simple Hi-Tek coating

[Tazza]

Attachment 238366

What could go wrong ?

hehehe

[Petander]

The old fashioned,mechanical thermostats can have a really wide on/off temp range.

If I add a PID , I'll simply replace the old thermostat with a PID controlled relay. In case there are more than one thermostat... not sure yet.

[Ausglock]

I have used the Bulb/capillary type thermometers from ebay. $21 AUD. set at 195Deg C and they work great. easy to retro fit. Will take a few photos this arvo.

[Stephen Cohen]

Awesome cheers Trev. I've got about 4.5kg of uncoated left so I'll have a go tomorrow night. There's a pharmacy on the way too.

I thought it was a bit funny how people said you will hear the sound change when you are shaking them. But it really is clear as mud.

Good to see you have taken the plunge Mate, I told you it was easy and as long as you listen to Hi-Tek Joe and Ausglock you will be fine. Regards Stephen.

[wlkjr]

On the subject of leftover solution from previous coatings, this stuff is so cheap that if I don't plan on using it within a month, I just squirt it out and clean my bottle with some acetone. I mix 3.5 oz. which I think is about 120ml if I'm going to coat around 12-1500 boolits. I never mix more than this amount but sometimes I will cut it in half. This is enough to do two coats on 4 wire trays of approximately 350 147 grainers. Four trays gives me enough working time for the initial coats to dry and keep them rotating in the oven. I've been cooking mine 12 minutes.
This week I coated about 3500 or more and whatever mix I had left was minimal and I just tossed it. Two teaspoons of powder and 3.5 oz. of acetone is pretty darn cheap. I've tried reusing old mix and I wasn't satisfied with the results. Not worth trying to save a few pennies.
I do swirl mine in an enclosed plastic bowl for about 20 seconds before removing the top and swirling an additional 30 seconds. This has given me the best results. Two coats are usually enough.
One thing I do after I cast a few thousand is put about 300 in a small Folger's coffee can and rinse with fresh acetone. I shake it good and drain into another can. I reuse the acetone for the next batch. After they drain for a couple of minutes, I pour them onto my wire mesh cooking trays and place under a fan to dry for a few more minutes. I use the same acetone to clean about 2000 before I discard it. The used acetone usually has a slight yellowish tint to it, so apparently it is cleaning something off. I'm using mostly wheel weights and some linotype mixed in. So far I've not had any problems with adhesion, knock on wood.
I have Dark Green, Zombie Green, Kryptonite Green, Bronze, Candy Apple Red, Black Cherry, Black, and K15 Black. I really love this K15 Black. I use it for my 9mm 147 grain loads at 2.9gr Titegroup in my G26. I coat the same bullet one of the Red colors for my wife and use more powder as she needs a little higher load for her G19 to cycle. I color code my loads for different guns so I don't get them confused. This stuff has worked out great for me.

[Conditor22]

I was planning on plugging my countertop oven into the PID and wiring the fan directly to a proper power source.

[HI-TEK]

I was planning on plugging my countertop oven into the PID and wiring the fan directly to a proper power source.

The PID is a more directly applicable to controlling heating elements. I know that some install a switch that operates fan from independent power source. When the door is opened, the fan Switch turns off the fan, and when door is closed fan can be switched on again. That way you don't get a face full of hot air when opening the oven, and much less cooling as no air circulation.

[Burnt Fingers]

Burnt Fingers
I am wondering what is the thickness that you achieve with the Hi-Tek coatings?
Generally two coats applied to cast provides about 1.8-2.2 thou with two coats.
Some like to coat much thicker, but reality is that in majority of applications two thou should be adequate.
I have had reports where a single reasonable coating has performed adequately, but they look less than pretty.

I've got a batch to coat. I'll measure.them before and after.

[Conditor22]

The PID is a more directly applicable to controlling heating elements. I know that some install a switch that operates fan from independent power source. When the door is opened, the fan Switch turns off the fan, and when door is closed fan can be switched on again. That way you don't get a face full of hot air when opening the oven, and much less cooling as no air circulation.

good point Joe, I'll need to figure that out.
If I used full-sized ovens I could hook the fan off switch to the oven light switch.

[Ausglock]

I have a Lyman 230gn RN mold that throws small .450. would not shoot well when lubed with White label lube. 2 coats of HITEK brought the dia up to .452. It now shoots fine. one of my favourite 45 bullets.

[Ausglock]

good point Joe, I'll need to figure that out.
If I used full-sized ovens I could hook the fan off switch to the oven light switch.

Just open up the enclosure and hook the active and neutral wires to where they first contact the oven on/off switch. I removed the rotary timer/on/off dial and replaced it with a toggle on/off switch. I use a separate timer and not the poxy timer on the oven.

[Gatch]

I've searched and found plenty of threads mentioning PID controllers. But is there one that anyone knows of that is a bit more of a step by step, start to finish kind of guide ? And maybe some info on the components to purchase ?

[Tazza]

Gatch - If you get stuck, sling me a message, i'm from brissie too and can hopefully get you sorted out.

They really are not complicated, i got some off ebay cheap, modified them to work with an SSR, connected the 6 wires and good to go.

2 for power into the PID
2 for the thermocouple
2 to the SSR

[Tazza]

This is pretty much all you need:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REX-C100...oAAOSwz5Nb2~Yf

Hopefully that link works, if not, look up item 264019269087 in the ebay search box.

[Gatch]

This is pretty much all you need:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REX-C100...oAAOSwz5Nb2~Yf

Hopefully that link works, if not, look up item 264019269087 in the ebay search box.

Yo that's awesome, cheers tazza. I found a "pid for dummies" kind of step by step thing on instructables.com. Bought that kit too. Should have a schmick setup sometime next week. Thanks again man

[Tazza]

hehe pid for dummies, i like it!

If you get stuck, just give me a yell.

As already suggested, i'd wire the PID into the heating circuit, not the fan, so it still circulates air when the connection is broken by the SSR. Take the cover off the oven, find the wires running to the heating coil, remove one wire and run it through the SSR in series.

Ensure you hook the power from the PID to the SSR the correct way or else it will not work, same with the thermocouple, both of these are polarized. When the SSR is on, the LED on it will light up.

[Ausglock]

search ebay for rex C100 PID for SSR....NOT RELAY!!!!!
a 25 to 40amp SSR and a 100mm long K sensor in the 100 to 500Deg C range is all you need.

[Tazza]

search ebay for rex C100 PID for SSR....NOT RELAY!!!!!
a 25 to 40amp SSR and a 100mm long K sensor in the 100 to 500Deg C range is all you need.

The one i linked him to, came with a 40a ssr and K thermocouple, so i assume it was the SSR version, if not, i'll tell him how to modify it from relay output.

[Ausglock]

The one i linked him to, came with a 40a ssr and K thermocouple, so i assume it was the SSR version, if not, i'll tell him how to modify it from relay output.

Yep. The first one I got was relay, so I unsoldered the relay and did the mod too.

[Gatch]

Had a second whack at the sav tonight.
The colour is definitely better. Though maybe still a touch dark, if I compare them to susan island bullets. Still it's an improvement. I flattened the hell out of them. That stuff sticks like poop on a blanket.