I don't use Aluminum Foil in my Powder Coating

[Dragonheart]

It came up in a different post that I don't use non-stick aluminum foil in my powder coating and haven't for over a year. I use Silicon Baking sheets. It appears many don't know the benefits of silicon sheets so I though I would do a post so all can see. I purchased my sheets at Costco for $9.97 for two large and one small (see attached photo). The sheets are reusable, soft, very flexible, lay flat on my trays, but are very tough and can withstand a temperature over 500 degrees. I am still using the first set I acquired a year ago. They have had thousands of bullets cooked on them and are still going strong. I tumble coat and the bullets just drop off the sheets after cooking.

Attachment 136482

[Beagle333]

Pretty cool! I'm jealous of you fellows that are getting the tumble coating to work well.

[jcwit]

I've got a silicone pad on it's way from china, ordered it from E-Bay. $2.74 shipping incl.

Will let you all know how it works out as soon as it gets here.

[borg]

Does it leave bare spots where the Boolit lays like mesh of NSAL?

It came up in a different post that I don't use non-stick aluminum foil in my powder coating and haven't for over a year. I use Silicon Baking sheets. It appears many don't know the benefits of silicon sheets so I though I would do a post so all can see. I purchased my sheets at Costco for $9.97 for two large and one small (see attached photo). The sheets are reusable, soft, very flexible, lay flat on my trays, but are very tough and can withstand a temperature over 500 degrees. I am still using the first set I acquired a year ago. They have had thousands of bullets cooked on them and are still going strong. I tumble coat and the bullets just drop off the sheets after cooking.

Attachment 136482

[Dragonheart]

Does it leave bare spots where the Boolit lays like mesh of NSAL?

Since I tumble coat I have powder completely covering the bullet including the base. Yes, all the coating comes off the sheet and the bottom of the bullet has an imprint of the fine texture of the mat (see photo). If any light powder dust is left on the sheet, as I don't bother with a lot of cleaning of the sheets, the bullet will pick it up the residue and if it's a different color you will see some color spotting on the base of the bullet.
Attachment 136547

[borg]

Thinking it might work for those long rifle bullets, Hmmm

[Dragonheart]

Thinking it might work for those long rifle bullets, Hmmm

I don't shoot a lot of rifle and even though I have some molds I haven't cast any rifle bullets in a long time. However, I purchased a mold for my 7.62 x 39 recently and plan to cast a few. Since it is a longer bullet with a smaller diameter base, my method of coursing the bullet on their base for pistol bullets is not going to work.

I haven't tried this, but my thoughts were to take a silicon sheet and punch several lines of bullet sized round holes in it and then affix this sheet to a metal frame that would keep the sheet taught. I was considering using a metal oven rack that already has wire running across it for support. Then lay the sheet on the tray over another silicon sheet. The sheet on the tray would need to be just high enough to keep the bullets standing upright in the holes. Don't know it it will work, but that's my plan.

[gpidaho]

Dragonheart, thanks for the tip. Just got some Kitzini silicone baking mats in todays mail. Made up a few to try them out, they worked great. They lay nice and flat and NO STICKING. This is a real step forward. GP

[Bumslie]

I never had non stick aluminum foil to begin with. I've just been using parchment paper. About 7 trips into the toaster oven and I rip a new sheet. It works great. A roll is lasting me a long whole. I'll have to try this when I run out.

[Dragonheart]

Dragonheart, thanks for the tip. Just got some Kitzini silicone baking mats in todays mail. Made up a few to try them out, they worked great. They lay nice and flat and NO STICKING. This is a real step forward. GP

Your welcome, glad it's working for you, but I really can't take the credit as it was my wife's idea. She got tired of never having any non-stick aluminium foil and gave me a set of the silicon baking sheets and said try these. After the first cook I knew it was the way to go.

[kbstenberg]

Dragonheart How slick is the surface of the silicon? If I bump the tray do the bullets slide around?
With the sheets plyable what do you use under the sheet when baking?

[Spector]

When I first started just sort of experimenting to see if DTPC worked I bought a silicone oven mitt and split it into two halves. It worked great to hold boolits in place, but if you get wild then of course they can still slip and touch each other. I personally did not like the small amount of baked powder that stuck even after I flexed the silicone and scraped it some.

I tried parchment paper next and like it.

I like the slick finish on the bottom of the boolits left after using nonstick aluminum foil, but I had to be very careful getting them to and into the oven.

