Tip: Holding Things With a Weight

[David Paule]

My father had a 5 lb. bar of lead, and after he passed, I got it. It's a handy weight but now I've found that it's soft enough that it doesn't scratch bare aluminum.

You can rest it directly on an aluminum part without worrying about scratches.

It does seem to have a somewhat low coefficient of friction with aluminum, and if there's any slope, it'll slide around - that's how I found out about the not-scratching property. Blue tape works well for keeping it from sliding.

I'm pretty sure that this is piece of lead has no antimony, which is often alloyed in tiny quantities with lead to make it stronger. I have no idea if antimony lead would scratch aluminum, so you're on your own there.

Dave

Dave

[scootwoot]

Lead Shot bags work really well too. I use the shot bags out of my scuba weight belt. 2.5 and 5 lbs. used them many times while building!

[David Paule]

Should have mentioned that the lead weight does leave a pale gray mark on the white work tables if you slide it around. I've cleaned these up with lacquer thinner and no doubt other things would work as well - probably even an eraser.

Dave

[az_gila]

You can also use your spare bucking bars. Wrap them in blue tape to prevent scratches...

[larrynew]

I got 25 lbs of lead shot for reloading and divided it into several "bags" made from old jeans pant legs. Only took about 5 minutes to make and I use them all the time for holding parts.

[9GT]

Be careful handling lead for obvious reasons. We made up lead ballast weights for my buddies plane and covered them in epoxy/glass to prevent direct contact with the skin while handling them.