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Blowtorch??? Now that's overkill. I had no problem melting lead on a little electric hotplate. The kind that looks as though it couldn't even boil water. It took about 10 minutes for the lead to start to melt. After 15 minutes, it was fully liquid. Yes Paul, your coleman stove *will* do the job. The lead was paint covered, and that didn't affect the job at all. You don't even have to remove the paint at the surface of the melted lead. As for safety, I just say be careful, pour slowly, and do it in a well ventillated area. good luck, steve On Thu, 22 Jun 2000, Cam Banks wrote: > Your Coleman stove might work but I doubt it. I use any stove and "coax" > the lead to melt with a blowtorch from the top. The combination of the two > work fine, and the blowtorch is cheap and readily available. You need to > wear at least a good particulate mask and gloves. > > The lead is melted when it gets flat, and when you wiggle the pan handle, it > swishes around like water. It doesn't bubble and splatter, unless you pour > it too fast or onto something wet. > > You won't be doing the environment any good, but you can just let the paint > burn off the lead when you melt it. Mask again. > > It's hard to imagine that your twenty pounds of weight is enough for that Al > 80 combination and drysuit. It took 38 lbs to keep mine down when the tanks > were at 500 psi. They get about 10lbs buoyant... That's why they are > retired now, in favor of LP steels. I'll let someone else talk about the > ankle weights. > > Your wife needs to learn to adjust her gear properly. Non-ditchable weight > is probably not the answer for inexperienced divers. There are a lot of > situations where she really might want to be able to ditch a belt. > > I think the v-weight is held in place by the band bolts on the doubles, but > let's see what everyone else has to say. > > Regards, > > Cam > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Paul Osmond" <paul@no*.co*> > To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> > Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2000 11:46 AM > Subject: Making lead soup? > > > > All this talk about going weight beltless has motivated me to try > > it myself and make a P/V weight. That plus the fact last year my > > wife lost her weight belt because of wetsuit compression while doing > > a drift dive in a 2 knot current. I spotted her floating in the water > > column > > with her belt around her knees trying to maintain neutral buoyancy. I > > had to guide her to a rocky crevace and get her weight belt back in > > place all while fighting the current as she held on to the rocks so not > > to drift away from > > me. My wife was fine but, needles to say I beat myself to a snott > > in the 1-2 minutes it took to get everything sorted out. > > > > Over all I believe that weight belts are more of a liability, then > > diving > > without a weight belt and using a properly weighted rig. > > > > I took a look at the Trimix site and the directions on making P/V's, > > however, not all my question were answered. So............... > > > > > > I am planning on using a Coleman camping stove that uses camping fuel. > > Is this going to be good enough? > > > > Lead melts at relatively low temps but how do I know it is melted > > enough? Does it bubble and splatter all over the place, or is it just > > good > > and runny? > > > > I have some old lead that has a coating of orange paint on it. Should > > I > > scrape the paint of first or does it really matter? > > > > I am still in the process of DIR-ifying my gear and currently using > > twined AL80's with a manifold which are positively buoyant when > > close to empty. I have a home made aluminum backplate which does > > not add any real weight to the rig and a Viking rubber dry suit with > > 1/4" > > Thinsulite undies. Currently I have about 16 lbs on my belt and 4 lbs > > of ankle weights. So is there a generally accepted weight > > criteria for the P/V when diving a rig like the one mentioned > > above? (ie) The P had to be 5 lbs and the V has to be 7 lbs or > > something like that. > > > > From the web page it is not obvious if the V weight is connected > > to something or does it just go in between the tanks+bands and is held > > in > > place by the back plate? > > > > If the V is not connected to anything I assume it is trimmed to > > fit perfectly between the tanks+bands so not move around and make > > annoying noise. > > > > I plan on using an old cast iron skillet as my smelter. Is this > > a safe enough pot to use.? Being a frying pan type pot is it necessary > > to use a pot with higher sides? > > > > Is there a simple formula that will let me know how much weight to > > melt? (ie) Melt 10 lbs of lead to get a 5 lbs P weight, etc. > > > > Sorry for the long post, and thanx for any info, > > > > > > Paul > > > > > > > > -- > > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > > > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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