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It is much easier to make weights from the lead then using dumbbells. Couple of old car batteries will do. Drain the acid and leave battery upside down for week or so. Then smash the case with sledgehammer. Case plastic is pretty tough. Use gloves and safety goggles. Put the lead plates in old coffee tin and melt lead on BBQue. When it melts stir it and skim the dross. Pour the molten lead to the tin of size you want your weight to be. Let it cool and cut the tin with snips to get your weight out.
If you have access to small lathe it is easy to square it up and bore central hole. If not, you can use hand drill to drill 10mm hole and enlarge it with file. I have spray painted weight I made about two years ago with silver - $3 a can paint and it is still looking good.
When you melt lead don’t let it to get too hot. Lead melts at about 330 Deg. C, depending on purity. Around this temperature it is quite safe to work with as very little of poisonous fumes are emitted.
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