Lead! (the heavy stuff)

[graham-xrf]

This may be a real silly question, but I have my reasons for asking.
Is it possible to turn anything out of lead?
So OK - it may be so soft, just give up the thought!
I never tried it, and if it's a stupid thing to attempt, I'll give it a miss.

 

[seasicksteve]

I have purchased lead turnings so I would say it would be possible to turn it

 

[Flyinfool]

It is possible to turn it. Pure lead is very soft and gummy and sticky. I am not sure just what tool geometry would work well for it. As you start to alloy it with tin or antimoney it gets much harder and more machinable. For instance old tire weights cast into ingots will yield a machinable metal. The finished product will still be very soft and easily damaged.

 

[Buffalo21]

The only thing I’ve ever used lead on was bullet and leading car body panels (a true lost art), instead of using plastic based bondo

 

[JimDawson]

Sure you can turn it. As said above, it's soft and gummy. High rake tools (like for cutting plastic) should work well.

 

[graham-xrf]

Thanks folks. The context here is to shape something to contain the radioactive bits for the XRF tester.
The chunk would be about 2" diameter and about the same for length. It will have a series of 5mm deep drilled holes, each with a smoke detector source stuck down in the bottom with epoxy.

 

[francist]

Do be careful drilling it — it will suck the bit in so fast it’ll make your head spin! Seriously, it is extremely grabby on drill bits, that much I have done for reproduction sash weights. Scary. Lots of oil helps, and perhaps a dubbed bit like for red metals.

-frank

 

[NC Rick]

I don't know how the shielding would be affected by adding some tin and antimony to the mix. You may want to try wood drills?

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Working with lead is a PITA when everything goes right. When something doesn't go right, it makes Murphy look like a genius. I have had moderate(!!!) success with wood tooling. And using a wood lathe and gouges for turning.

Lead hammers have a short lifespan, after the third or so I acquired a mold and cast them. Which brings up the question of if you can build a negative, a core, and cast what you are building. Lead won't stick to aluminium but it should have some small draft. Perhaps using a drill like a hand reamer on completion. Just a wild idea but it might help.
.

 

[graham-xrf]

I don't know how the shielding would be affected by adding some tin and antimony to the mix. You may want to try wood drills?

If it makes it more machining-friendly, then sure, the heavy lead content would work, if the aim was only to stop the radiation getting through the shield into where it was not wanted. This shield has also not to contaminate space with signatures of metals in the lead.

Here the attempt is to get the radiation to identify metals, and that needs that "quiet zone" shielded by lead. We know the energy is not high enough to provoke anything from the main signature for lead itself, other than a couple of recognizable low energy markers.
If we mix other stuff in the lead, it introduces atoms that will respond, so making signals competing with the responses from the alloys we are trying to identify. At least with pure lead, when the energy enters it, it pretty much gets stopped, absorbed, and turned into (a tiny amount) of heat.

If the shape can't be turned, then maybe we should go for a little casting.
As @Bi11Hudson has suggested, the idea of a casting that we can hand-ream to finish up seems to have potential.