Powder Coating 101 - Electrostatic Method

[slim1836]

How can you tell if clear passed the hammer test?

Slim

[Beagle333]

Got the compressor fixed (thanks to some advice from a member here!)

The before:


And here's the first batch after a trip through the oven:

[SharuLady]

These are very nice! ESPC coating? I really like the awesome color of the PC. Brand of PC? Colors of PC used to achieve this color? Are the amounts of PC equal in mixture to achieve this color? I am guessing the colors may be red, yellow, black and possibly some white.

SharuLady

[Beagle333]

It's mostly HarborFreight red with some leftover blue and Kawasaki green. It does look kinda white and yellow with just that little bit of powder in there, but there is none.
No known amounts. I just had some powder left in there when I switched to red.
It will be all red soon.

[SharuLady]

TY for your quick reply. Must say was surprised at the colors used to achieve the final color. The leftover blue and Kawasaki green are not HF PC's, correct? What brands are they? I want to make this color even though I will need to experiment with amounts of PC's needed. Not sure why but this color has just really caught my eye and fascination!

SharuLady

[Beagle333]

My best guess is that they are PBTP. I apologize for the vague answer, but I bought it from some folks on Ebay. I just saw some green motorcycle parts and some blue engine components and I pm'd the two sellers and asked if they'd sell some of it. So they sent some in ziplock baggies and they wouldn't reveal their source.
I could pm you the two seller's names, but that's about as close as I can get.

[SharuLady]

Yes, if you would be so kind to PM me with the seller's names, it would be appreciated!

SharuLady

[C. Latch]

Well, I just made my first major mistake with ESPC.

I've been mixing HF black with my HF red and it seems to want a hotter, longer cure time. After it had cooked ay ~400 for 15 minutes I kicked it up to about 425 on my toaster dial - realizing but not really thinking about how 1) the dial isn't accurate, and 2) with my little nail rack that I made to hold hollowpoints, the bullets are closer to the heating element. When the timer dinged, I let everything cool for a minute, opened the door, and immediately noticed a puddle of lead in the middle of the tray.

Looks like one bullet is completely melted, two or three others are ruined, and I'll have to put the calipers on all the rest to see what damage was done.

<---feeling a bit stupid right now.

On the bright side, I *really* like the candy-apple red produced by mixing HF red and HF black. I didn't get to shoot this weekend but I have five different loads ready to compare side-by-side (30-30, .45ACP, and 3 .45 Colt loads).

[Beetmagnet]

Real world results achieved. Last month at a local indoor IDPA match I struggled to see and shoot targets because of the smoke while shooting my lube-sized lead bullets. The gray pepper poppers blended in with the smoke and caused problems. This past Saturday I shot the same indoor match with my wife. I shot with HF red coated bullets, and my wife shot with her neon pink pbtb bullets. This was a test run and it worked great. I didn't have nearly the smoke, the barrel was clean, and everything shot flawlessly. I did get some comments about the strange smell, but that was it.

[Beagle333]

C. Latch, did you do the 30-30's on the nail jig too? Did you get any pics of the red and black ones that survived?

We have some snow on the way here tomorrow, so they cancelled work and school for pretty much everybody. (Yep, it's Alabama and we don't like the snow) So anyway, I will be loading up a bunch that I sprayed this weekend. It's shootin' time!

[C. Latch]

C. Latch, did you do the 30-30's on the nail jig too? Did you get any pics of the red and black ones that survived?

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but here's what I did for a nail rack:

I took a cardboard box and cut 2 of the top flaps off and stacked them and wrapped them with aluminum foil. I then poked finishing nails through. What I was left with worked perfectly well for 2 cycles of toasting, but it was obvious that the cardboard had been very near the point of combustion, so I discarded it after 2 cycles.

I hung my NOE 452-230 HP's on those nails, and they coated perfectly. If I get a chance to build a more permanent fixture, though, I have figured out that I should use 2 or 3 different lengths of nails so as to optimize the use of space and allow the maximium number of bullets to be coated with the minimum space - probably 10 short nails, 30 medium nails, and 10 long nails.

Anyway, I haven't came up with a way to coat my NOE SC311-165s without coating the base, which presents a bit of a problem; my bases are larger enough that I already have to seat gas checks mechanically before sizing, and I didn't want to add a coating to the base and further complicate that process (side note: that mold casts awesome. Bullets JUMP out of it!) so I did this: I smeared some of my homemade lithi-bee on each base, then set it on the sides of my nail rack tray. I only did a dozen or so (all the room that was left on the tray with the nail rack sitting on it) on each run, but they turned out fine. The grease melted, seemed to run a bit up the sides of the bullet, but seemed to stop at the lowest driving band, leaving a bullet well-coated except for the check shank.

On the next batch I think I'll seat checks before coating. Pics forthcoming in a minute.

