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Thread: Powder Coating Boolits

  1. #2401
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Dang, 2 1/2" of rain last nite and still coming down, we really needed it. Anyway, vented tub inside. BBs are coating now. Black has some problem, guess it is the coloring agent. I'll use it when ESPC (or just a tad to tint red) but it still doesn't flow as good as red.
    Whatever!

  2. #2402
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    More tests. Tried 4 boolits in the tub inside yesterday morning, no luck. Left the tub in garage. Tried again last nite, in garage. No luck. Tried again this morning, in garage, raining again, no luck. Then tried with my sweat shirt pulled down over my hands. 3 of 4 coated well and are good. Weird.
    Whatever!

  3. #2403
    Boolit Bub nh7792's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wwboolitmaker View Post
    Hey guys....been searching far and wide for more info on this. I got my powder in yesterday and gun will be here tomorrow. I have about 160 of the blackout 230 grain boolits made up and Im gonna give them a coat of flat black powder coat. I mean after all it is a "blackout" right??? What do you clean the bullets with before coating??
    Quick rinse in acetone will clean them off and get them ready, plus the acetone flashes off pretty quick. I didnt read all the comments, but recommend sizing after PC'ing the bullets, in some cases the PC wont adhere to sized bullets very well.
    Image is my bullets with black Hi-Tek.
    Attachment 210006

  4. #2404
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Attachment 210009
    L-R original red, black added - tumbled inside, this morning - in garage, front is bad this morning.
    I push this one 2400+ in 308 carbine.
    Whatever!

  5. #2405
    Boolit Man
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    I give mine about 10 minute acetone bath. Here is my Eastwood Black Satin 356-125-2R. I just finished tying Hi-Tek for the 3rd time and officially have given up. The gun metal color just isn't gun metal. It passed the smash test, and doesn't flake and is probably fine, but I have a gun metal Halliburton brief case...and my hit-tek coated bullets aren't even close in color. They are wet..but once cooked..nope. And I sat in front the toaster over and watched the oven thermometer and it never went over 400F.

    Sticking to PC...for me...it's just easier to master....like stupid easy.
    Click image for larger version. 

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  6. #2406
    Boolit Buddy res45's Avatar
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    I do my coating usually outside in my building but sometimes I have to do it in the house if the humidity is too high an bake on the back porch, I like the humidity to be around 40% or lower as it helps create static when the air is dry.

    I start off with a container like this one as I've found it works the best for me. They are just recycled #5 plastic containers and lids that we get takeout in from the Chinese restaurant or you can just pick some up at the restaurant for about a quarter each.


    I fill the container about 1" deep with these plastic beads you can get these at any Walmart or craft store cheap. You can wash them off and reuse again an again if you want to switch colors or just buy enough for all your tubes.


    I put about a 1/2 tsp of powder in with the beads and shake it up for about 30 seconds to get everything mixed well, you may need to add more powder but I only add about half as much 1/4 tsp as too much can make the powder clump on the bullets, you just want a fine coat. As you can see the powder is already clinging to the plastic bowl.


    I hold the container like this in my hand an swirl everything around for about a minute sometimes less or if your lazy and need to do something else you can set it in your tumbler for a couple minutes.


    Depending on the color you use it should look something like this, here are some I coated with Smokes Clear Gloss.



    And if all goes well I end up with this, which it usually does. Powders that I get excellent coverage with are Smoke Yellow Green, Traffic Purple, Carolina Blue, Clear Coat, I also like Eastwood's Maroon Red an Medium Green.



    Last edited by res45; 01-04-2019 at 08:14 AM.

  7. #2407
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    I like the plastic bead Idea

    I prefer a biggger container like

    These are a nice size for not too much money, you can really get the boolits spinning
    Set of 4 SOGO 95oz/3qt Round BPA-Free Food Storage Containers (White) 4 for $5.20 & FREE Shipping
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073RLPK91...C9C5DX8P&psc=1





    https://blackblum.com/products/lunch-box-round

    I found one of these for cheap at t thrift store, heavy duty nice sealing lid

  8. #2408
    Boolit Bub
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Tried powder coating and most of the bullets sized very easy, but some didn't and have bare spots. I keep reading that even though you have bare spots from the wire racks, that the powder coating is really there and protecting the barrel from leading.

    But what about these, it appears to be more than just a small spot from a wire rack. Am I going to have leading issues with these bullets?

    Thanks,

  9. #2409
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    A little more information would be helpful:

    did you do the hammer test? You smash the boolits one standing up the other laying down to half the boolit thickness or height.
    none of the coatings should chip or flake of while doing this.

    what brand powder did you use

    what method of coating did you use

    from what I can see in the picture the coating may have been kind of thick (always try to remove all the excess powder before baking)
    the bare spots on the base looks like powder came off

    what oven are you baking them in and did you test to see if the oven temperature gauge was accurate (put an oven thermometer in the middle of the shelf you are baking on and adjust the oven guage until the thermometor reads 200°C / 400° F. Mark the required setting to obtain the required temperature (99% of countertop ovens temperature guages are off (I've seen up to 75°) from the factory

