Problems with too much heat?

[gun toting monkeyboy]

I picked yo an oven thermometer to stick in my toaster oven. Up until now, I have been relying on an infrared thermometer pointed at the bullets directly when they are in the oven. They have consistently been 395-410 degrees. However, the thermometer in the oven (on the lower shelf, closer to the heating element) is reading between 450-475. Is it likely that the physical thermometer is calibrated wrong? Or that the lower part of the oven is that much hotter? The bullets still read in my normal range. If it really is that hot in the oven, is it going to effect anything? The coating still seem to come out nicely. They don't flake, or anything else like that. Will the extra heat, assuming they are actually getting that hot, cause any problems?

-Mb

[para45lda]

Stick it in a pot of boiling water to check temp.

Ta Da!

[slide]

Too much heat will make your powder coat brittle. Under curing will do the same thing. You can go to amazon and order a digital thermometer with a thermocouple,drill a hole in the base of a bullet,do the Hossfly technique( squeeze the bullet down on the t-couple). Lay the t-bullet in with your coated bullets when you bake. Whenever your t-bullet reaches the mfg. recommended temp
start a timer. For instance, if instructions say 400F for 10 minutes when you t-bullet hits 400f start a timer for 10 minutes. Cost you about twenty bucks. Another option for you.

[oley55]

Stick it in a pot of boiling water to check temp.

Ta Da!

isn’t dunking in water kinda hard on infrared thermometers, oven thermometers and toaster ovens?
sealed thermocouples yea, but what the OP mentioned not so good.:kidding:

[Wild Bill 7]

Should not be problem. I live in Florida so the lead is never real cold. I have a thermometer in my oven on the top shelf in the back. This is how I have been doing it for a couple of years now and it works for me. Fill both shelves with about 500 boolits turn oven on and cook from start to finish 17 minutes. I know it’s recommended 20 but the 17 minutes works for me. I was cooking them for 20 but the red was darker that I thought it should be so I cut it back to 17 minutes. Sometimes the thermometer shows 450 before the timer goes off but it’s right a the end of baking. I don’t worry about it at all.

[gun toting monkeyboy]

Well, it isn't getting brittle, as I smashed a couple of bullets with a hammer, and the coating stayed on throughout the process. But I may very well set up a digital thermometer to do that. The oven I have only uses the bottom heating element for "baking". But if I try to use it to cook at a specific heat, it will turn on both elements. And that would make me worry about melting the bullets.

-Mb

[Petander]

Adding thermometers all over the place will reveal interesting things. And drive you crazy. They all read differently.

I went overboard, I had six meters in my oven. All that knowledge didn't help a thing, my coatings were just as good as without knowing the hot/ cold spots in the oven.

I have a big 2200 watt convection thing. And a small 800 watt toaster, I never put a thermometer in that toaster, just set the dial in 200 C and get good PC 17 minutes.

KISS works for me...

[slide]

gun toting monkey, you really can't tell if it is brittle. The hammer test is something that came from hi-tek coating. Powder coating companies have machines that can test the adhesion of powdercoat. Most of us don't have access to such things. The only thing you can really do is bake the bullets at the right temp for the right amount of time.

[Petander]

The only thing you can really do is bake the bullets at the right temp for the right amount of time.

Yes,and then with a hammer and anvil smash them upside down, left and right. That will tell something.

[charlie b]

I like your avatar :)

[Forrest r]

Spent $20 on ebay for a rex c-100 pid kit and never looked back.

I use the pid to cast bullets and use it to pc bullets. Keeps the temp within 2*. Drilled a hole in the back of the oven between the high/low racks and that's where the censor goes.

Money well spent

[FLINTNFIRE]

I have one of those point and shoot thermometers , and you have a setting on it for what material you are trying to read and depending on what value it is set to gives a wide range of readings , I have played with mine and the glass door will change the reading as will what its beam is focused on , I went with the taylor oven thermometer and it reads pretty accurate , I am going the full 20 after attaining the temp. and if it gets a little higher then 400 I am not to concerned with that , as long as it is not to high or dips to low .

And if it was brittle smashing it one way and then the other would show it .