Something I learned Today- Hi-Tek Coating

I am fine tuning Hi-Tek coating and have been perplexed by the occasional little globs of coating on random bullets. After a period of revisiting all the usual steps I was still scratching my head.

Then by happenstance I noticed some bare spots on the inside of the "swirl" container. Turns out that the acetone from the fresh mix was sloughing off the dried-on mix from prior sessions. That semi-moistened coating was loosening from the container and transferring to some bullets.

I then tried enlisting some clean plastic. Bingo! Results are now as expected. So my method going forward will include using a new vessel for swirling each session.

Each time after I'm done coating all the bullets I'll do today, I pour some acetone in the bucket and swirl it around, pour it out, and wipe it out with a paper shop towel.

I do it because I use the same bucket for multiple colors and I don't want them mixing. Side benefit is old coating doesn't hang around to mess up new batches.

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Great information. I did know why this happened.

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Originally Posted by ryanmattes

Each time after I'm done coating all the bullets I'll do today, I pour some acetone in the bucket and swirl it around, pour it out, and wipe it out with a paper shop towel.

I do it because I use the same bucket for multiple colors and I don't want them mixing. Side benefit is old coating doesn't hang around to mess up new batches.

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That's a great idea! If I find a container that I fall in love with I'll try that.

I just use tupperware disposable bowls with the red lids. I've got a 3 pack I use for coating, with a small hole punched in the lid to let the acetone evaporate slowly. I'm in Texas, if I tumble with the lid off I have about 4 seconds before the acetone evaporates.

So I have a couple ready in case I'm doing multiple colors. If I'm only doing one color I'll just reuse the same one for each batch. Acetone is cheap, so I just throw a splash in at the end while I'm cleaning up.

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I re-use the same swirl bucket.
Rince it out with acetone and then use the colored rinse acetone to make up new coating.
Why waste coating????

I use one 5 qt bucket for each color of coating and when I need to clean the coating from the sides of the bucket I put my usual 5 lb of new bullets in the bucket with a measure of straight Acetone then put the lid on the bucket and turn it on the side and swirl until the bullets have been coated.
I don't waste much coating and don't have any globs of coating on the bullets.

I don't let it get too heavy or stay on too long. Sometimes the older and thicker build ups don't want to dissolve even in fresh acetone. The really old stuff I'll wipe out with an acetone soaked rag or paper towel and discard. Fresh build up is reusable.

Joe himself suggested just using clean acetone on the fresh build up from coating several batches and swirling the next batch in it as a first coat. It works, and the color being a bit light doesn't seem to make much difference under the second coat of freshly made regular mix.

Trevor's suggestion is a good one for folks who use a lot of the same color, are switching to a darker color than what's in the build up, or who simply don't mind a bit of color variation from batch to batch.