Static?

[mdi]

I finally got some black airsoft BBs and began dry tumbling. Again, red powder works quite well, but black not so hot. Tried green and also got fair to poor coverage. I tried swirling, tossing, tumbling in a rotary, vibrating cleaner (not enough movement in my attempt), and get the same results. Yep white #5 tub, black BBs, and Powder by the Pound powders.

So, I was thinking, and I've read about static electricity playing a large part in dry tumbling, how would one impart static electricity to a tumbling tub and contents?

BTW; I live on the rainy coast in So. Oregon and normal ambient static is rare...

[guncheese]

when your tumbling them, shuffle around on the carpet in your tennis shoes hehe!

[prickett]

how about tumbling in a rotary tumbler with a strip of carpet dragging across the rubber tumbler?

i also wonder if putting a piece of static cling wrap inside a bowl would create a highly charged tumbling vessel

[koehlerrk]

Well, I started DT with HF red and no BBs. It worked... but wasn't great. Then I added BBs, which were a nice improvement. Then I went with the PBTP paint... talk about a night and day difference! Originally my daughter wanted pink, so I added some PBTP white to the HF red in the tub. Swirled it and it looked pink. Added a handful of boolits and they came out white with a few red spots. Apparently PBTP paint is ground finer so it reacts faster to a static charge than the HF. It also clings better so handling them before baking is easier, less chance of knocking the coating off.

That's where I am with this, YMMV, but go ahead and try something else, it just might work.

[Beagle333]

I think the smaller particles are definitely more affected by the static..... which makes sense.
HF red works good for me, but that ultra-fluffy powder (that Smoke4320 is selling) was definitely sticking better.
I don't have any PBTP to compare with at the moment, but the finer... the better, as I see it.

[bangerjim]

Someone here recently has came up with the method of "massaging" them in ZipLok bags with BB's. According to them it works as well as #5 containers.

Have not tried it yet. Mabe that will help with your lack-o-static up there on the "left" coast. (ha....ha!) Rub the bag on a piece of wool or carpet?

Let us know.

banger

[Beagle333]

Ziplock massaging with the ASBBs didn't work for me. The boolits still looked silver, with a light sheen of red or green. (tried two powders).

ASBB tumbling worked well, but I couldn't get the bag method to work (here in South AL. 53% humidity, according to my gauge yesterday during testing)

[rsrocket1]

Yeah, the humidity out in the central valley of Komifornistan is very dry this time of year (around 10-20% humidity) so that might make a big difference in generating static electricity. The Ziplock bag method seemed so easy that I didn't understand why everyone didn't use it. On Monday afternoon I coated about 300 40 cal boolits in 4 batches and they all came out very well especially for someone who's never tried powder coating before. I loaded them (unsized) and shot 100 yesterday and they shot very well and left a perfectly clean barrel except for a little soot which wiped off with a dry patch.

Maybe I'll try the Ziplock method in my bathroom after one of my teenage son's takes a shower. That room feels like a jungle after one of their marathon sessions.
Tumbled:Baked:

[mdi]

Well, I've tried a bunch of stuff, most of it I found here, but very little of any tumbling works with the black or yellow and white. I'm less than 1,000 yards from the ocean, it rains here quite often, and there is very little "static in the air", I don't even get static cling in my powder handling. I'll just keep trying different methods and components (I can still ES powder them as I have the equip.). Mebbe a different powder vendor/manufacturer. Any thoughts, or what to consider when buying powder?

[Beagle333]

rsrocket1, your coating looks way better than mine. I just couldn't get the bag to do that for me.... with 2 different powders.
I'm just glad that the #5 plastic containers do work for me. At least I have one good way to coat when it's too windy/rainy to spray.

[bangerjim]

Well, I've tried a bunch of stuff, most of it I found here, but very little of any tumbling works with the black or yellow and white. I'm less than 1,000 yards from the ocean, it rains here quite often, and there is very little "static in the air", I don't even get static cling in my powder handling. I'll just keep trying different methods and components (I can still ES powder them as I have the equip.). Mebbe a different powder vendor/manufacturer. Any thoughts, or what to consider when buying powder?

Ur location is definitely the reason! Coastal areas, swamps, river deltas, and other wet locations may have problems us out here in the bone dry west do not see....except during our monsoon season (July-Aug).

ESPC will normally always work. Glad you have the equipment. I use both all the time.

banger

[rsrocket1]

Just from a propeller head's perspective, it looks like the reason the powder likes to stick to the lead is that lead is way up there on positive side of the triboelectric series while HDPE (#5 bowls) and LLDPE (Ziplock Bags) are near the bottom (negative) side so adhesion really does impart a static charge to the lead boolits. Other materials that may be better would be vinyl (PVC), polypropylene, silicon and teflon. They must not be treated with any antistatic additive however.

Nitrile gloves are near neutral which might be why my dusted gloves worked so well at evening out the powder when I picked them out of the bag. I'm not sure whether the gloves are nitrile, vinyl or latex. My "for sure" vinyl gloves worked, but not as well. I have some "for sure" nitrile gloves and will try with them next coating. It's really convenient to not only be able pick up and place boolits onto the pan after tumbling, but actually see that the more you handle them, the more uniform the coating became. The gloves had a dull flat luster to them and I simply "dusted" them with powder before handing the tumbled boolits.