simple Hi-Tek coating

[Jatz357]

Ausglock’s idea is great. That’s all I used for ages, my old fan heater is flat with a rectangle opening and I made up a shroud that covered the tray and directed the air better. 10 to 15 minutes is heaps unless you’ve used too much coating.

[Gatch]

Might look into it.. Cheers Trev

[Tazza]

Isn't failing wipe test due to not baking long enough? Failing smash test was cooking before they had time to dry or they have some moisture trapped in them?

On dry days, i generally leave them an hour or so, when they feel dry, i break them up to allow the bottom part if it was still wet to dry. They are generally still a bit wet, as with gloves on, rolling them around you get little dots of hitek on your gloves.

I do mine different to the other guys, i have a sheet of melamine that i use to dry my coated projectiles on, i don't have enough trays to allow them to dry in them, but hey, it works for me. I shake then dump put on a home made table made of a 1.2m x 2.4m sheet of melamine. It means more double handling, but it gets the job done for me.

When there is too much coating on the surface, i get into it with acetone and a rag, cleans it right up.

[Gatch]

Isn't failing wipe test due to not baking long enough? Failing smash test was cooking before they had time to dry or they have some moisture trapped in

I had wondered this. I struggled to stop the coating going dark at 190C. So I dropped the temp to 180C and cook time is up to 11min and still failing wipe test.

[Tazza]

Sadly i can't help, i use K15 black, so excessive cooking times are not an issue, but i pass every wipe and smash test. I cook at 200c for 12 minutes, one day i messed up and had the temperature way low, it failed wipe on the initial test so much that one wipe and i saw clean lead.

The 122 red i cook at 200c as well, it did darken a little, but not stupidly dark, more of a purple that i liked.

I thought Joe said you needed to get the lead to 180c and hold it there for like 6 minutes or there abouts for it to "set" so you should not be having issues with it not curing as you are at 180 for 11, have you tried longer cook times? it may not be getting to 180 for long enough.

[Ausglock]

Hitek must reach a min of 185deg C for at least 3 minutes to activate and cure.
Our ovens run 195Deg C for 12 mins with a tray shake and 90deg turn of the tray at 6 min mark.

[Ausglock]

My big oven runs 195degC for 7:30mins for 2 trays, with a tray shake and turn at 4 mins.

[Tazza]

My old house oven must not be powerful enough, i tried 200c for 8 minutes with 2 trays, they came out slightly sticky and failed wipe, so it hadn't cured, second bake at 12 minutes fixed them. I tried to save myself time, but meant i needed to double bake that batch

[Gatch]

Oh good so 180 is probably too low. I'll bump the temp up and try again. I've got 3 trays drying at home right now so I'll crack into it after work .

[Tazza]

I had the same thought as you, cook cooler, but longer to keep the colour right, i guess you just need to tinker till you find what cures it and doesn't darken it too much.

[Gremlin460]

I bake @200 for just under 11 mins, coating is slightly darker, but my barrels are spotless, dunno about wipe and smash tests I quit doing them about 3 years ago. Although I admit to smashing one every now and then when I find a a faulty one that goes into the remelt container.

[Gatch]

For those that do regularly do wipe tests, does the rag have to be SPOTLESS. Or is a little colouring ok. 12min @195C still leaves a little colour, but not as much as before. And it only seems to be of the beveled base corner.

[Tazza]

A small bit of colour coming off is normal, especially on dark colours, if you can wipe and see lead, it's not cured.

I get the slightest black tinge on my cooked K15 projectiles after cooking and cooling when doing a wipe test. You need to look pretty hard to see it.

[Ausglock]

For those that do regularly do wipe tests, does the rag have to be SPOTLESS. Or is a little colouring ok. 12min @195C still leaves a little colour, but not as much as before. And it only seems to be of the beveled base corner.

good to go... but post a photo of the wipe..

[Tazza]

Joe - Got the K15 and the 500+ on Monday, thank you for getting it out to me quickly.

The 500+ definitely did help my leading issues, but sadly didn't cure them, it may just be a beast i need to deal with on my machine. I think the mould just doesn't get a chance to get cool enough between cycles, unlike the big commercial ones do with 8 sets of moulds. I started building one that takes 8 moulds, it is just on the back burner till i get some spare time.

After doing some sizing on some over sized projectiles, m next order will contain some aqua lube to test out

[Gatch]

I haven't been able to upload pics. It just says "error has occurred".

Anyhow I came home and decided it was too much green left on the rag, so I'll test a few more batches. First one 12min @200C

[Tazza]

I haven't been able to upload pics. It just says "error has occurred".

Anyhow I came home and decided it was too much green left on the rag, so I'll test a few more batches. First one 12min @200C

Did that cooking time and temperature prevent any transfer of coating?

I hosted my pictures on tinypic but they are closing down, trevor is using imgur i think, i'll need to do the same in the future, just copy/paste the link and it should show up

[Gatch]

So I did 12minutes at 200 and 205. Both started to go dark. And both still leave a slight smear. Maybe I'm just worried to much about nothing. I'm going to load some id these and shoot em. Suck it and see etc.

[HI-TEK]

A small bit of colour coming off is normal, especially on dark colours, if you can wipe and see lead, it's not cured.

I get the slightest black tinge on my cooked K15 projectiles after cooking and cooling when doing a wipe test. You need to look pretty hard to see it.

I need to chime in on this. If solvent is not removing coating after bake, it is OK. The solvent test was to tell user if coating has been cured enough. This system was adopted, because if first coat was not fully cured after bake, the subsequent coat would act as a stripper, and making a mess.
I refer to slight colour on solvent test. I am almost convinced that what is happening is, that the wiping test is breaking and simply removing fine bubbles that formed on surface. This phenomena can be traced back to inadequate drying.
When rubbing pressure is applied with or without solvent the small amount of colour will show up.
It is easy to identify this situation. Simply magnify and look at surface of baked film. If it is not shiny and smooth, but resembling "orange Peel" this is typical for fine moisture bubbles being baked into the cured coatings. On the surface of these "bubbles" is a dome type very thin cured coating, and application of abrasion force will break this bubble and will carry colour with it. I believe that this is what seems to be causing "colour" residues with solvent wipes.

[lablover]

Well my first try with HT was a bust..I totally missed the dry after coat step. 2nd try went much better and passed all tests but I have a question or two

I’m using the Red Copper. 100ml of acetone and 200 gr of powder. I’m coating 200 gr swc bullets and the coating does not want to seem to get into those tight corners on the bullet as well as completely in the lube grooves which I know is not that important. Any tips to get the bullet completely covered? I ended up doing 3 light coats and they came out nice but those nooks and lube grooves not so much. Also, is one color able to cover better than any others? That red copper has the metallic in it I believe. I’m pretty excited with my second try

Thank you