That is exactly what I did, plaster of paris molds that were baked in the oven to get the moisture out. I think I made the initial male mold out of wax if I remember correctly then poured on the plaster of paris to make a female mold then baked in the oven and poured out the melted wax to get my female molds.
I used lead fishing sinkers and melted them in a cat food can on my gas stove, but I think an electric stove would do fine also. One recommendation I have on your aileron ballance weights is to not have them as big rectangles. Keep in mind that you want most of the mass of lead to be on a long arm away from the hinge point. It takes twice the weight to ballance as it would if the weight was twice as far from the hinge point. I recall Jim Faughn's (If I am remembering correctly) ballance weight on one aileron breaking off in flight at a gathering one year. His weights were huge rectangles with a lot of mass near the hinge point so they were a lot heavier than they needed to be which makes the whole aileron and counterbalance assembly heavier and more prone to flutter even when ballanced. I made mine more wedge shaped with most of the mass far from the hinge point. Speaking of melting lead, I have been trying to figure out for the past few days how to deal with my solder pot that just crapped out that I use for mass soldering of circuit boards. It is a big 2,000 Watt electric pot that is regulated at 250 degrees C. I have a new solder pot on the way, but am trying to figure out the best way to melt out the 75 pounds of solder in the old pot and put it in the new one. At today's prices for bar solder it is $1,500 worth of solder. It takes about an hour to melt when the pot is working so I am not sure if I can effectively just remove the pot from the whole machine and heat on the stove or heat it with a torch. Withe any luck the heating element on the new pot is the same as the old one and I can just transfer it to the old pot. Can't buy just the heating element. Brian Kraut 904-536-1780 br...@eamanuacturing.com -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: KR> Melting lead From: Parley T Byington via KRnet <krnet@list.krnet.org> Date: Sat, January 28, 2017 1:56 pm To: "krnet@list.krnet.org" <krnet@list.krnet.org> Cc: Parley T Byington <byington1...@embarqmail.com> Date: Saturday, Jan.28,2017 Subject: Melting lead and safety precautions When making my counter weights, I built some molds out of plaster of Paris to shape then used the female mold to pour melted lead into. ONE VERY IMPORTANT POINT HERE; that is heat the mold (plaster) in the oven to a high temperature to ensure there is NO water left in the plaster PRIOR to pouring molten lead in it. FAILURE to do this will result in an explosion of molten lead that will cover everything with in a 10 ft radius INCLUDING the person pouring the lead! ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTIVE CLOTHING, GLOVES, EYE, FACE, ARM, AND BODY PROTECTION. _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at http://tugantek.com/archmailv2-kr/search. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org