Possible Source for Free Powder Coating Powder

On the other side of our little town we have a capable professional powder coating company with an oven that can powder coat large items like boat trailers.

I called him to ask what he does with the powder that falls on his floor during a job. He said he sweeps it up and throws it away because if any is left on the floor -- which he keeps very clean -- it might jump up onto the charged metal he's coating and ruin the job.

He uses a lot of different powder types -- matte, glossy and textured -- in various colors. I told him about coatings for bullets. While he had not heard of that use, he sensed a glossy powder would be best vs a textured powder.

He's closed now (today is 12/31/18) until after New Year's, so I have not seen what is available yet, but he said he'd sweep up his next job and put it in a box for me.

I've used only Harbor Freight Red powder so far. Eastman powders are highly rated too.

If this "recycled" powder works out, what kind of powders should I look for?

Would it matter if the same manufacturer's powder was mixed into a weird color?

Any warnings you can foresee other than possible dirt contamination?

If this works out, I might have an unlimited supply of powder that was going to be thrown out. And I only need a few tablespoons of a given color for a batch of boolits. Seems like it would work. Worst case scenario, I melt down the batch and start over.

Ideas?

Sounds like a plan. Are you going to tumble coat? If so, the powder should adhere to the boolit from static electricity - leaving any dirt particles behind. Of course I would spread small amounts of powder out, remove any debris/particles/dirty areas; then pour the remainder into a clean container for storage.

If you are using an electrostatic spray gun; don't have a clue how it would work out as I have never used one (after years I am still using HF Red and tumble PC'ing only).

Having a "Free Supply" of powder coat is interesting. Maybe 6 or 7 so years ago I started playing with HF powders. At the start bought Red/Yellow/Black/White and settled on HF Red. Went down to Harbor Freight and bought 3 more bottles of HF Red "Just in case" so if they were out I would have a supply (Been educated on Smokeless Powder periodic shortages over the decades). Short story; I am just finishing the 1st bottle of HF red after having done a couple thousand Rifle Boolits over the years; and doing a bunch of .38/9mm/44/45's the last couple of weeks. If your careful and "Frugal" a little goes a long-long-long way. Guess I'll open the 2nd bottle of HF Red next week - "Hope it's Still Good" after all these years.

I did the same thing awhile back before I moved. Posted it here and comments where what if I didn't filter everything out and an abrasive got included. Dumped everything figuring not worth the risk for a couple of dollars for powder. Good luck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MUSTANG

Sounds like a plan. Are you going to tumble coat? If so, the powder should adhere to the boolit from static electricity - leaving any dirt particles behind. Of course I would spread small amounts of powder out, remove any debris/particles/dirty areas; then pour the remainder into a clean container for storage.

---

Yes, I tumble coat, at least so far. I've done some .45acp and also .44 mag 200 gr for cowboy loads in my Marlin lever action and will do some 9mm after my new NOE HTC358-133-RN 4-cav mold shows up.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MrWolf

... what if I didn't filter everything out and an abrasive got included.... .

---

Good point. I'll ask the shop owner what else might be on the floor where he sprays the powder. If he also sand-blasts, grinds or uses some other abrasive, I'll pass.

I got mine from a commercial coater. He had small amounts left over from jobs that didn't use all of what he had for some jobs. He let me have several of them for next to nothing. They were sitting on shelves taking up valuable space and I provided him with an excuse to get rid of them.

I picked up several pounds of left over powder they do the job and it just takes up space most of the time after that and the powder was all ready billed to the job so the cost is covered. Getting a cash for what is taking up space is a win win for most of the guys out there.

The little paper sieves used for regular paint work real well at cleaning up the powder. No reason to let good overspray go to waste. Gp

Yours might be different but when he gave me the boxes of powder they were all mixed together. Brownish is an ok color I guess.....

Free lead containing almost any sort of grit and dirt is always good you can clean that up easy, Free powder coating powder swept up off the floor is another story, as cheap as powder is to buy, I really wouldn't want to take any chance with damaging a barrel by some using free sweepings, no offence intended

Cheers

"...other than possible dirt contamination?"
Sometimes, you just have to tell the Good Idea fairy to piss off.

If I had access to free powder I would take at least some of it and use it to spray other PC projects. But sweepings off a floor I would have to pass on for my bullets as there is just too much abrasive debris that can be tracked in on just the sole of a shoe for me to consider putting it down my gun barrel.

Most Large companies will not mix batches of powders on a project/item. they usually get PC in 5 to 50# boxes. when there is not enough o complete a project, they'll start a new box and will either save the remaining PC for a smaller batch or toss it. The filter on his vent system also traps (useable) PC.
Stick with polyester in gloss/high gloss (unless your spraying). If you have a fine screen/sieve you can sift out a lot of contaminants.

couple years ago i got a 5gal bucket of prizmatic brand powder from a local coating shop all powder from the air collector a few chunks of paper were found and discarded. prizmatic doesnt seem to like the dry tumble in a #5 container so i use a HF vibratory for about 20min, the fun part is you never know what color a 1/4 cup of powder is going to turn out untill its baked. in the bucket it looks kinda green but might be a chocolate when its baked.

Powder is cheap enough not to bother with this recycled stuff. The potential for abrasives would be deterrent enough for me.