simple Hi-Tek coating

[Tazza]

Oh, even fresh out of the mould or after it oxidizes?

[Ausglock]

After awhile. I have seen them coated fresh. and then a month or so later, the coating will flake off.

[Tazza]

Oh, not good. Makes it harder to use ww unless you are super careful to keep the zinc ones out

[HI-TEK]

Oh, not good. Makes it harder to use ww unless you are super careful to keep the zinc ones out

Tazza,
If there is Zinc in alloy or wheel weights, simply soak them in Hydrochloric acid, (concrete cleaning grade). The acid will dissolve Zinc From surface of cast, leaving a porous surface. Then, thoroughly wash, and dry well, and then coat some.
Hopefully with Zinc gone from surface, there will be better bonding.

[Tazza]

That is a very clever idea. I'll need to give that a go next time i get hold of lead that may be contaminated with zinc. Good way to test unknown wheel weights to see if they are lead or not.

[HI-TEK]

Zinc in with lead gives a white powder type corrosion over time. The coating will not stick.

Unfortunately, there may be other more "reactive" metals that also will cause adhesion failures. These can be Aluminium, Cadmium, Magnesium, all can be in wheel weights of various sorts. These all oxidise very quickly, and they are also reactive with coatings. That is why manufacturers coating metals with these in the metal or on the surfaces, Phosphate anodise . This forms a stable non reactive high surface area to allow excellent bonding of applied coatings.
I made fishing Snapper sinkers from scrap Lead mixture. In about a week there was a crust of white powdery scale on the surface. These are the contaminants that will cause failure. As people are trying to recycle and use cheaper source of metals, and not being aware of composition, or any way of testing composition, it makes life very hard to determine why things go wrong. With initial cost saving, and the substantial work put into casting and coating, if one considers labour costs for having to melt and re-melt over and over, really does not save any money. It would be better to use a known alloy that has correct engineering property.

[dikman]

I stopped using WW pretty quick. It's what our Colonial cousins call a crapshoot these days with WW, you never know what you're going to end up with (usually not much lead!).

[Stephen Cohen]

I am almost at the end of my 400 KG lead stash, I used range scrap and wheel weights with a little hard lead shot thrown in. I have only had one fail batch and that was contaminated with Zink. If one does use range scrap and wheel weights one must pay attention to give each batch an acid test, I don't understand all the problems some have as I have been very happy with my results using HI-TEK. As a good mate of mine said, when all else fails read the instructions. I often wonder if both Joe and Ausglock are both bald from pulling their hair out over repeated advice. Regards Stephen

[Petander]

Zinc in with lead gives a white powder type corrosion over time. The coating will not stick.

Hers's some of my straight WW,the flat blocks in the corner. My existing problem boolits are made of this stuff plus 10% linotype, cast years ago. But I have made fresh reference boolits,too,same minor flaking with new cast as well. (I still don't know how much flaking is too much,those green rounds have been in my vest pocket for ten days now,not much wear.)

These lead blocks have been in an outside shed for 15 years. I know the white you mean, none of that is visible here though. Some other mystery there is and it will be solved. Boolits have been inside.

Attachment 219675

[Petander]

As a good mate of mine said, when all else fails read the instructions. I often wonder if both Joe and Ausglock are both bald from pulling their hair out over repeated advice. Regards Stephen

Yep and I'll be bald soon,too.

The problem with threads like this is exactly that,repetition. People don't read old posts.

I mentioned many times that I read this whole thread,every post. Now I've gotten all that information again and again, on every page someone asks "have you slugged your barrel?" . I explain again and again that I have old boolits that I wanted to try coated,in a suppressed carbine. I used to shoot them with another suppressed carbine. I have like 7000 of them. Coating flakes a little after second bake. No big surprise,them being old ww boolits.

These are very accurate in my Daewang test pistol. Just can't leave all lube out yet.

Repetition is why I deleted most of my posts in this thread. Everyone repeats everything. I also repeat that I read instructions so good that I found a mistake in the instructions.

But well,my boolits are of bad alloy,I will try cleaning my alloy later on.

Absolutely definitely I am not badmouthing Hi Tek, some people think failure reports are automatically badmouthing.

