Tray Ideals

[Russel Nash]

How close to the element are the darker ones?

I helped my buddy powder coat an aluminum trailer that gets pulled behind a motorcycle. The lid for it was hi ged kind of like a car's hood. The heating elements for my buddy's walk in PC oven are near the floor/bottom. We got the lid wheeled in there but the way it was hanging one corner was too close to the element. So we wheeled it out after about 15 minutes thinking it was done. It was supposed to be orange. We shine a drop light on it inspecting every square inch, we get to the bottom and see where it is more like a brown. "FFFFFUUU...!!!"

[RP]

The thumb tacks started off to hold my 247 by sticking them on the points. Well it worked ok made my hand cramp up a little doing it but not to bad. The problem comes in when you place it in the oven the temp change will loosen up the boolits and a few will fall off the tacks. I was trying to do the same thing with some of the trim nails that I sharpened and got the same results. Also if you push to hard or uneven you can fold the tack over easy.
As far as how close I have them to the elements that may be a problem but its not looking like it and I really cannot move them farther away with my little stove I am using. I hope my post on the trays or racks inspire you guys and all ideals on the matter would be helpful.

[birdadly]

I perhaps went above and beyond with this (even made 2), but I'm no machinist (graphic designer) so it was something completely new and fun to do. It also allowed me to bond with my machinist friends (tools and knowledge). However, I will NOT be tapping anything again any time soon...

So it's 1/8" steel, 100 drilled and tapped holes 1" on center, staggered rows of 10 x 10. 1/2" flathead screws. I figure one side will be for HP's and the other for non-HPs. So far I've only tried the flat side and worked flawlessly.

-Brad

[Beagle333]

Great idea, Brad! I'm jealous of that nice big tray!

[RP]

That is a great ideal I may have to make one of those for double duty. Btw my rack I made which I hang the bullets with the rings worked great the first two or three times but last time I use it I had a current flow problem from build up. I have not tried to clean it off any to see if that helps. I have thought about making something with two lets say post to hold a new clean wire each time I use it but not sure if the rings will stay clean enough to reuse many times. If that fails I will mark that method up as a failure.

[crawfobj]

Great tray idea. I might do the same thing but with self tapping screws.

[Hang Fire]

]

For that tray ^^^, I was planning on using the non-stick Reynolds foil.

I have another piece of that same sheet metal. I figure once I get the hollow point moulds, I will lay out a staggered pattern like before. However, there is a drywall screw with a self-cutting or self-tapping point used for hanging drywall on metal studs. I would use those, driven through the sheet. With the tray pointey side up, I'd just set my hollow pointed boolits down onto the points.

I am considering a set up similar to yours. But instead of the NS foil, use a paper cookie bake sheet with holes punched out in place, (using a tapered round drift, tapped gently with hammer) insert the boolit nose first in hole (making boolit contact with metal tray) and ESPC. The paper top cover should keep the powder from sticking to the metal tray and any loose powder on the paper should blow right off and leave boolits ready for baking.

[Hang Fire]

I still like this idea:

http://s80.photobucket.com/user/spee...97561162803322

That do look slick.

[Maximumbob54]

I like the screws through the steel so they set on the flat heads of the screws.

Here's a thought about the foil... Like many, I switched to the non stick foil and that did help. BUT... They slip and slide across it. I'm going to try the regular foil next time to see if that stops them sliding around and being raised up I think it won't matter being regular foil. Maybe. I hope.

[BIGRED]

Brad nice looking tray. Looks very close to mine.
How did you get the foil down around the screw heads that far? I made 5 trays. With 6/32 1/2" flat head screw's. 1/8" aluminum Plate is drilled and tapped for the screw's. 1-1/4" spacing. They stick up 5/16" and the other side of late has nuts. This way the page is dual propose. I cannot get the foil down around the screw's very well. Do you have a technique for this?

[birdadly]

I guess I worked from the center of the tray, out. I think I used my thumb and first 2 fingers, pressing down around the screw head. Once I'd go to the next screw though, it wanted to pull what I already had done, so sort of keep hold of the done stuff while you continue forward. You definitely have to go in one direction though, either center - out, or maybe from a corner to corner. -Brad

Brad nice looking tray. Looks very close to mine.
How did you get the foil down around the screw heads that far? I made 5 trays. With 6/32 1/2" flat head screw's. 1/8" aluminum Plate is drilled and tapped for the screw's. 1-1/4" spacing. They stick up 5/16" and the other side of late has nuts. This way the page is dual propose. I cannot get the foil down around the screw's very well. Do you have a technique for this?

[GunFun]

Interesting thread. I've been looking at an approach much more like the commercial casters do: Tumble them while baking to ensure even surface texture. Here is an inexpensive way:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Coffee-Peanu...-/171219317299

[JASON4X4]

I would think that when the powder starts to melt it would rub off if tumbled while baking.

[GunFun]

Possible. However that is the method used with commercial casters and two part liquid epoxy. I've been told that tumbling powder onto the bullets gives pretty even distribution. I haven't tried it yet, but I will with my next batch.

[Maximumbob54]

Was thinking about the thumb tack idea. I wonder if you set a nut over the tap so only the tip was exposed if you could push the bullet base onto it. Not so much to hold it tight but just enough to keep it from sliding during transport. I may have to try that one.

I went back and tried regular foil and they slide just as easy and of course they stick after baking. Waste of effort.

I am in love with the rotisserie idea of baking and tumbling. Tumble them in the bowl and then pour them into the coffee bean baking contraption. Once filled just turn it on and let them tumble and bake. I assume you would need to keep rotation going until they cooled so they didn’t melt to each other. I’m just not willing to drop the money for the contraption and risk funking out the BBQ grill with chemical X. But if it does indeed work then a cheap grill with electric rotisserie rolling wouldn’t be a terrible expense for mass bullet production. Mabye…

[RP]

At first my ideal was to push the bullets onto the tacks since the nails I sharpened seem to show promise but they will fold over easy and fall off when cooking. My next ideal is to nail them with a micro nail gun and then hang them off a rack I will post some pics as soon as I get out to the shop for a run. That's a 23 ga nail more like the size of a hair so far my testing it has not effects on the bullet just a small hole .

[kryogen]

I might try to epoxy nuts to an iron plate. looks like the easiest option isnt it?

[GunFun]

I've been checking ebay periodically for rotisseries. I'll get one sooner or later and let you know how it goes.

I'd preheat the rotisserie while I tumble the powder on. I think you are right about tumbling as they cool, but you could also probably dump them out onto a sheet quickly and stir them around so that they are spread out and don't stick together. I think the coating would be hard enough after 10 minutes at 400*F not to get flat spots while cooling.

[AverageJoe]

I was trying to think of a way to coat my rifle bullets without coating the gas check area. I had made some .45acp shot-shell cartridges out of .308 brass, I cut 1.200" and used the bottom for the shot-shells and had the tops leftover. I took the tops and soldered them to a small wire rack. I got 90 on the small rack and they hold the .30 caliber bullets perfect. I full length sized them prior to cutting/soldering that way the bullet rests just right in the top. Very stable when moving around.

Lesson learned: solder doesn't hold up at 375/400 F. Now going to braze or come up with another attachment method. The ones that didn't fall over came great. Great concept just need to improve.

[RP]

Now that's thinking outside the box you may have to change your name to unaverage Joe