[Beagle333]

Anyway, I haven't came up with a way to coat my NOE SC311-165s without coating the base, which presents a bit of a problem; my bases are larger enough that I already have to seat gas checks mechanically before sizing, and I didn't want to add a coating to the base and further complicate that process.

Did you see this thread? It really works.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...fically-30-cal

[C. Latch]

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...psb72gqeyj.jpg

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j8...psq8pqho1l.jpg

[C. Latch]

Did you see this thread? It really works.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...fically-30-cal

Wow! Will try tonight! What size washer?

[Beagle333]

1/4 x 1 fender washers
Be aware that they also sell em bigger than 1" outside diameter and if you get those you can't get many on a tray unless you overlap the washers.

Also check the thickness of the ones you select. I haven't seen it, but some fellows have apparently found some thin ones that they have to double stack. Just be sure to compare what they have.

[TheDoctor]

If I remember right Safety Glasers are blue too.

Glaser safety slugs are tipped in blue, silver, or black. Blue is #12 shot, silver is #6, and black for LE, not sure of the shot size in that one, but supposed to be a +P type charge.

Used to carry Glasers, until I did a lot or reading, and talking to people who had used them in real situations. They sound GREAT on paper, but I decided long ago not to carry them.

[bangerjim]

Well, I just made my first major mistake with ESPC.

I've been mixing HF black with my HF red and it seems to want a hotter, longer cure time. After it had cooked ay ~400 for 15 minutes I kicked it up to about 425 on my toaster dial - realizing but not really thinking about how 1) the dial isn't accurate, and 2) with my little nail rack that I made to hold hollowpoints, the bullets are closer to the heating element. When the timer dinged, I let everything cool for a minute, opened the door, and immediately noticed a puddle of lead in the middle of the tray.

Looks like one bullet is completely melted, two or three others are ruined, and I'll have to put the calipers on all the rest to see what damage was done.

<---feeling a bit stupid right now.

On the bright side, I *really* like the candy-apple red produced by mixing HF red and HF black. I didn't get to shoot this weekend but I have five different loads ready to compare side-by-side (30-30, .45ACP, and 3 .45 Colt loads).

400F for 10 min.......that is all that is needed for baking. That is in a convection (fan) oven. The standard ovens have severe hot & cold spots that do NOT serve our purpose with boolits. I guarantee your oven thermostat WILL be wrong. Buy an oven thermometer or an IR one from HF and "shoot" the boolits to see what temp you REALLY are at. Yes is DOES work very well on PC boolits..........just not on molten lead!

Standard ovens have hot and cold spots especially over the elements and around the sides. Conv ones spread the heat profile out evenly with a fan and do an excellent job curing the PC. Conv ovens run around $100 or so for a good one. They are really the only ones that will do the job you want. Unless you are happy with under cured and saggy/melty boolits! HA....ha!

bangerjim

[bangerjim]

C. Latch, did you do the 30-30's on the nail jig too? Did you get any pics of the red and black ones that survived?

We have some snow on the way here tomorrow, so they cancelled work and school for pretty much everybody. (Yep, it's Alabama and we don't like the snow) So anyway, I will be loading up a bunch that I sprayed this weekend. It's shootin' time!

A nice-looking "field-o-boolits" there, guy!!!!!! Enjoy the winter! It's 74 here in the Valley of the Sun!

banger

[bangerjim]

Did you see this thread? It really works.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...fically-30-cal

This is how I now do ALL my GC'd 223's and 30's. Works GREAT! And you can just "paper over" the top of the foil with a new piece when you want to coat standard base boolits. That way you do not disturb your washer layout. Gets you a lot more usage from your racks that way!

bangerjim

[C. Latch]

400F for 10 min.......that is all that is needed for baking. That is in a convection (fan) oven. The standard ovens have severe hot & cold spots that do NOT serve our purpose with boolits. I guarantee your oven thermostat WILL be wrong. Buy an oven thermometer or an IR one from HF and "shoot" the boolits to see what temp you REALLY are at. Yes is DOES work very well on PC boolits..........just not on molten lead!

Standard ovens have hot and cold spots especially over the elements and around the sides. Conv ones spread the heat profile out evenly with a fan and do an excellent job curing the PC. Conv ovens run around $100 or so for a good one. They are really the only ones that will do the job you want. Unless you are happy with under cured and saggy/melty boolits! HA....ha!

bangerjim

I'm familiar with the limitations of toaster thermometers but honestly I can buy a lot of stuff for what a convection oven and thermometer would cost. I ruined 8 bullets the other night - that's about $0.40 for a mistake that I now know how to not make again. I'll stick with the toaster; now that I know how to run it hot enough to cure paint without getting hot enough to melt bullets, it just doesn't make sense to spend the money on a convection oven.

I'm running another batch tonight and I'll let you know how they turn out.