# What to use for weight in a loco?



## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

I need to add some weight to a loco. What do ya'll recommend? I was thinking of using something like BB's or shot. Another question, is shot lead? I'm mainly gonna be filling the domes and a few void spaces...
Thanks
Terry


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

Lead show would be good if you can get it. You can put it where you want it and pour some epoxy in it to hold it in place. I thought they had phased out lead shot since it poisons creatures that are not killed by it directly.


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## astrayelmgod (Jan 2, 2008)

I tried lead shot in my CP Huntington. The problem with shot is that it is round, ie, lots of empty space in between the particles. So it simply isn't heavy enough if you need every bit of weight. 

If you want to try it anyway, I got some lead weight packets from my local scuba shop. They come in nylon bags in weights from one to 5 pounds, and are intended to drop into a diver's weight belt. Cut the bag open, and pour the shot into a glass jar with a lid. 

A friend had a length of scrap copper pipe from a construction site. He shoved the end of the pipe into sand, melted some lead fishing weights and poured it in. That works well if you can find a pipe that is pretty close to the diameter of your boiler. I would like to accomplish the same thing with a wood form, because I have a cross section that isn't round. Trouble is, wood burns at a lower temperature than the melting point of lead. Soaking the wood first might be good enough, especially since I only need one.


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By astrayelmgod on 03/01/2009 10:59 PM
{snip...} I would like to accomplish the same thing with a wood form, because I have a cross section that isn't round. Trouble is, wood burns at a lower temperature than the melting point of lead. Soaking the wood first might be good enough, especially since I only need one.
Why don't you form the wood to the shape that you want the lead to be. Then take a length of copper pipe large enough, slit it lengthwise and pound it flat. Next, use the torch that you're going to use to melt the lead with, and use it to anneal the copper to 'dead soft', finally form the soft copper over the wooden pattern.


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## Paradise (Jan 9, 2008)

Plumber's stick solder melted with a large soldering iron into a mold may be more conveniant than melting lead. 

What about using lead flashing sheet used for roofs etc. 
Cut it to the width required then roll it into a cylinder or fold and flaten to the shape you want. 
Wire or a little solder at the edges will keep it bundled together. 
With this method you won't need to mold and melt it. 

Andrew


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Lead weights at Hobby Lobby used for Pinewood Derby cars work extremely well as the come in different shapes and sizes.


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## bull (Jan 28, 2008)

just use some lead bb's I have used them alot in my ho day's and in large scale they are small enough there isn't much dead space.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I use self adhesive automotive tire weights for small projects, birdshot and epoxy for larger projects, its important to use an epoxy type thats thin enough to seep down inbetween the birdshot effectively making a solid brick when cured


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

McMaster-Carr sells lead sheet in square foot quantity. I bought one square foot of 1/8" lead sheet, then cut it on a shear. I've also sawn it with a small bandsaw, but a hacksaw or jewelers saw would also work.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

The fishing sinkers they are selling around here are all now of the "non-toxic" variety... so don't weigh near as much as they used to. I've got a 20+ pound brick of lead I bought when I was making the trebuchet. (It didn't arrive in time, so I melted a coffee can full of zinc/lead wheel weights instead, yuck!) 

Anyway, filling the domes is OK if that's the only space you have, but try to get as much as you can down low so it won't be too top heavy. (My youngest still likes to run things at warp 9 -- Watching a loco you just finished taking a header is no fun.)


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## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

Mik's suggestion to keep the weight low is a good idea. 

Even if you run your trains slow having weight up high in the domes on the locomotive may induce side-to-side sway over even moderate rough track. 

Of course if you are running D&RGW 2-8-2s the side-to-side motion is how they got the nickname mudhens.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Astra:

FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, *DO NOT POUR MOLTEN LEAD INTO A DAMP WOOD FORM!!!!!!!!* 
The heat of the lead will vaporized the water in the wood and spray molten lead in all directions. BTW, use safety glasses (better: a face shield) while you're working with lead. Gloves are good, too, and a long-sleeved shirt.

I understand the attractiveness of wood moulds. The problem is to keep the moisture out of the wood.

Try, if you must use wood, a hardwood. Then char it--the mould cavity--with a torch or whatever. Then try pouring a dab and see what happens.

Les


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## John McGuyer (Jan 2, 2008)

Kriptonite! It is quite heavy and will keep Superman from stepping on your track. 

John


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By John McGuyer on 03/02/2009 12:39 PM
Kriptonite! It is quite heavy and will keep Superman from stepping on your track. 

