff that does not need to be, or can possibly be, chemically "remanufactured" into something useful.

Bentonite is what is known as gumbo here in Montana.
Drive off a main road on the east side when the roads are wet. The stuff that immediately rolls around the tires and fills the wheel wells until you can't move (usually about twenty feet worth of driving)is Bentonite. I suspect if it is indeed also floor dri and Kitty litter, the added air is a definite aid to it's effectiveness.

I seem to recall from a long ago geology class that bentonite is fiercely hydroscopic. Had enough trouble with Marvelux not to want anything hydroscopic around my casting pot.

I remember when I lived in Colorado that bentonite was a problem with home building. It seems the homes that were built over bentonite had to have a floatiing basement floor because the stuff swells or expands when it gets wet. I real problem wherever it's located.

Joe

Thanks for your answers. I confirmed with the drugstore; it is hydroscopic and very cheap.

I only bought two pounds of bentonite so I am going to through it away.

BA Shooter