Tips for tumble coating PC in hot humid weather?

[Tripplebeards]

When it’s below thirty degrees here it’s so dry that my tumbled PC Looks like it’s been sprayed on. I have zero issues with smokes clear no matter what time of year or weather. I was sweating in the house two days ago and still had Beautiful even clear PC Coatings. Any color as usual this time of year coats uneven. I realize the Boolits are still coated Well enough to use but I’d like to make them look as nice as my zero humidity winter coatings. I have my PC sealed in a canning jar but as soon as I take out the PC it’s exposed to the humidity. Guess I will have to wait till winter for nice, even colored coats? I had fun and added purple, black, and bacon grease to my clear yesterday. My boolits turned out completely clear coated as usual with uneven speckled bumps. Like chicken pox. They look neat but the coatings have an uneven coating. I even bumped my oven to 455 degrees to try and smooth the pc...I know my actual oven temp is off...but that’s a different issue. I even bounce my boolits after tumble coating and still have build up with the paint freckles this time of year. Guess I’ll just stick with clear til the cold weather hits.

[shell70634]

I have the same problem. Lately I've been using a different method and so far it's working well for me. I use the containers from the dollar store marked 5. Bullets and powder inside and put the container in my Thumblers Tumbler drum with a rag to make it tight then tumble. The higher the humidity the longer the tumble. I don't use clear. I do mix colors because I have problems with some colors like yellow or white giving an even coat. Tumbler sure has reduced pain in my elbow from shaking.

[Tripplebeards]

I tumble in the same containers. About a 10/15 second shake with clear and I get a beautiful,even, glossy coat. The clear PC fills in dents, dings, and imperfections. IMO it helps with longer range rifle groups. Probably all on my head. Any color turns out bumpy and uneven this time of year. Colors still turn out bumpy even after bouncing excess off in an excess container when cold at times. I’ve tried to bump my heat to get the PC to flow more evenly with zero luck. Some days I win some days I loose.

[cstrickland]

never using clear can I ask this of the guys that do . How do you know it is smoother and more even, its clear !!! You can easily see splotchy in color as there is a contrast, which I would think is not the case with clear !

Also maybe it is just me and not putting in the effort, but part of the reason I spray is to get that super clean even coating. I have never even come close to the evenness of spray when I ASBB. I will concede it may very well be my technique or even location, as I am not sure humidity in Ohio is ever below 45%

I have used the ASBB method and shot them without issue, so it aint as if they dont shoot or work cause they do , but the really clean look appeals to me a great deal.

[Conditor22]

My friend and I have PC'd in our garages while it's raining outside with great results.
close your PC containers ASAP to help keep it dry
keep your boolits clean. IF I'm not coating right away I'll either put them in pans in my warming oven or put them in zipper bags.



pre-warm your boolits to no hotter than 150° (IF you cant touch them barehanded they are too hot)
I swirl, never shake, static is built by swirling.
I rotate my container 90° while swirling to distribute the PC and get a even coat
remove all excess PC

I have some PC's (other than clear) that coat great in 10-15 seconds and others that take 30-40.

I like wider (not taller) bowls like the coolwhip containers

my 2 ¢

[Onebad06vtx]

A dehumidifier in my shop made a world of difference.

[Tripplebeards]

never using clear can I ask this of the guys that do . How do you know it is smoother and more even, its clear !!! You can easily see splotchy in color as there is a contrast, which I would think is not the case with clear !

Also maybe it is just me and not putting in the effort, but part of the reason I spray is to get that super clean even coating. I have never even come close to the evenness of spray when I ASBB. I will concede it may very well be my technique or even location, as I am not sure humidity in Ohio is ever below 45%

I have used the ASBB method and shot them without issue, so it aint as if they dont shoot or work cause they do , but the really clean look appeals to me a great deal.

Pretty easy to see the difference. When I take photos and zoom up on the i clan clearly see an even smooth coat vs a bumpy, even colored coat. Clear is like smooth glass vs colors. No big deal imo if your not shooting them at longer rifle distances. I can also run my finger nail across the little scratches and dents tumblr coating causes and it’s completely smooth like all the Imperfections are filled in.

Hers an example of tumble coating I’ve done in single digit weather.





It would be splotchy and uneven if I tried in our hot humid weather we are having today. I’ll have to buy a spay gun and compressor at harbor freight one of these days. The clear goes on like this for me year around. Guess I’ll stick with clear for long range hunting bullets when tumbling.

[nwfdub]

I've never PC'd boolits, but I have PC'd aluminum plenty. There is a method involving MEK in which you dissolve the PC into the MEK and apply using an airbrush. I use the Testor airbrush kit available at Hobby Lobby. This method applies like paint yet still flows in the oven. I found it a better way to apply candy coats in high humidity. Just be sure to clean the machine well afterwards. The solution is very sticky.

Sent from my SM-S727VL using Tapatalk

[cstrickland]

if mine were that even I would probably not use a gun. So a couple of questions. Is that with or with out ASBB ? What was humidity when those were done.

