Anyone ever grind HF red to a finer powder?

[bangerjim]

Most do NOT have any problems with HF powders right out of the bottle. HF red is the go-to powder for many....both ESPC and BBDT. Most whites and yellows of any powder will will not cover dark surfaces....just like paint. The resin is still there, the pigments just do not hide as well.
I use HF white and yellow to mix with other powders to get a wide variety of colors and effects.

I personally will never spend 8 hours grinding anything. You already have the ball mill which puts way ahead of the game $$ wise.

Matte black (or any matte color) generally kills most if not ALL the very tiny static charge in BBDT process. It works GREAT with an ESPC gun. Ninja black is my standard color with HF black. I have found when I mix black with any other BBDT color, the color coats the BB's and boolits and the black powder is left in the container!

Let us know how your grinding mix works!

bangerjim

[TheDoctor]

I was thinking about this yesterday. I have a vita mix blender, and one of the containers has craze lines in the bottom, so it now has a slow leak. BUT, I have another ready to go. It was my dry container. Swapped the blade sets, so I'm good to hook. With the dry blades, I can turn grain to flour, peanuts to peanut butter, and sugar to powdered sugar. I wonder what kind of effect it would have on pc? And, I know that if I try it, I can not use that container/blade set for food!

[bangerjim]

Try it and let us know. Personally I would not waste the time.

And remember...... those blenders are made to run for very short intermittent periods, not long sustained times! I doubt if a few minutes would do anything to a powder that already performs perfectly for most of us already.

banger

[TheDoctor]

The only issue with running this beast for an extended period, since it cools itself the best on high speed, would be the friction heat generated in whatever substance you were churning. This puppy will boil water.

[bangerjim]

Any universal type motor (AC/DC with brushes) is not designed to run for hours and hours on end. That would be my big concern. (besides the horrible noise level!) And you would be starting out with almost dust and trying to "blend" it even finer? Reducing (relatively large) grain kernels to flower is one thing. Reducing powder to ever finer powder is another. The standard way of doing that is with a ball mill or a roller mill. That will work for powder size reduction, but the HF stuff works just fine right out of the bottle for most of us.....ESPC and BBDT.

But as I said, try it and let us know.

A picture (or trial) is worth a thousand words.

Just wear hearing protection!

banger

[TheDoctor]

I will give a test run with some flour. Figure 10 minutes or less will tell the tale. If it floats in air better afterward, I know it did something. If it doesn't, well, at least I didn't waste 100+ bucks on the container and blades!

[berksglh]

I have the Carolina blue from smoke now and haven't looked back. The ground HF red did coat a bit better, but as noted, other powders will push the HF red off and take over like a virus.

If ither powder sticks so much better, use the HF red until you get your hands on better powder.

It was a fun experiment seeing as i had the proper ball mill and media to try it. But its not worth the work when you can have a superior powder on your doorstep in a few days.

Have at it if your board, but that's my opinion.

Good day.

[Beagle333]

Smoke's powders stick to boolits like Styrofoam to a cat!


Look in the box next time before you jump in, kitty!!!

[g5m]

What a great photo!

[Handloader109]

Agreed, buy a better powder Than HF if you want to tumble, the red works, but all most every color from everyone else is better.

[popper]

I ESPC 308W, I am comparing HF vs Smokes black pushed to 2600+. As Smokes powder is finer, I'm finding I need a second coat or really thick first coat (heavy coat 'runs' a lot). The black does seem to be more accurate than 1035 gold in 300BO pushed to 1800. When the H.I. gets below 105F I've got a 36ish BHN alloy to try with Smokes black.