1st At PC, need some help

[rosewood]

Just began PC'ing and haven't loaded anything yet. I have read through several post on PC'ing and was unable to find my answers as there are just too many post to wade through. I am hoping you PC'ing experts can shed some light on my problems.

I coated some a few weeks back with HF red using the black air soft BB's, got pretty good coverage. Tried again last night and for some reason, didn't get very good coverage. I left that powder in the bowl with lid for the last few weeks. Trying to see what I did wrong. On the same batch of boolits, I used some Blue a friend gave me that came from Smokey and it covered well, so don't think the boolits were oily or anything, so believe the problem had to be in the HF red (or me). I did have a lot of powder and BBs in the tub with the HF red and very little in the Blue, would too much powder in the bowl cause it to not stick very well? Too much for static charge? Do the BBs have to be replaced routinely or just keep using them? I tried a bit of HF red and BBs in a ziplock bag and it was maybe a bit better but not as good as the first time I used the HF red in the cool whip bowl.

Suggestions?

I was picking up with nitrile gloves but saw where others recommended using forceps or hemostats. Reckon PC'ing the tip of those tools would help when retrieving boolits out of the mix?

Thanks,

Rosewood - PC'er in training

[kbstenberg]

This is just my take on your situation.
I also use more BB's and powder in my shaking cont. than most. But once I pick the bullet out of the container I tap the forsips to knock any excess powder off of the bullet.
Some days with the changing humidity powder just doesn't stick as good. If you remember what did the coating look like before baking? What did it look like after? That will help find what happened.

[Beagle333]

I can do the shake-n-bake, and I'm not the best at it, but I have found that you don't want too much powder. That will hinder the coverage. Add more powder as needed instead of loading it up all at first. Secondly, shake the heck out of it. Swirling doesn't seem to get the job done. Smoke's blue powders just seem to want to get on the boolits, so you have a good choice for it. And I have done it with HF red successfully too. But I have to keep remembering to shake it! And good!! BB's never need to be replaced. I use smooth-jawed needle nose hobby pliers to pick mine up, but I do dip the tips in the powder to coat them before picking up boolits.

Good luck!

[Dragonheart]

I agree with Beagle's post and would add; the quality of the powder makes a difference as most definately the humidity since you are depending on building a static charge. The dryer the conditions the better the static charge. Preheating the bullets to 200 degrees helps in a humid environment, I know because I live on the Gulf Coast. But don't go much over 200 as the powder will melt, so an accurate thermometer is a must. Once the bullets are coated I use self closing tweezers to move the bullets to my silicon mat covered trays. I picked up the tweezers at Harbor Freight and ground down the nose so I can grab the bullet between the bands, which leaves no mark on the bullet.
Attachment 145642

[rosewood]

I am betting the aggressive shaking is what increases the static charge. And am thinking too much powder reduces the ability to build up. Gonna have to cast some more "clean" boolits so I can try again. Will be stopping by HF on the way home and see what I can find for boolit extraction. I am blessed, I have a Academy Sports across the street and pass HF on the way home from work.

Hmm, wonder if pre-shaking boolits in a clean bowl with only BBs in it would help build up the charge on the boolits before putting in bowl with PC..... Not sure if a charge can built up on an isolated piece of metal, gonna have to read up on that.

Wonder if doing the shaking inside the house where the AC has the humidity lower would help in lieu of in my shop with the door open. Our humidity tends to be quite high in the summer here in Georgia.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Rosewood

[bangerjim]

If you live in a humid climate (GA!?!?!?)......that will get into your coating bowl. Most do not seal tight enough. Put the bowl in a big ZipLok storage bag with some silicon desiccant drying media. I do not have that problem here in the SW desert!

Check out the cat litter that is silicon desiccant based as I mentioned in a previous thread for all you wet climate guys.

BB's can be used forever from what I have seen.

And as I found out a long time ago.....swirling just does not do it. After swirling for 30-40 seconds, shake up & down hard for 10 seconds. If using a coolwhip bowl....HOLD ON to the lid with one hand!!!!!!!! Yields almost 95% coating. And that other 5% melts and fills in during the 10 min @ 400F bake.

Medical hemostats work best for me to pick up. I have tried every other tool and these DO work extremely well. The ones I use are curved to allow easy access to any lay position in the bowl. And.......they leave ZERO damage to the powder.

Good luck finding the secrets to getting BBDT to work specifically for you. There are a TON of variables to deal with. It takes a lot of experimentation!!!!!!!!!!

bangerjim

[rosewood]

I am thinking of doing my shake dance in the house during the summer and put the boolits on the baking tray inside and then taking out to shop to bake. That may help. I guess the best trick will be to do all my shake and baking in the winter time from now on.

