Who sells lead shot pellets to fill an equip.stand
Hi I am looking for something like a lead shot to fill an equipment stand.Audio Advisor does not carry it anymore and idon't know where else to look.Any help would be greatly appreciated.Thanks a lot and have a Happy new Year!
All this lead-talk conjurs memories of fishing during my childhood days when lead sinkers were on every tray in the tackle box, and all over my vest. No wonder i'm hooked to high fidelity rendering audio gear.
Lead shot was banned years ago for waterfowl hunting because it was being ingested by birds in the marshes. It's still allowed for upland hunting. Because of the ban other non-toxic shot were introduced, the primary one being steel but there are others. If you want shot for your speaker stands seek out these other non-toxic materials. Any shotgun reloading supplier should have them. Because of weight and cost of shipping I would try to find a local source. They come in different sizes, the higher the number the smaller (9, 8, 7 1/2, 6 etc.). You should only use lead if you're into heavy metal 8^).
I filled the hollow parts of my turntable table with vermiculite on the recommendation of the dealer. The table is completely dead sounding when tapped. It's readily available as a gardening supply
Krell1- For disposal I would look to a metal recycler, otherwise you are talking hazardous waste! One of the reasons to use steel or a substitute. Since the lead shot is 100% lead and the action levels are in the parts/billion range, you can see that even a v small amount of dust generated from pouring/handling can contaminate a large area, and one pellet ingested by a child or animal can cause acute poisoning.
Finding a local gun or trap and skeet club might solve all your problems... if you have to get lead.
Bob at sound Anchor says other things will do just as well, be less of an issue obtaining and disposing of, while being both cheaper and safer. Cat litter or sugar sand do work. A few tubes of silicone & latex caulking being applied alternatively and left to set up before applying the next amount, could work too.
Actually, the federal government imposed a max the Post Office could charge for shipping lead. I believe it is 8.00 per 50#. If I were filling big cabinets I would/do use free used wheel weights. Most places are happy to get rid of it rather than paying for it's disposal. Lead, having such high mass, takes a fraction of the space.
When I built my horn cabinets I used playground sand from Home Depot because it is a lot cheaper and readily available. 250 lbs in each cabinet. Figure up what that would cost using lead.
I would suspect the more logical and less emotional reason AA stopped carrying lead shot is because the shipping, especially just a few months ago, was outrageous. I doubt they sold enough to justify keeping the inventory. Personally, I'd be more worried about those mercury vapor light bulbs folks are putting in their homes. Breaking one of those creates a toxic hazard cleanup. You can't even through them away, well not legally anyway.
This is not going to be real helpful, but I recall someone sells a product specifically to fill stands. Unfortunately I can't remember who it is or what it was. Big help, huh? Sorry . . . if I come up with it, I'll post. Maybe you could check forums here or other places.
If you were here I would give you about 60 lb. I just took out of my stands. I have routinely added it for years; I recently heard that it degrades the sound and I did some tests, it does. Steel stands filled with lead add midrange energy that shouldn't be there. Sound is much brighter. I first put my Spendor S100s on the Sound Anchor stands made for them and filled with shot. Effect as I described. Put them on a Mapleshade Quadrapier[discontinued conventional stand made of maple] stand with cones pointed upward and the effect disappeared. I have just resumed being a VPI dealer and ordered a TNT stand. When it got here I put 40 to 50 lb. of shot in it as they instructed. Had trouble with Scoutmaster being too bright even though it was on a 24x18x3 maple block resting on cones on top of the stand. Ordered a Star Sound turntable shelf for their rack I already had and moved the table and block to it and the sound relaxed and sounded more like music. I invite others to try similar tests and see what they think, but for me, no more lead. the VPI rings when you tap it so I am going to try something else Star makes, very small STEEL bearings. When I became a dealer for them they told me to try it but it is fairly expensive and I had always used lead and VPI recommended lead so I didn't. If the Star stuff works I'll send Harry some and see what he thinks. Meanwhile, get the lead out and see what you think.
Overhang, There simply is no substitute for lead. Learn how to use it, store it, dispose of it. Simple. It is about two bucks a pound at any gun shop that sells reloading equip.
Lead even in small amounts may certainly be toxic. If you do not want to use sand, Tungsten shot or spheres are a good alternative. Tungsten is unfortunately expensive. Do a search online for ordering info.
A good option may be the stuff they use in those outdoor ashtrays in public places. It is denser than play sand. However, is is around $15.00 per box and may get pricey depending on how much you need.
If you can use steel in lieu of lead, you can get it from suppliers that supply sand blasting media. We use steel shot to treat aircraft parts and it would be a lot cheaper than 500 cans of bb's or whatever. I lot of guns now use steel shot as well due to enviornmental issues, so the lead may be hard to procure. Good luck, John
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