[Grmps]

I found a large countertop coating oven with good reviews. I'm happy with what I have but if someone wanted to do a larger volume with a countertop oven, this would be the ticket



https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-be...ting-oven.html

The Eastwood Benchtop Powder Coating Oven accommodates most small powder coating jobs and features a highly efficient, anti-stratification fan system for even heat distribution within the oven. A convenient, full-view, low-e glass door provides for viewing parts during the critical flow-out stage $99.99 + $22.33 = 122.32 SHIPPED

Contents (1) Benchtop Powder Coating Oven (2) Wire Racks (1) Rack Handle
SPECIFICATIONS Power requirements = 120 Volts AC 50/60hz, 1400 watts Internal dimensions = 16” W x 14” D x 8” H [406mm x 355mm x 203mm] Temperature Max. = 450°F+ [232°C+]

[Avenger442]

We do love repeating ourselves.

Give you another tip to remove zinc from alloy. You can use copper sulfate (root killer). Be prepared to heat the metal to about 700 F and when you add the copper sulfate there will be some crackling. You can read up on it in some of the threads on this blog where they add copper to their alloy to increase the toughness of the bullet and still keep it malleable. The copper actually replaces the zinc in the alloy. Suggest you read up on it first before trying. I tried it and it works. But it's just too involved since I have to add zinc back into my alloy to get the copper to replace it.

Like they said, if you are going to coat commercially (or just for someone else to use) you need to start with a known alloy even though it is considerably more. That way you don't have possible dependability issues with your customers. And loose the most important thing, their trust. You will be rolling the cost into the price to the customer anyway. Good old capitalism.

I just shoot my own. I have had folks asked me to load them a few but have never done it. My wheel weights have been gone through twice to eliminate any zinc weights before smelting. I guess that I could have some other contamination. But I have never experienced it with the weights that I have been using. I still have about 400 pounds of COWW ingots smelted and fluxed twice and probably 200 pounds of soft lead. None of it is showing any powdery substance on the surface. Guess I'll use that till I use it up. Wheel weights here are about forty cents a pound at the scrap yard here and I get to sort them at the yard. Commercial casting metals can run two to three dollars a pound. So you can understand the attraction of using them.

[popper]

Zn is not the problem. I did some 2% Zn, no problem.

[Petander]

That oven looks good, Grmps.

I ordered one of these,got 2200 watts and is "designed for powder coating".

Attachment 219703.


Yeah right,this doesn't even have a fan. So I cancelled of course.

[Petander]

Avenger,

I'm actually thinking of small scale distribution of Hi Tek powder. Not bullets. But more like a hobby byproduct, I think we all shooters are on the same side and need to support each other.

The whole casting scene in Finland is just very small and different , compared to yours. We have no casting tradition at all, SWC:s cost more than FMJ:s, lead can not be bought, everything casting related has to be ordered from overseas. Not a problem,just slows things down. I aim for better ammo,cheaper can't be a main criteria in my case. Heck,lead will soon be a black market item with a gold price tag.

Joe sent me all that zinc/copper info,it has been up here many times as well. Repetition is The King!

[dikman]

You only have to read some of the PC section to see that repetition is quite common there too. Human nature, I guess.

[dansedgli]

At the risk of a repetitive question, is there a place we can see all of the available colours?

I am near the end of my black cherry and would like to try another colour.

[Grmps]

http://hi-performancebulletcoatings....-oz-container/

[dansedgli]

http://hi-performancebulletcoatings....-oz-container/

Thanks Grmps.

[Stephen Cohen]

Zn is not the problem. I did some 2% Zn, no problem.

I tend to agree with you on such a small amount not being a real problem, the one time I had a problem with zinc I used sulphur to remove it and that alloy was ok after treatment. A very good mate of mine had problems with flaking, while those cast shot well in his 45/70 he kept changing one thing at a time till he found the problem. I wont say this will work for all but he did find his small toaster ovens heat variation was the problem, to cure this he placed a large steel plate in the bottom of his oven and allowed it to heat up before cooking any cast, I also had him add about 25% more acetone, so his first coat was just visible on the castings which prevented him putting a too thick first coat on. It was not my intention to offend with my last post and if I have done so I do apologise. Regards Stephen