Overall I like the parchment paper the most so far. Not overly slick when transporting boolits to the oven and leaves a decent finish on the boolit bases.

I'm certain all 3 materials work. I have to negociate an old dog, a young dog, a door and several steps to reach my oven so I need a little more stability than what I get from nonstick aluminum foil. I plan to build a workshop this summer and can DTPC right next to my oven. Then the aluminum might be the perfect choice for me.

If newspaper can be wet and used to ESPC then I suspect so can parchment paper. And while I may be wrong I suspect parchment paper will not to stick to boolit bases nearly as bad as newspaper will.

I've had a Harbor Freight compressor and PC gun for over a year now. but haven't set it up as yet. I'll try it after I get more workspace built..........Mike

[Dragonheart]

The silicon is slick, but tends to grip and has a very slight texture from the fiber reinforcement. You don't need to worry about the bullets sliding like they will on foil, as they tend to stay in place. I have no trouble quickly transferring three sheets of 400+ bullets per sheet into the oven without any falling over, even the smaller base 9 mm.

My Hamilton Beach convection oven came with two chrome wire racks, so I cut some lightweight steel sheetmetal to fit the racks with a lip over front and back, which I bent over and under the wire to hold it in place. Leave the wire exposed on the sides so they slide in like normal. As you can see from the photo a well used and not cleaned silicon sheet still lays perfectly flat just like a new one. My third rack I made by cutting down and TIG welding a larger wire rack.
Attachment 137672Attachment 137673Attachment 137674

[gamedog53]

I use a piece of fine window screen in a disposable pan. Works great and most importantly it's cheap.

[Dragonheart]

I use a piece of fine window screen in a disposable pan. Works great and most importantly it's cheap.

I cast a few thousand 9 mm bullets yesterday so I am going to try a batch using window screen and another using parchment paper, as they sound like good ideas and I would like to see the results for comparison. But the nice thing about the silicon sheets is they are a one time purchase and not a consumable and on going expense.

I got back into casting for two reasons: the first is I wanted to be able to have ammunition regardless of market conditions (like none available) and second it makes handloading a lot less expensive (discounting my time) after the initial equipment investment. So now my only cost to make a bullet is electricity and coating powder.

[RP]

I am just wondering how much Alum foil are most of you guys using now? I have PC a lot of bullets and I am still on my first roll. A lot were done were HP on my nail that no foil is need. But the ones I use foil on I spray and move so I can reuse the foil several times. So my use is not much doing it that way. How about the fellows that spray on the foil and bake how many rolls have you use to date?

[Beagle333]

I bought two rolls when I started, a couple years ago, and I still have both boxes, but I'm not sure how much is left in there. It isn't really a considerable expense at all. The reduced slipping of the silicone baking mat might be handy for carrying trays though.

[popper]

When I started ESPC with HF white on 40SW, I just put the boolits in the same place for the next cycle, worked about 3 times then I peeled the PC off & started again. I just ESPC for rifle now and hand place on the baking sheet so I haven't replaced it for a year.

[gamedog53]

Dragonheart let us know your results. I've done a thousand or more on the same piece of screen with no issues.

[Dragonheart]

Dragonheart let us know your results. I've done a thousand or more on the same piece of screen with no issues.

OK, I can now say I have tried aluminium foil, silicon baking sheets and most recently, parchment paper and wire screen. The parchment paper worked quite well, but it took time to cut the sheets to fit my trays and the paper only lasted three cooks before it started to disintegrate. The paper tended to shift on the tray until there were sufficient bullets to hold it down. Once the bullets were cooked there was no stick at all and the just slid off the paper. The bottoms of the bullets had little texture.
The fine wire screen worked okay when it was placed over one of my silicon sheets, but since I tumble coat my entire bullet is covered in powder including the base. When the screen has nothing under it but the pan, any excess powder will run under the bullet and firmly attach the screen to the pan. The screen left more of a texture on the base of the bullets than any of the other methods and a build up on the screen. If the screen has to be placed over a non-stick or disposable surface then why not just use the non-stick surface? So after actually trying every powder coating surface that I am aware of I am even more convinced that for the fastest production and the least time spent the silicon mats are the way to go. My three original silicon mats are still working just like new and I know they have easily cooked in excess of 15K bullets to date and I just completed casting in excess of 3000 of 9 mm bullets.