  10. #2410
    Boolit Master

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    Just finished reading this entire thread and thought I would resurrect it if possible. I took the plunge and purchased some of Smoke4320's clear gloss and you will have to take my word for it … don't know how to post pics. Used a 1lb plastic pistol powder bottle, put a couple of teaspoons of powder in the bottle and dumped a bunch of Lee 125 gr. RN boolits in - at least 100, screwed the lid on and shook the bottle for a while. My toaster oven is a Cuisineart ($ 200 at Belk's) and the temperature swing is wide - 370 to 430 degrees F. Gonna have to get my son to fit it with a PID. I watched the thermometer until my back hurt and that was the closest I could get things. The toaster oven has a nifty tray that is perfect for shaking the dust off onto a piece of cardboard. Baked boolits for at least 20 minutes or more after getting temperature up and I now understand why many casters coat with vivid colors. Mine turned out looking just like cast boolits with a gloss. Had a few bases together, noses together and side-by-side sticking but they all turned out okay as far as I can tell. Liked things so well that I thought I would try some .45 ACP boolits (Lee 230 gr. RN with two lube grooves). They came out just as nicely as the Lee 9mm boolits. In fact, I proceeded to size some of the .45 ACP powder coated boolits with my Star. Of course, that lubed the boolits unnecessarily, but sizing with the Star was very easy. These particular .45 ACP boolits are a little on the difficult side to size ordinarily because I water drop them but were very easy after powder coating. Forgot to mention that when I brought the powder coated boolits out of the toaster oven, I dipped the tray in a pan of water. They fizzed and cooled right down. Had a little difficulty getting them out of the tray … they wanted to hang up there but after prying them loose they separated well enough. Not bad for the first try. Went ahead and loaded 50 rounds of the .45s and the boolits seated with greater ease than usual on an old Hornady/Pacific Pro-Jector press I use for .45 ACP only. Did the hammer test and the boolits did not shed any coating. Hammered it down until the .45 was about 1/4" tall. Going to have to refine my process in order to get the boolits to not stick to the wire mesh tray. Any suggestions, fling them my way. I can use all the advice I can get. Big Boomer

  11. #2411
    Boolit Master trixter's Avatar
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    The newer method would suggest 250° for about 16 to 18 minutes, and I choose to dump them into water right out of the oven.

  12. #2412
    Boolit Mold Theunsb's Avatar
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    Big Boomer I run my oven at 210 C for 22 minutes and then they do not stick to the wire mesh as I cold water dump them. My way to reduce sticking to mesh bullets.

  13. #2413
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've taken to using non stick aluminum foil on a solid tray rather than the mesh trays. I don't get any bare spots from sticking and ripping them off like I did with the mesh. About the worst I get is a slightly flat spot where the boolet was laying on its side, but it's still completely coated

  14. #2414
    Boolit Buddy
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    So I cast up some 45 SWCs today and I wanted to see how they looked with some different PCs. The black coated great, but the green gave me a strange result.



    The one on the left is Super Durable Wet Black from PbtP. The other two are coated with Mirror Green from Eastwood. I can't figure out why I got such different results with the same powder.

  15. #2415
    Boolit Buddy
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    For a good nonstick surface, try parchment paper. You'll find it either in the baking section of the supermarket with the flour, sugar, cake mix, etc or over by the aluminum foil / wax paper. It's usually good for two runs through the oven. It's infused with silicone so the boolits will not stick to it at all and one roll of it will go a long way.
    "Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver. "

  16. #2416
    Boolit Buddy res45's Avatar
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    I've been using the Reynolds non-stick aluminum foil for a few years with no issues, but I'm going to pick up a roll of the parchment paper just to try it out. Any particular brand good to go or are there some that one should avoid like some brands of the non-stick foil.

  17. #2417
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    Quote Originally Posted by res45 View Post
    I've been using the Reynolds non-stick aluminum foil for a few years with no issues, but I'm going to pick up a roll of the parchment paper just to try it out. Any particular brand good to go or are there some that one should avoid like some brands of the non-stick foil.
    I've tried Reynolds and Kroger brand (store brand) and haven't seen a difference. If it hangs over the edges of the tray it gets crispy really quick, otherwise no problems with it. Either stand the boolits up or just dump them in, and (if you don't stand them up) I make sure to dump them out of the tray onto another one as soon as I pull them out, then roll them around for a minute til they cool enough not to stick together. Haven't tried dumping them in water as I would think it would affect the adhesion of the PC (different shrink rates with rapid cooling), but after hearing from others I'm open to trying it.
    "Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver. "

  18. #2418
    Boolit Buddy res45's Avatar
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    I'll probably just cut mine to fit the trays, and I stand my bullets up. I have enough trays to just let them sit and air cool while the others are baking or I dump them in a 5 gal bucket of water to quench to retain some of the origin as quenched hardness. I have not found any problems quenching the bullets right out of the toaster either sizing or shooting later.

  19. #2419
    Boolit Master

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    Had not tried parchment paper until just a couple of days ago when I tried coating some gas checked .243 boolits. Wow! Boolits did not stick to the paper at all. Just rolled off into the quenching water. Will not ever try regular aluminum foil again. Big Boomer

  20. #2420
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    I found black pony beads at the craft store for like a buck for a million of them. I believe that the black ones are the same plastic as the black plastic BB's I just used them. Didn't have coverage in my shake container so I put in the black pony beads and ...presto, perfect coverage.

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