I'm pretty sure I did something wrong.

[Shadow9mm]

So I had my thermometer under my baking pan.... I set my toaster over to 450 and let it pre-heat. I put the bullet in, it said 425 after opening the door. I turned it up for about 5min to bake. Thermometer did not move but the powder coat flowed out. I turned it back down to 450 and moved my thermometer up to the tray to get a more accurate temperature. That's when I saw the melted bullets. Did not think toaster ovens for that hot.....

[1eyedjack]

Mine was next to door that was opened several times during a bake session bullets slumped
450 seems a bit high most powders cure at 400 degrees but follow manufacturers instructions

[Shadow9mm]

instruction on the container were to pre-heat to 450, put the item in, once the powder flowed out to reduce to 400F for 20min. I may go with a straight 400F for 22min going forward.

I did see video from Elivs Ammo, who was tryin to prevent tempering of the lead by using low temps. He was able to get flow out and curing at right under 250F https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOTo...O-Acma&index=3

[RKJ]

If I recall I use 350 for 20 minutes and get good flow and powder melt. It's a testing thing with your oven, but you'll get it (after a little aggravation)

[bosterr]

Are you sure the thermometer reads correctly?

[JWFilips]

That is why PID controllers are so Popular!
Been that route .....Went to PID and problems solved

[Shadow9mm]

Are you sure the thermometer reads correctly?

No idea.... bought an oven thermometer. I will have to do some testing.

[beechbum444]

i chased this rabbit way down his hole and was able to fix my same issues.....In the beginning, i was very meticulous about standing each boolit up, setting them in with tweezers, they all looked like hand crafted patriot 30 caliber missiles. They were evenly spaced an inch or so apart and the tray was placed so carefully into the over not to let one tip over..........then, the same thing like your pic above happened. Some would be fine, some would bulged out in the bottom and some would fall over into puddles. My technical mind thought that ovens heated the same thru out because of the temperature dials are set to the desired temp. My conclusion is that they do not, meaning they have hot spots thru out and how much these hot spots vary in temp give you the results that you have in your picture. My fix.....#1 I bought 2 small metal flat baking trays from dollar tree #2 I bought a small wire mesh basket from Bed Bath and Beyond....I put one of the small metal baking trays on the top rack of the oven and one on the bottom tray. These shield the boolits from the direct heat of the heating elements in the oven, thus shielding from the hot spots. Next, I put the powder coated boolits in the wire mesh basket, yes just thrown into the basket.....this very idea drove me nuts. My 30 caliber patriot missiles don't stand proudly anymore like they are on a parade float. They look very sad, just lying on top of each other in a little wire basket....I then put the wire basket with coated boolits on the middle shelf and let bake for 20 minutes..........When done, I take the basket out and dump the boolits onto a hard surface....Heres some more things that drove me nuts at first, but have no bearing on the function of the boolits.....They clump together and you have to unclump them before they cool, this makes the powder coating not look like the cascading powder coat flowing from top to bottom like I envisioned.thus making them not like the ever so proud 30 caliber missiles that I dreamed of........the good part is that I can put several hundred into the wire basket and it takes alot less time then when I was setting them up with tweezers.......I hope this helps ........Regards

[Shadow9mm]

i chased this rabbit way down his hole and was able to fix my same issues.....In the beginning, i was very meticulous about standing each boolit up, setting them in with tweezers, they all looked like hand crafted patriot 30 caliber missiles. They were evenly spaced an inch or so apart and the tray was placed so carefully into the over not to let one tip over..........then, the same thing like your pic above happened. Some would be fine, some would bulged out in the bottom and some would fall over into puddles. My technical mind thought that ovens heated the same thru out because of the temperature dials are set to the desired temp. My conclusion is that they do not, meaning they have hot spots thru out and how much these hot spots vary in temp give you the results that you have in your picture. My fix.....#1 I bought 2 small metal flat baking trays from dollar tree #2 I bought a small wire mesh basket from Bed Bath and Beyond....I put one of the small metal baking trays on the top rack of the oven and one on the bottom tray. These shield the boolits from the direct heat of the heating elements in the oven, thus shielding from the hot spots. Next, I put the powder coated boolits in the wire mesh basket, yes just thrown into the basket.....this very idea drove me nuts. My 30 caliber patriot missiles don't stand proudly anymore like they are on a parade float. They look very sad, just lying on top of each other in a little wire basket....I then put the wire basket with coated boolits on the middle shelf and let bake for 20 minutes..........When done, I take the basket out and dump the boolits onto a hard surface....Heres some more things that drove me nuts at first, but have no bearing on the function of the boolits.....They clump together and you have to unclump them before they cool, this makes the powder coating not look like the cascading powder coat flowing from top to bottom like I envisioned.thus making them not like the ever so proud 30 caliber missiles that I dreamed of........the good part is that I can put several hundred into the wire basket and it takes alot less time then when I was setting them up with tweezers.......I hope this helps ........Regards

It does help. I will be adding some shields to hopefully disperse the heat better.

I tried just pouring them my first time (last time) in a pile in a few places, as well as standing some up. Bullets did not want to come apart. When they did they left holes and flashing on the bullets. I will be trying piling them in a heap again, but for now the standing up looks a lot better to me. I was not super careful, just put on some gloves and grabbed them out and put them on the pan. didn't take much time.

