Car Battery Lead

[fishon-son]

i was given 5 cores  car batterys for the lead..any good for jigs.?  no acid is in batterys..

[toadfrog]

Your looking at some toxic stinky stuff if acid has ever been in the battery . If you heat it and burn it off get well away form everything and everybody . Stay up wind and wear a good mask . Absolutely do not get the fumes in your eyes or on your skin .

[Apdriver]

Interested in the responses you may receive. Never melted lead from batteries but have wondered the same. Seems 700 plus degrees would free it of any harmful gases when you smelt it......outside and stand upwind.

[Jonah]

I was offered a couple of batteries and turned it down as I didn't want to take any chances. Eventually you're going to be using the lead in a semi enclosed area. Be careful

[pecor]

I've used them in the past do it outside until you can flux and skim the crap off, But I was just pouring cannon balls for downriggers it worked fine for that, Not sure how well it will work in a jig mould as most newer batteries are made of an alloy like wheel weights are. You can neutralize the acid dried on the plates in a bucket of water with about a 1/4 of a box of baking soda, Just rinse well and make sure they dry in the sun a few days. If their all sulfited up with white crap between the plates ya might want to just trash them.  Jaa  

[Basseducer]

I had some one time and the jigs wouldn't hold paint. I would just rub off.

[dlaery]

I tried once. It wasn't worth it. The treminals are about the onle thing worth saving. The plates are the pita. I put bicarbonate soda (baking soda) over the cut up pieces of batteries to netrulize the acid.

[LimpNoodle]

Not worth it at all.  Battery lead is contaminated with all sorts of stuff.  The big battery manufacturers recycle it but the process is a bit more involved than simply smelting the lead. 

[dlaery]

I read an article a long time ago that at the Doe Run recycling plant website how they recycled batteries.

first they put the batteries through a hammer mill that would bust them into small pieces then put that in water and float out all of the plastic material and what was left was the lead.

then melt down into ingots. I have been to that plant and they mix 160 tons in a batch. they may run it over a magnet to pull out steel, I don't know. It's been a long time since I read that

[cadman]

Not worth it in my opinion.  You have to neutralize the acid and then dump all of it somewhere. Not sure I would be happy seeing someone pour neutralized battery acid in a sewer.Then you have to crack the case open and let the lead dry out and then melt it. Too much work in my opinion.

Edited April 20, 2016 by cadman

[mark poulson]

It seems like a lot of work for a very iffy outcome.  Between the acid residue, and the possibility of contaminants, you could spend a lot of time and effort on something that winds up being unusable.

[odinohi]

Too much other lead available to deal with the nasty

[fishon-son]

dropping them at the scrap yard saturday.....thanks

[fishon-son]

son dropped them today at the scrap yard   made a trade.....also found out way to hard for a home recycle...

[northrivergeek]

 

 

Edited September 18, 2016 by northrivergeek

[andy1976]

I recently tried this. Used a semi truck deep cycle battery at work that the top blew off. It was dry and I tried melting it. It weighed about 50 lbs. I can say not worth it. I took it part and removed the plastic. Not sure if the cells were less but they didn't seem to melt. I did get a few pounds buy not at all worth the effort.

[RayburnGuy]

There are just so many things wrong with what these guys are doing.

 

Storing acid in a glass jar? All it takes is one slip to end up with broken glass and acid everywhere.

 

Cooling metal ingots in a glass container full of water? Again, broken glass just waiting to happen.

 

Boiling an acid/water mix to remove the water? Those wisps of vapor are full of toxic fumes that can wreak havoc on your lungs.

 

Just because you CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do it.

 

just my ,

 

Ben

[walleyeking]

"Just because you CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do it."

RayburnGuy I think I was 35 years old before I figured that out lol

[smallmouthaholic]

I'm amazed that one would even thing of using battery lead for baits.   Frugality is one thing,common sense is another.

[RayburnGuy]

"Just because you CAN do something doesn't necessarily mean you SHOULD do it."

RayburnGuy I think I was 35 years old before I figured that out lol

 

That sounds about right Walleyeking.

 

Ben

[Glaucus]

This is from:

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm#recyclebatteries

 

"  Salvaged battery lead should be avoided at all costs. Since the advent of the maintenance free battery the lead content has been reduced and elements such as strontium, calcium and others have been added. Most of these elements cast very poorly, ruin a pot of good alloy they are blended with and are extremely toxic. The quantity and quality of lead from batteries is not worth the risk or the effort.

     From "Linstrum" on the Castboolits forum - Maintenance free/low maintenance batteries use calcium metal-doped lead to catalyze the hydrogen gas. The lead alloy used in batteries also contains a bit of antimony and arsenic to help harden and strengthen the lead. When hydrogen comes in contact with arsenic and antimony, the hydrogen reacts to form ammonia analogues called arsine and stibine, AsH3 and SbH3. In World War One the Germans experimented with these as war gases. As such they were highly effective since they are deadly in amounts too small to easily detect.

     Do yourself and everyone else in the vicinity a favor and DO NOT use batteries. Severe lung damage and even death could result. Sell the batteries to a recycler and let the professionals deal with the risks."

[Fatman]

Absolutely NOT worth it!!!