I was wondering about getting some curved hemostats. Is that something you can get in a local store?

Thanks,

Rosewood

[Beagle333]

Do you have a CVS or Walgreens or Rite-Aid nearby? They should have them.
WalMart website says they have them, but I guess it'd be according to store.

[bangerjim]

I got mine (several pair) at a local HUGE swap meet from a guy that sold all kinds of specialty tools.

I use them for picking boolits, heat sinks when soldering semiconductors, removing teeny stuff from tiny holes, and all kinds of other tasks that require a good grip. Far better than any needle nose or fish hook pliers! My boolit pickers are ~6" long but I have some that are 4" to 12" long.

banger

[rosewood]

Scored a pr at hf that should work well. Think I am gonna try to powder coat tips. Tks.

[bangerjim]

Won't help anything. Best way (if you are worrying about marks - which I never get) is to just dip the ends in loose powder every so often.

[rosewood]

Won't help anything. Best way (if you are worrying about marks - which I never get) is to just dip the ends in loose powder every so often.

I was thinking about not marking as well as not shorting the electrical charge. I was reading up on putting a static charge on metal and you can charge it up if you don't ground the metal. So my thinking is, you build up a static charge on the boolits while shaking and if you then grab the boolit with metal forceps, you are effectively grounding the system and letting the charge leave the boolit. By PC'ing the ends of the forceps, you are effectively insulating the forceps so you don't ground out the static charge buildup on the boolit. Some sort of rubber coating on the tips would work also. Again, this is all speculation, I do not know if it will really make that much of a difference, but it does seem feasible.

Rosewood

[bangerjim]

The tiny thin layer of PC you would build up will not insulate that well. Besides you have already used up any static to coat the boolits in the bowl, so why worry about "shorting" the boolit out when you pick it up to bake? I have never seen any powder fall off after I picked up the boolit. I even tap the hemos on the side of the bowl to remove excess powder off. Perfect coats every time.

But try it and let us know. You can always take the baked-on powder off the tips by soaking them in acetone and scrubbing.

I have done MANY experiments with all forms of static electricity from simple rubbing a rubber rod on fur to high voltages generated by a Whimshurst influence static machine I built charging banks of Leyden jars and all the misc accessories used with them. ( Ben Franklin and his fellow scientists did a lot of this back in the early days of the "magic electrical" discovery days.) Static electricity behaves totally different than most realize.

banger

[gpidaho]

It's my opinion (everyone has one) That there is a LARGE amount of overthinking this powder coat thing. I've found it pretty darn hard to mess up. Then again, I do live in a very arid climate not the humid sort some of you deal with.Gp

[bangerjim]

Most topics on here tend to be "over thought" a lot!

I could not believe the recent thread on changing out a simple wall light switch! New switch from WalMart + screwdriver + 5 minutes of time = problem solved.

[guncheese]

Once the bullets are coated I use self closing tweezers to move the bullets to my silicon mat covered trays. I picked up the tweezers at Harbor Freight and ground down the nose so I can grab the bullet between the bands, which leaves no mark on the bullet.

i use a HF tweezers as well but not self closing
and it has serrations

i keep them full of powder
and i never have a issue with naked spots

[rosewood]

It's my opinion (everyone has one) That there is a LARGE amount of overthinking this powder coat thing. I've found it pretty darn hard to mess up. Then again, I do live in a very arid climate not the humid sort some of you deal with.Gp

Overthinking becomes a problem when it doesn't work for you. If you get it right the first time, then it is a breeze, but if something goes wrong, it can be a struggle pinpointing the mistake. Our humidity runs 50% + all summer long and sometimes hits in the 90% range. That may have been the issue.

[rosewood]

Most topics on here tend to be "over thought" a lot!

I could not believe the recent thread on changing out a simple wall light switch! New switch from WalMart + screwdriver + 5 minutes of time = problem solved.

You mean you change out a light switch with the power on, bare fingers and a non-insulated screw driver in your shorts and bare footed? Don't you know you have to turn off the power, check the wires with a meter to make sure it is off, get insulated gloves, insulated screw driver and pliers before you can even start?? Don't forget the insulated boots and insulating mat. LOL

[rosewood]

Guess I will try the dry paint dusted tweezers first as guncheese does before PC'ing them.

Thanks.

[fredj338]

I'm new to PC but having good results with HF red & S&B. I use screw top plastic containers, not a lot of powder enough BB to cover the bottom of the bowl 2 deep. Shake vigorously for 1min, works out here in Kalif. I use forceps as well to remove them, stand them base down on wire drawer organizers. They stick a tiny bit after baking but pop right off.
Just got some of Smoke's powders to try. Pretty simple w/o the mess of a sprayer.