Electrostatic booth?

I live in Florida and have tried powder coating in the humidity we have all summer.My bullets came out kind of splotchy,but shootable I guess.I was considering getting a electrosatc gun to do the powder coating in the summer in hopes it would do a better job than the shake and bake method I'm having trouble with.My question is what does everyone use for a booth?,and can you recover any overspray powder and use it again? Thanks for any help ,I'm still new at this and learning! morayman............

Morayman: Take a look at Powder Coat set up thread, works for me. GP

If you have the gun adjusted properly, the air pressure and flow set right, and you become proficient in it's use, you will have hardly any overspray to catch! I do all my spraying on my Workmate outside and there is hardly any wasted powder. As is should, most is attracted to the "target"......the boolits and the NSAF. I put an old towel over the Workmate and there is hardly any powder on it after coating bunches of boolits.

The videos I have seen on Youtube showing booths......the gun was shooting waaaaaaay too much powder with too much air pressure.

The powder should gently flow out, not gush out.

It just takes practice.

Good luck!

bangerjim

I use the box that the compressor came in (22x22) lined with aluminum foil. Yes, you can recover the unused powder and reuse it, if it's clean.

I PC in the garage, on a 6' Walmart folding table. I agree with Banger in that there is very little overspray. When I first started I set out an 8' x 10' tarp, expecting a big mess. And I made one. Then very quickly learned to dial back the air, get within 6" or so, remove the little diffuser at the end of the gun, and spray in a smooth controlled pattern. There is about an inch of margin between boolits and tray edge and very little powder goes beyond the tray. But I close the garage door, it takes very little breeze to blow it everywhere.

Attachment 112978

I spray outside, and I use a 3-sided box around it if there is any wind. The powder goes a LONG way, even though coating the boolits and the tray every time. I don't think there is much waste and I am not sure how you would efficiently recover any that isn't on the boolits. With a pound of powder coating several thousand boolits.... it is really not much waste IMHO. 8-)

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/t...psf0bbe2a3.jpg

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Originally Posted by el34

I PC in the garage, on a 6' Walmart folding table. I agree with Banger in that there is very little overspray. When I first started I set out an 8' x 10' tarp, expecting a big mess. And I made one. Then very quickly learned to dial back the air, get within 6" or so, remove the little diffuser at the end of the gun, and spray in a smooth controlled pattern. There is about an inch of margin between boolits and tray edge and very little powder goes beyond the tray. But I close the garage door, it takes very little breeze to blow it everywhere.

Attachment 112978

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are you not using the difuser at all? gonna have to try that.

I get a much tighter pattern without the tip. I hold it 5-6 inches away and move along each row, watching the coverage as I go. I believe the tip is for spraying something large and smooth, such as motorcycle gas tanks and fenders, but it seemed to me like I was just "fogging the tray" with powder when I was using it. There are even some fellows who extend the tube a bit to even more focus the flow, by using PVC connectors and 5-Hour Energy bottles on the end of the gun. I have not tried the extensions though. :cool:

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Originally Posted by jason f

are you not using the difuser at all? gonna have to try that.

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Originally Posted by Beagle333

I get a much tighter pattern without the tip. I hold it 5-6 inches away and move along each row, watching the coverage as I go. I believe the tip is for spraying something large and smooth, such as motorcycle gas tanks and fenders, but it seemed to me like I was just "fogging the tray" with powder when I was using it. There are even some fellows who extend the tube a bit to even more focus the flow, by using PVC connectors and 5-Hour Energy bottles on the end of the gun. I have not tried the extensions though. :cool:

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The diffuser just creates a wider spray pattern. Boolits are not wide. I haven't tried the extension/reduced diameter idea either but it sounds logical. Removing the little yellow spreader-outer made a big improvement.

I done some .45 cal. hollow points today,and I'm not too pleased with them.They are shootable but I had to do two coats and they are spoltchy.The humidity was 74% but we had no rain for a changeI.I shook them in the house in the A/C but the coverage just wasn't there.I guess I'll be getting a powder coat gun soon as this seems the only way for me to get decent coverage on my bullets.Maybe in the winter things will be better? morayman...........

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Originally Posted by morayman

I done some .45 cal. hollow points today,and I'm not too pleased with them.They are shootable but I had to do two coats and they are spoltchy.The humidity was 74% but we had no rain for a changeI.I shook them in the house in the A/C but the coverage just wasn't there.I guess I'll be getting a powder coat gun soon as this seems the only way for me to get decent coverage on my bullets.Maybe in the winter things will be better? morayman...........

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What kind of powder?

What color?

