Ever since I started making pellet traps filled with rubber mulch I've been wanting a good quick way to separate the mulch from the pellets. I made an improvement today using plastic fencing that has 8mm openings. It's about the right size to let pellets through without letting significant sized mulch pieces through. I made a 12x12 inch frame and stapled the wire to that. I then put it over a drywall bucket and poured some mulch in. It works well but I may staple some cardboard in the corners, the mesh is a bit big for the bucket. But the other issue is all the little debris comes through with the pellets. I just dumped the mess in an old saucepan and tried burning the debris off as the lead melted. That works but is smelly and takes awhile. Next time I will pit some water on the pellets and see if I can't reduce the amount of debris. But the filtering through the mesh works well and greatly decreases the volume. The picture has the filter, the trap, and a box of the filtered mulch.
Filter to separate rubber mulch from pellets
- Thread starter JimD
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How about putting them in a container with water and let the rubber float to the top. Just skim the rubber off the top and dry the pellets if reusing.
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I've dumped the whole trap contents in water before and the rubber mulch sinks to the bottom. It is heavier than water. It helped separate things, however, because it would come off the bottom far easier than the pellets. But I'd rather not deal with all that mess of wet mulch with fragments of the cardboard that holds it in place and paper from the targets and other junk. This way most of the mulch will not need to get wet. Everything I want to reuse will not get wet. I'm thinking I will only wet the pellets with small mulch pieces and junk in it. That stuff may float but if not I can still minimize what I have to burn out by letting the water help me separate it. At least that is what I'm thinking. I'm also hoping that removing the little stuff may reduce it the next time around.
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I dumped the mulch into a 5 gallon bucket and shake it around the pellets go to the bottom and the mulch stays near the top. And then with your hands scoop out The Mulch on the top keep shaking and repeat as needed. Of course to be safe you should wear respirator and not breathe in the lead dust.
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I did another trap today and improved the screen with cardboard in the corners and I filled the bucket with the pellets with several inches of water. It worked pretty well. In about half an hour I had the pellets on the side burner in a pan to melt them. The mulch did not float but other debris did. I poured the water off and that took a lot of the mulch with it. Doing it slowly let the pellets stay behind. I still had mulch in the pellets but much much less. I removed it with a spoon from the molten lead the way dross is normally removed. I got about 4.5 lbs lead out. That is less than I typically get but this trap is built of 3/4 plywood and deeper so it weighs 21 lbs without pellets. I might refine the process further but it is working well.
The pictures are of the separated mulch and pellets, the pellets on the burner and the lead ingots.
The pictures are of the separated mulch and pellets, the pellets on the burner and the lead ingots.
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That's what I was thinking. A mag of rubber mulch is like $7. You're going to spend a lot more time cleaning and separating. Unless you plan to reuse the pellets...
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I wouldn't throw it all away but if you have a safe way to dispose of lead throwing away the pellets and small debris would speed things up a lot. Separating the good pieces of mulch from the little stuff only took maybe 15 minutes and you loose nearly no volume.
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After removing the lead fragments and pellets from the mulch, I wouldn't be surprised if by the "letter of the law" , the "cleaned" mulch would still be considered hazardous waste.
Removing the pellets and reusing the mulch makes it easier to comply with the regulations. Melt down the lead for casting, or give or sell it to a recycler.
Removing the pellets and reusing the mulch makes it easier to comply with the regulations. Melt down the lead for casting, or give or sell it to a recycler.
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Showed this before but don't know how to link
lay the bucket on its side, flush with a hard stream of water, the rubber will all wash out and will leave only the pellets
lay the bucket on its side, flush with a hard stream of water, the rubber will all wash out and will leave only the pellets
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At McMaster Carr, you can get any size mesh of many different materials and many different gauges of wire in many different types of weaves.
You should use this setup as your rough filter, then run it through maybe a mesh with ¼ or 3/16" opening. It all depends on the largest caliber pellets you're shooting.
You could also do it like they do in those sluice boxes when panning for gold. It doesn't have to be that elaborate, but the principle is the same. The lead should be the heaviest thing going through it
You should use this setup as your rough filter, then run it through maybe a mesh with ¼ or 3/16" opening. It all depends on the largest caliber pellets you're shooting.