Like I said here in Ohio our average humidity is high. I believe its around 70% average, so I am thinking I may never get those results unless I do the process in a controlled room. Unfortunately that I do not have . I may have to stick to spray to get the results I want.

thanks

[Tripplebeards]

Smokes red, tumbled in a $1 store #5 container with ASBB’s that I got from Smoke. It was around the teens or colder when I tumbled in the house. I could get static sparks pretty easy just taking off or putting on a shirt. I know my oven temp is off. I baked for 20 min with my kenmore gas oven sat at 455 degrees. Someday I’ll buy a thermometer to check it.

This was an average day of clear PC. You can see all the scratches, dings, and dents from tumble coating. If you run you finger across the bullet the imperfections are all filled in and the bullets feel as smooth as glass.

[Kraschenbirn]

Tripplebeards...I'm following, essentially, the same procedure as yours and my 'clear-coat' looks exactly like yours. Btw, my small workshop has a window AC unit that holds humidity down around 60%-70% during the summer months and since I started storing my Smoke's powders in Mason Jars, I've had no problems doing PC.

Bill

[blue32]

I've noticed that during the humid months that less powder is necessary. The amount I use during winter will clump and make a splotchy finish with excess humidity.

[Walter Laich]

My friend and I have PC'd in our garages while it's raining outside with great results.
close your PC containers ASAP to help keep it dry
keep your boolits clean. IF I'm not coating right away I'll either put them in pans in my warming oven or put them in zipper bags.



pre-warm your boolits to no hotter than 150° (IF you cant touch them barehanded they are too hot)
I swirl, never shake, static is built by swirling.
I rotate my container 90° while swirling to distribute the PC and get a even coat
remove all excess PC

I have some PC's (other than clear) that coat great in 10-15 seconds and others that take 30-40.

I like wider (not taller) bowls like the coolwhip containers

my 2 ¢

sounds like about what I do. Don't overload with powder, more isn't better

swirling is key

[gnappi]

Living in south Florida, humidity is very high in summer. Once I start, I'll tumble in the AC'd house, set them on trays, and bring them to the patio to bake. I'm hoping this works acceptably well, I have a LOT of projects lined up due to the post COVID crisis and pre-election buying frenzy.

[45workhorse]

Tripplebeards...I'm following, essentially, the same procedure as yours and my 'clear-coat' looks exactly like yours. Btw, my small workshop has a window AC unit that holds humidity down around 60%-70% during the summer months and since I started storing my Smoke's powders in Mason Jars, I've had no problems doing PC.

Bill

I keep A clear liquid in my Mason jars, and my Smokes powder in the fridge.:

[prs]

I don't even worry about humidity and it is HUMID here spring through fall. I use air soft black BBs, Smoke's or HF powder. I put a cup or more of bullets into my Lyman vibratory tumbler with a lid that I fashioned out of a cookie tin along with the BBs and a couple of tablespoons of paint powder. Let it run 15 minutes to a half hour. The powder is burnished onto the boolits and also coated. Wear nitrile or latex gloves that are "dusted" to place on bake trays and bake. The coating may be a little too thick, but pushes through the sizer OK.

prs

[bangerjim]

Not to mess up the thread, but why is everybody now into this clear powder bandwagon? I thought one of the main reasons, back years ago when we developed this shake-n-bake PC method, we did PC for the razzle-dazzle technicolor rainbow of colors we could do? Sure gets a lots of oohhhs and aaahhhs at the ranges.

What's the advantage of no color? Besides the no grease lube. I LOVE colors! I think multi-colors are a lot better than yucky old silver-ish lead! The more the merrier.

bangerjim - only ESPC now - in ALL kinds of weather!

[prs]

bangerjim; I use color to differentiate between close calibers such as keeping 44-40 out of my 45 Colt, or to keep different loads discriminated such as Unique from BullsEye in 45ACP. Clear "may" have an advantage as it is, I suppose, the pure acryllic resin not reduced by the pigment. Not sure about that. Maybe Smoke knows.

I have TWO cups of 44-40 bullets getting red powdered in my Lyman vibratory tumbler right now. I have one batch lacking a few bullets on one of two trays waiting to be baked and then one more batch to go. Then I sift the remaining powder and BB's before changing to another color for 45 Colt some other day. Chores to do too.

prs

[prs]

An observation I made last night while coating with the Lyman vibratory case cleaner and airsoft. After vibrating two cups of lead 250g 45 Colt bullets for 20 minutes they were totally coated AND the powder was firmly burnished onto the lead, it was as hard to scratch off as it is to scratch lead with thumb nail. I do not know how short of a vibratory period one could get away with, I just let it vibrate while a previous batch bakes.

prs

[gnappi]

Now that I'm pretty comfortable with the shake N bake method and my results are good, my first tests were with a gold translucent The thing about clear and trans coatings (for me anyway) is it's hard to verify coverage, where the solid colors are not.

After seeing the bullets that were coated in some exotic colors I dove into the color coatings also, and no suspicion of shake coverage.