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I have PC orange and white. Alone, the orange is baking darker than the color on the box. I think it's either that the base is dark or lead is rubbing off into the orange and making it a dark tangerine color. How can I PC this orange lighter? Should I PC a first coat white and then orange? Or should I mix the two powders and PC the bullet twice to get a lighter and brighter color orange?
Double check your oven temp. Its common for toaster ovens to be way hotter than the dial indicates. I set mine for 275-280* to get 395*
2 coats is a pain, and the 2nd coat never gets a smooth finnish like the first. YMMV.
I think you should try mixing at some point. Never know what ya get.
If you have powder left in your coating tub and continue to use it it will get darker as it does pick up lead. Should you shake it (tumbler) too long it will darken and give a clumpy texture finish that will in turn give an opportunity to recycle and recast your bullets.
I assume that I can insert the thermometer I use for my lead pot to determine the correct temperature. I would have thought that the hotter the oven, the better the paint would flow smooth. The paint that flows the best are those i purchased from Eastwood. I have other paint that clumps. Using a Miracle Whip container left me bullets with clumps before and after baking. I minimized the clumping by using my tumbler. But now, am I tumbling too long and making the paint too dark. A second coat tends to leave the bullet looking less clumpy but not as good as I've seen what other PC casters have achieved.
I used to leave a good bit of pc on my bullets but then started giving them a good shaking in a mesh strainer and get better results. I went with a PID for more temp control in both oven and lead pot as I melted some bullets while trying to bake the pc on.
If you place in your tumbler it doesn’t take very long at all to be too long.
Wow, that's hot if you're melting bullets. Would you say that the amount of time shaking the bullets is not as critical as seeing a fine even layer of paint on the bullet as a better indicator of proper powder coating?
You can just use a regular oven thermometer. Put it in an empty oven, set the dial and let it heat up until the temp is stable. Adjust the dial up or down until the thermometer reads a stable 400F (for many powders). Mark your dial (or record the temp on the oven's digital readout). That is where you set your oven for baking bullets.
An even layer of powder is good, but, not critical for pistols. You do want to avoid bare spots on the drive bands.
Mixing colors can be done. If you don't mix them really well you get a nice effect. These are red and light blue. The other ones are clear coat.
Attachment 307924
Attachment 307933
Here's some I did with mixed powder. In my experience the colors don't actually mix like paint does, they come out speckled like easter eggs.
This is powder from Smoke.
This is what I got today mixing 50/50 white/orange on the left and the same plus a second coat of orange in the middle. The bullet on the right has one coat of orange. Two coats of orange is even but rough. I plan to make 1:2 white/orange tomAttachment 307962orrow.Attachment 307961
All I use now is the hand held shake and bake method it doesn’t take long and I live in a very humid area. Time varies a little but just shake and check then hit the sieve when they get a coating. Quality powder and keep it sealed when not using it.
I shake them pretty hard to remove all the excess I can. Attachment 307978
I set mine at 350 to get 400F.Quote:
Originally Posted by Misery-Whip
I don't got another color to mix.:cry: One pound is going to last me a long time, and I shoot every week.