You could also do it like they do in those sluice boxes when panning for gold. It doesn't have to be that elaborate, but the principle is the same. The lead should be the heaviest thing going through it
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I did some quick googling and it looks like rubber mulch might have a density of around 1.11 grams per cubic cm, while water is 1 gram per cubic cm, lead is obviously much much denser. Maybe you could try adding a bunch of salt to water to increase the density just higher than the mulch so it floats. Pour some in, agitate a little, scim the surface mulch out, repeat until you have just the lead and salt water. Then run it through a mesh strainer. I'd also just keep that water in a 5 gallon bucket for future use.
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@JimD I like your screen idea, and may try it myself. I've just been dumping the whole mess from the target box into a large storage bin (the big black ones from Costco) and shaking it to get the lead to the bottom and the lighter stuff on top. I then hit it with a blast of air from a leaf blower (the battery ones make this easier, as I work my way down in layers, and of course do it outside) and this gets all the cardboard an paper bits to blow away. Then I scoop out the good clean mulch and put it back in the target box.
I simply repeat this a few times working down in layers until I get to the last layer of mostly pellets but also some small rubber mulch bits mixed in. After a good blast of air, I pour the contents into a five gallon pail and then switch to the shop vac to get out the rubber mulch leaving the pellets behind. I have found that what works best is to use an extension tube on the end of the shop vac hose, but to hold it in place a with a small gap to leave a leak path to reduce the suction some at the working end of the tube, and then I can put the tube right on top of the pellet and mulch mix and the pellets end up being too heavy to rise up but the mulch does go up and is removed. Someday I may make a "tool" out of PVC pipe with a hole in it, but the gap method works great. I typically have to shake the mix around a bit and do it a few times, but the result is a collection of really clean used pellets.
I've been keeping my lead with the thought of melting it down and casting it some day, but have not yet as I pretty much just shoot .22 and don't see much point. I'll probably end up selling it for scrap or giving it away some day. The stuff from the rubber mulch trap is clean but the stuff from earlier in the duct seal trap is messier.
Anyways, you could do a mix of things and do what you do now, but add a blast of air and then the vacuum to the results of the sort to clean it up a bit more before melting. Here is what my results of the method above typically look like:
I simply repeat this a few times working down in layers until I get to the last layer of mostly pellets but also some small rubber mulch bits mixed in. After a good blast of air, I pour the contents into a five gallon pail and then switch to the shop vac to get out the rubber mulch leaving the pellets behind. I have found that what works best is to use an extension tube on the end of the shop vac hose, but to hold it in place a with a small gap to leave a leak path to reduce the suction some at the working end of the tube, and then I can put the tube right on top of the pellet and mulch mix and the pellets end up being too heavy to rise up but the mulch does go up and is removed. Someday I may make a "tool" out of PVC pipe with a hole in it, but the gap method works great. I typically have to shake the mix around a bit and do it a few times, but the result is a collection of really clean used pellets.
I've been keeping my lead with the thought of melting it down and casting it some day, but have not yet as I pretty much just shoot .22 and don't see much point. I'll probably end up selling it for scrap or giving it away some day. The stuff from the rubber mulch trap is clean but the stuff from earlier in the duct seal trap is messier.
Anyways, you could do a mix of things and do what you do now, but add a blast of air and then the vacuum to the results of the sort to clean it up a bit more before melting. Here is what my results of the method above typically look like:
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Alan, your salvage pellets look very clean. I will give your vacumn idea a try. I have a Ryobi battery powered shop vac that is pretty weak. Seems like it might be the right tool for the task. Water works but is kind of messy. Either way, it saves me a lot of effort to get all the big pieces back in the trap quickly leaving only a much smaller volume of pellets and trash.
I may sell or give the lead to a recycler eventually but I melt it down into bars using the side burner of my bbq grill on the back porch and an old pot I ruined years ago. I have a Lee ingot mold. I fish too, however, and keep thinking I should get a mold for fishing weights. So for now I am hanging onto it. I did melt some down for a block of lead for the front of my P35s (I've made two) to allow them to better fit into my "Rock BR" bench rest and to help stabilize the guns from the weight. I made a crude mold from scraps of steel and aluminum I had on hand. I also might use some to make an anchor for my smaller boat.
I may sell or give the lead to a recycler eventually but I melt it down into bars using the side burner of my bbq grill on the back porch and an old pot I ruined years ago. I have a Lee ingot mold. I fish too, however, and keep thinking I should get a mold for fishing weights. So for now I am hanging onto it. I did melt some down for a block of lead for the front of my P35s (I've made two) to allow them to better fit into my "Rock BR" bench rest and to help stabilize the guns from the weight. I made a crude mold from scraps of steel and aluminum I had on hand. I also might use some to make an anchor for my smaller boat.
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