Makes a difference!

banger

Black powder,it's from smoke so I know that's not the problem,it's the humidity here.It's high every day.there just isn't any static to be had no matter what you do.I've shaken the hell out of the bullets,put in some more BB's,held my mouth different,nothing.Looks like gun time for the humid summer,unless I'm missing something entirely.morayman...........

West central FL here & all I've ever used is the spray gun. Even in high humidity I get good results...so I think you're on the right track getting the gun to get better results.

I live in st pete and only use the harbor freight gun never had a problem with coverage

Well I decided to go ahead and get a gun,I went on ebay and found a Craftsman gun that was real cheap so I got it.I don't know if anyone here uses a Craftsman gun but I looked them up and they're not made any more,but from everything I read on them they do a great job and they hold up.They don't need an air compressor either,they have their own internal fan that is variable speed for laying down a light or heavy coat,sounded like just the thing for bullets!I watched some Youtube videos on it and it done as good as any other gun from what I could see and everyone that had one was happy with it.Can't wait for it to get here! morayman............

Good luck with the Craftsman one. Some use it with success, many have panned it as not working well at all.

Let us know. I have not read many good reviews on it. The HF and Eastman guns work VERY well, and most people already have air compressors around the shop/house/farm.

I have had excellent success with the HF gun from the 1st try. Here is the desert, BBDT works also.

Have fun!

bangerjim

If Powder Coating is everything I've read it is, would it be logical to assume that one could simply make a smooth sided bullet and forego any lube grooves on a cast bullet?

For that matter, on rifle bullets, is the net gain sufficient to just do away with all the driving bands and lube grooves and form the mold cavities in the shape of a Boat Tailed Spitzer? With the Powder Coating being used as a synthetic jacket of sorts, it would seem like this would render the shooting of conventional cast bullets obsolete for those who aren't hardcore traditionalists.

Has anyone tried it yet with a smooth sided cast bullet; rifle or pistol? I did do a rudimentary search before asking and found nothing so I'm asking so I can read up on it before I waste any time on it myself. If it's already been tried and found not to work, I don't want to pull myself off of other interesting projects.

From all the elated posts I've read on Powder Coating bullets, I can't see why it wouldn't work with a paper-patching-type of bullet and the right alloy.

HollowPoint

Did you mean to put this in another thread? morayman............

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Originally Posted by HollowPoint

If Powder Coating is everything I've read it is, would it be logical to assume that one could simply make a smooth sided bullet and forego any lube grooves on a cast bullet?

For that matter, on rifle bullets, is the net gain sufficient to just do away with all the driving bands and lube grooves and form the mold cavities in the shape of a Boat Tailed Spitzer? With the Powder Coating being used as a synthetic jacket of sorts, it would seem like this would render the shooting of conventional cast bullets obsolete for those who aren't hardcore traditionalists.

Has anyone tried it yet with a smooth sided cast bullet; rifle or pistol? I did do a rudimentary search before asking and found nothing so I'm asking so I can read up on it before I waste any time on it myself. If it's already been tried and found not to work, I don't want to pull myself off of other interesting projects.

From all the elated posts I've read on Powder Coating bullets, I can't see why it wouldn't work with a paper-patching-type of bullet and the right alloy.

HollowPoint

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NLG is NOT a new idea. MANY thread on the subject on here!

Many of us are using NLG boolits. Several of the custom mold mongers sell them. I have 2 of them. Bought on a whim.

I cannot see any gain. Shooting standard grooves, micro grooves, or NLG.......performance is the same with PC from what I have seen in 9mm, 38 SPL/357MAG, and 30's.

It is DEFINITELY NOT worth the effort and risk of ruining a good mold to mill the grooves out of a standard mold.

I will let others chime in. I just shoot all styles I cast.

bangerjim

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Originally Posted by bangerjim

Good luck with the Craftsman one. Some use it with success, many have panned it as not working well at all.

Let us know. I have not read many good reviews on it. The HF and Eastman guns work VERY well, and most people already have air compressors around the shop/house/farm.

I have had excellent success with the HF gun from the 1st try. Here is the desert, BBDT works also.

Have fun!

bangerjim

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I didn't see anything bad about the craftman gun,but I just watched the Youtube videos and they seemed pretty positive.I figured for $39. I'd give it a try.I have a big air compressor but that's just something else I wouldn't have to mess with when I use this gun.As far as bbdt goes,it's only working"kind of" for me in the humidity I live in.Maybe in the winter it will work better because that's when it's dry here,but not in the summer! I'll give a report when I get the gun and use it in these conditions.One way or another we'll know first hand how it does. morayman.......