For those that pour...

[DitchPanda]

Your own jigs and spinnerbaits...where do you pour? Basement? Garage? Also what is your ventilation setup? Been looking at starting to pour my own Ned heads for a while...just curious what's the best approach.

[Chris Catignani]

Garage...and I installed a 12 external vent...if forget the cfs...but is it great. I also have a good 3M mask. Do not pour the plastic without a mask...it really bad stuff.

[T-Billy]

Garage. Sometimes I pour jigs in the basement if it's really cold out. Plastics have to be made where there's good ventilation. They ALWAYS get made in the garage with the doors open and a fan pulling the fumes and smoke out.

[DitchPanda]

Not as critical with lead?

[Jig Man]

My garage is 1100 sq ft with a truck and car bay on one side and a boat bay on the other.  Between the boat bay and truck I have a work area where I pour all my baits both lead and plastic.  The most important thing with lead is to not eat or smoke while pouring it and wash your hands when finished.

[T-Billy]

No noticable fumes as long as you use clean lead and you're not fluxing, or overheating the lead. When I add new alloy, I do it outside, flux well with sawdust and get a good bed of ash built up on top the pot to stop oxidation. After that I'll sometimes pour indoors if it's really cold out. Not saying it's a great idea, but I doubt casting jigs indoors is what's gonna kill me.

 Bullets are a different story as I use an alloy with more tin and antimony and flux much more often, which creates alot of smoke. 

[DitchPanda]

Where do you buy your lead from?

[T-Billy]

Rotometals. https://www.rotometals.com/bullet-casting-alloys/

Not the cheapest route, but I get good, clean, pre-mixed alloy. Using clean alloy goes a long way to keeping your bottom pour pot from dripping. I like 1-40 alloy for jigs. 2.5% tin flows better than pure lead.

[DitchPanda]

Thanks for the info

[Mbirdsley]

I pour in my garage.  I run propane heaters  in the winter. It’s a nice big garage but, not insulated ( when we bought the house nothing was insulated).  So it’s not air tight .  I don’t run any type of ventilation other than a ceiling fan.  

If I have to melt down Wheel weights or other lead to make ingets I would do that out side.  I have about 600 lbs of lead that was given to me about 5-6 years ago. So I havnt had to start scrounging yet.  Originally that would have lasted a life time but, than I went legit.  Eventually I will have to start scrounging for lead again. 

[Munkin]

Garage and I have been using a fan to blow the fumes away. Now I do have 2 overhead exhaust fans but haven't installed them yet.

 

Allen

[scaleface]

I used my work trailer but sold it this year . My brother has a metal barn , I think I'll use it  from now on . 

[DitchPanda]

I don't plan on pouring plastics and I think I'd use powder paint so it sounds like for just melting lead I should be ok just about anywhere as long as I'm not standing over the pot huffing fumes.

[Jig Man]

Pretty much.

[thediscochef]

If you do anything with plastics I would strongly recommend an OV/N95 respirator unless you're straight up outside. I don't have much experience with these materials in particular but I did spend a good amount of time as a coatings/epoxy retailer; I'd think there's a high degree of crossover with PPE.

For lead and such, a well ventilated space is a must but if you produce smoke an OV mask is probably a safe bet. as big of a pain as some of these masks and PPE are...it's $40 plus an inconvenience now, versus possibly six (or more) figures and possibly your life later on. It is ALWAYS worth it to use PPE. Even if it's trace amounts. It doesn't take much and you'll never know when it's your turn.

[Bdnoble84]

Im my garage until i moved out. One thing to keep in mind. Do not let moisture get in your lead. It will cause an explosion. Someone post a couple years ago about this and i beleived it ruined the siding on his garage?

[Munkin]

 

Shush! don't tell my wife about the lead on the side of our house. Remember snitches get stiches and rats get bats.

 

Allen

[ATA]

Thats the rabbit hole that I didn't enter yet ?

[scaleface]

If you have a shooting range nearby  you can collect lead pretty easily from the berms . Its just laying there .

[T-Billy]

Key word being YET!!! Just wait till you meet the Mold Monkey.? I don't even know how many I have anymore!!! ?

[Munkin]

You don't want to know how much I have tied up in lead molds right now.

 

Allen