[oley55]

figure out what 400 degrees is in your oven and then mark it on your temp dial, Then preheat your oven to 400 degrees and then slide your bullets in and set the clock at 25 minutes, I have tested the warm up times of my bullets reaching the target temp of 400 degrees takes five minutes (+/- a minute with imbedded thermocouples).

Apply the KISS principle and all will be fine. 400 degrees is the only number you should be chasing, Note: the addition of a heatsink in the bottom of the oven helps. I use a well dried concrete brick lying on the bottom to stabilize temps.

[kevin c]

Would a convection oven help this, or is it the elements radiant heat the problem?

[Winger Ed.]

Several folks have had issues with small, bargain priced, or scrounged ovens having hot spots, and poor temp. control.
Some you can fix, others won't cooperate at all.

[Walter Laich]

I use wire racks in mine to help eliminate the hot spots.

Got them on-line and had to add an extension to make them wide enough

use mesh baskets for bullets themselves

temp set at 400°F with a PID

when temp comes back up to 400° after loading the trays I cook for 20 minutes.

probably a bit of over-kill but bullets work fine and that's what's important

[BattleRife]

My technical mind thought that ovens heated the same thru out because of the temperature dials are set to the desired temp.

This strikes me as a funny thing to assume, humourous because it is so far removed from reality. All ovens have internal temperature variation, even very large, very expensive industrial furnaces. When I was doing quality audits of aerospace subcontractors doing heat treating, checking their procedure for oven temperature profiling was a significant portion of each visit. You have to know where the hot and cold spots are, and how they vary from nominal.

[elmacgyver0]

I have cheap Hamilton Beach toaster oven.
I set it to 400 degrees, put my bullets in it and turn the knob to a little past 20 minutes.
They come out perfect every time.
I use Eastwood powder.

[charlie b]

I used a very cheap oven for quite a while. The nice thing was the temp dials were spot on. Never had any problems with it, but, it was very small and I wanted a bit bigger one. So...

I bought a convection oven. I chose it to get more even temps in the chamber as well as the larger size. I know it's not perfect but it's better than the ones without any forced air. Being that it was a little more expensive it also has a 'radiation shield' over the elements to decrease hot spots from direct radiation. I suspect one of the air fryers would do even better in that regard.

I set the dial on mine at 370 to get an internal temp of 400. If I set it at 450 it runs up closer to 490. Both of my oven thermometers tell me the same thing on different parts of the tray. But, they are high mass thermometers, ie, takes them a while to get to steady temperature, so they do not respond to faster temp changes.

[Charlie Horse]

Several folks have had issues with small, bargain priced, or scrounged ovens having hot spots, and poor temp. control.
Some you can fix, others won't cooperate at all.

Easy fix:

Mine has two shelves. The oven came with a tray. I cut two 1/4" metal rods to hold another metal plate off the bottom of the tray. My boolits go on the top metal plate which I cover with parchment paper. This forms a raised surface for the boolits to sit on.
I put another metal plate on the top shelf of the oven. That keeps the top heating element from radiating directly down on the boolits.
The raised platform on the bottom tray keeps the bottom heating element from over-heating the surface that the boolits are sitting on.
Works a treat! (Don't forget to check the accuracy of your oven with a thermometer. To bake at 400 degrees, I have to set my dial at 350.) In the picture you can see a copper plate and a piece of foil on the top rack.

[Dragonheart]

Most powders will fully cure at 400° in 12 minutes. But that means the PC sub-straight (Bullet Surface) must reach the desired temperature 400° before the timing begins. The temperature at which the powder begins to flow (about 150°) has no meaning for the curing process.

Never rely on the oven thermostat dial unless it has been proven. An accurate thermometer like a glass Taylor Oven Guide thermometer will allow you to accurately monitor the oven temperature, but realize it is measuring air temperature and not the load temperature (the bullets).

But first take a step back and check your oven. First will it reach 400°? Second will it hold on 400° (plus or minus 10°)without excessive temperature swings? If not get a new oven.
As far as I am concerned a PID is a waste of time & money on a toaster oven, because there are ovens like the Hamilton Beach Countertop Convection Oven that perform great for PC. Additionally a PID also measures the oven's air temperature, but it can keep that temperature within 1-2 degrees.

The easy cheap way out is load your oven and allow extra time for the load to come up to temp. The problem here is if the load changes (more or less bullets) the time to come to temp changes, so you are guessing. You cannot look at a bullet once the powder flows and determine if the powder is fully cured.

The best way is to stop guessing and buy/build a simple thermocouple. For $32 on Amazon you can purchase a digital K thermometer with two K type probe sockets. (Digital 2 Channels K-Type Thermometer 4 Thermocouples, Probe Sensor Tester Monitor Wired & Stainless Steel -50~1300°C -58~2372°F Temperature Kelvin Scale Dual Measurement Kit )

I take the wire probes and insert the end into the cavity of a bullet mold and cast a bullet encasing the probe. I then lay this bullet probe in the center of the tray of my PC bullets. Now I have an actual bullet temperature that tells me when to start my timing. There are other single K thermometers on E bay like the TM-902C Digital Lcd K Type Thermometer that is accurate and can be had for under $10.

Improper curing is the biggest screw up in PC billets and a good thermometer and thermocouple will make you a pro.