Problems PCing.

[MGySgt]

2 Things I found out about my technique with powder coating.

1 I was using too much powder, like way too much.

2 My oven would not go to 400 degrees, no matter what I set the temp too, it would not go over 375 - tried 400, 425 and 450. All the same, temp would go to 375, hold for about 5 minutes and ten drop to 350. Raise back to 375 for 5 minutes and ten drop to 350 again.
Watching those thermometers was like watching grass grow.

I want to get 2 new oven thermometers and test my new oven.

[HATCH]

what type of oven do you have?

[kungfustyle]

Keep an eye on craigslist for someone selling an oven. I got an Oster and the thing is fantastic. Even if you have to buy a new one, it's about the cheapest peace of reloading equipment you can get. Also look for a laser thermometer, they are not expensive Harborfreight carries them too. They are accurate. I've converted my vibratory case cleaner into a powder coating device. Add some airsoft and one big tablespoon of powder, turn the cleaner on and let it run for 5 minutes, it comes out perfect.

[MGySgt]

My oven was an Oster, about 3 years old, I replaced it with a Black and Decker

[MGySgt]

I also started using my Lyman Turbo with the small bowl and Air Soft BB's. I don't use a container of any sort in the bowl.

I noticed a long time ago the bowl's build up static with corn cob.

[slide]

I wouldn't trust those oven thermometers. You can go to amazon prime and buy yourself a digital thermometer with a thermocouple. Drill a hole in a bullet,squeeze the bullet down on the thermocouple and you are set. It will cost you around twenty bucks. Lay the t-couple bullet in when you bake and you will find out not only what your oven temp is but your bullet temp which is the more important of the two. Follow the mfg. instructions and you will have coating that is properly cured. As far as coating I can show you how I do it.

[JWFilips]

You need a PID

[slide]

PID's are great. I had an oven that was doing the same thing as yours. When I put a PID on it it came up to set temp. I am not saying that yours will do the same thing. You can use the PID on your oven,casting pot, and other things. Great investment.

[Dragonheart]

I started out with a glass Taylor Oven Guide thermometer in the $12 range. years ago and I am still using one today. This is really all you need if you have a good toaster oven and only cooking a few hundred bullets at a time. The Taylor is accurate and fast reading.

A PID's is nice, but not needed if your oven will first come up to 400 F. and second hold that temp without wild swings. The Taylor will tell you that and all you to do is find that spot on the oven dial where the oven stabilizes at 400. If your oven won't do those two things I would put my money into a good Hamilton Beach convection oven rather than a PID.

Just remember a thermometer, including a PID, is measuring the air temperature and not the temperature of your bullets. It is the bullets that need to be at 400.

[MGySgt]

Bought a new digital meat thermometer (for a grill) today. New oven needs to be set 370. The new oven only fluctuates about 5 degrees above and 5 degrees below. I need to check my old Oster oven in the garage.

[gitzitfish]

Non contact thermometer from harbor freight is cheap and well worth it. Light on the powder and it bakes and cures very nice

[Dragonheart]

It's your nail so do as you wish, but I do not put my faith in infrared thermometers. I tried them years ago. I have now successfully coated in excess of 100K bullets and my Glass Taylor Oven Guide thermometers still work like new; accurate fast reading and I don't have to open the door. My thermocouples monitor the alloy temperature, so my cooking times are precise.

[popper]

A good accurate thermometer will work fine, monitor to make sure you get up to temp. PC will take lots of over temp but the alloy may not and may slump your bullets.

[MGySgt]

I retested my Oster oven last night in the garage. Using the digital thermometer it came up to temp, actually about 20 degrees over, dropped to about 15 degrees low, went back up. Brought the oven back in last night.
This morning retested it. Same BS maxed out at 399 and dropped 40 degrees .
OK, what is different? House temp at 72, garage was about 40 degrees. That shouldn't have caused it.
The oven sits on a counter, the other side is the dining room and a humidifier is on the other side. Turned off the humidifier and the oven worked as it did in the garage.
Who would have thought that a humidifier blowing cool moist air up within a foot of the back of the oven would have caused these issues.
Yes, I moved the humidifier about 5 feet away and the oven works fine.

[Conditor22]

this old girl has coated A LOT of boolits (both PC and HiTek)
I found that lining the bottom of the oven with heat-retaining material (I used ceramic BBQ briquettes) helps the oven return to temp faster after being opened.

due to the location and type of thermostat on most countertop ovens, you need to re-check the temperature setting every time the surrounding air temperature changes.
I ended up putting a PID on the oven, you can see the thermocouple sticking out from the back under the baking shelf, and when converting a convection oven over to PID use you need to put a separate power supply/switch on the convection fan or the rapid cycling from the PID will burn it out. I took out the bottom control knob (all 3 control knobs were bypassed in the PID installation wiring the heating elements directly to the powder from the SSR) and replaced it with a switch for the convection fan.


I've bought 2 large 2-shelf convection ovens in thrift stores for around $15 each.

[bangerjim]

With nothing in the small oven, you have no thermal mass to hold the heat. Putting rocks as above in gives some thermal mass to hold the heat. A BIG load of boolits does the same thing. It's all thermodynamics. Just like a freezer full of frozen stuff does no run nearly as much as an empty one.

These cheap standard ovens are OK for heating pizzas and the such, but controlling the temp at the high end of their range is many times very difficult, That is why I always recommend a high quality ($100-150) convection oven with digital controls built in.

[marky123]

I measure 4gms pc,not even a teaspoon, to 2kgs of bullets.

[GregLaROCHE]

Installing a PID and bypassing the thermostat would be a good way to go.

I’ve used an inexpensive simple oven for several years now and it seems to work fine.

[wolfwing]

Well, nobody has asked, so I will. What is a PID??

[slide]

It is a temperature control. On an oven you will have to do a little rewiring. Hatch, on this forum sells them or some build their own.