John


NO NO NO!!!! He'll collapse and fall on your train, crushing it!


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

You local fishing tackle / bait store sells lead weights in bags. Although they are round they are much larger than shot, so there are fewer and smaller spaces between them. They also have a hole/slot for the line which makes attaching them easier.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

What I have been using is uranium ore. Very dense, much more than lead. Can be a bit costly, and there are the open sores....but if you pre-line the shells with lead, not so many problems. 

I was getting out of some of the former Soviet territories and "out the back door" from a friend that worked for TVA, but much easier now that it is on Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Ore/dp/B000796XXM


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Are you'se guys aware that lead fumes and particles are very dangerous? Shearing is probably the safest way to cut or an exacto for thin sheets...scribe one side and then bend from behind on a sharp corner. WEAR GLOVES. A jewelers saw will clog easily and power saws can put it in the air. 

Melting; 

Do it outside where the fumes can disipate before reaching any person or building. Have a fan aimed to keep it away from your face as wind can change (usually when you're hands are full and your thoughts distracted). For half molds get very fine clean sand, dampen slightly, press master and lift clean. Let dry. I'd get a crucible from a jewelry supply house and pour close to the mold. Some have handles or you can fabricate one from wire, the longer the handle the farther you can keep it from your face. Sand casting has been around like forever... 

I have an electric furnace, but it will never see lead. Brass... that's different.... 

But for a real goodweight use 24kt gold! Safer than depleted uranium and easier to get than raiding bombing ranges....... 

a note on Kryptonite; Red gave him his powers, green took it away or was it the other way around....? 

John


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## paintjockey (Jan 3, 2008)

No, you're right with the red and green thing, but the sun actually gave superman his powers. 
I kow lead is dangerous, all the good stuff is. Just like all the good food is bad for you.


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## Schlosser (Jan 2, 2008)

When I was a kid, I used carbon-tetra-chloride to clean the type for my printing press; nowadays quite a no-no. 

A few years later I got a lead casting kit to make toy soldiers, and it came in handy making lead weights for the plastic F1 Diesels on the market; nowadays this is also a no-no. 

I discovered flourescent lights when I started part time work in a hardware store. The powder that comes out of a broken tube is white; I know cause I've held it in my hands. I hear it's a carcinagen. 

In the final years of high-school, (1944-45), I worked evening shift in a war-factory that made headsets for airplanes, dipping the assemblies in liquid plastic kept liquid with MEK (Methyl-Ethyl-Keytone) and the wires dried in the air we were breathing, which some think is bad for the lungs. 

And in re-plumbing an old house, I had to use lead packing ito seal a cast iron soil pipe when I replaced a lead elbow to a toilet. 

Now if all these things are life threatening, hows come I've lived longer than my three older brothers did and buried two of the younger brothers? 

These things can't be as bad as the government nannies would like you to believe. "We're from the gov'mint; we're here to he'p ya". 

Art


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## bottino (Feb 7, 2008)

Living near the ocean we have access in tackle shops to real lead sinkers, 1/2 3/4 or one ounce. I put a bunch of then in the tank of my Uboat, and they work just fine. They don't rattle around or anything. No epoxy either.

Paul


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## pimanjc (Jan 2, 2008)

I also use used lead wheel weights and the new stick-on weights in locos.









I have also used expired AA batteries in the gas tanks of FA and F3 locos to add weight. You need to have them either packed in tight enough so they don't roll around or hotglue them.

JimC.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Art,

Well spoken.

When I was a kid I used carbon tet to gas some grasshoppers I needed to mount for a school display. Somehow, I managed to break one hopper's back leg so that it still rotated but didn't fall off. "Cool," thought I. When the teacher opened the cigar box she was all so enthusiastic. Then she tilted it just enough and the leg raised up. She screamed and dropped the whole setup on the floor.

MEK, carbon tet, I used to clean my hands in benzene ... I have to wonder if it's not a deliberate movement to keep people afraid. Lead fumes from soldering, on and on.

Les


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## astrayelmgod (Jan 2, 2008)

Lead vaporizes at 1750 degrees F. Aren't we safe at the melting temperature (621F)?


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## Schlosser (Jan 2, 2008)

Got a good laugh out of that one, Les. I hope her enthusiam returned long enough for you to get a good grade. Can't imagine the fall did the project much good.

There are so many allergies today and have read it's because we're so 'sanitized' as we haven't rolled in enough dirt. Mom would often say. "Ya gotta eat a peck of dirt before you die!" Not quite sure just how I was suppose to take that, it has sort of a double meaning.

Art


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