Powdercoat jig thread

[xacex]

Lets do a thread of just the jigs that people have devised for powdercoating. I would suggest keeping this only related to the jigs, and not types of powder, how to, or different methods such as the Piglet method to prevent the thread from becoming cluttered. Please post your pictures of the jigs that you have devised, and success you have had using it.
I will start it off with my nail jig that is expanded metal with roofing nails. It works great for hollow-points, but need all the pins full or covered to keep it working. It does need to be sanded in an area now and again for a good ground.

[xacex]

This is the one I have tried for gas check boolits. Just strips of aluminum the same thickness or thereabout of a gas check shank. Drilled it with a step bit till it fit. I would recommend wrapping it in non-stick foil because of the build up, and just poking your boolit gas check shank through the hole.



If I could find a sheet of aluminium the same thickness around town I would do one that held over 100 at a time.

[destrux]

Has anyone tried just putting them on a piece of stainless mesh screen mounted on a frame?

I would think most of the powder would fall through the fine screen and you wouldn't have to deal with the bullets sticking to the screen much if at all.

It wouldn't coat the base, but is that a problem?

[xacex]

that works if you put the boolits in the same pot every time, and keep an area where they sit free of PC. The PC will stick to the mesh as well because of the Static charge leaving the mesh painted and non-conductive. I just tried your idea today in fact, and it worked fine, but I will have to put the next batch of boolits in the same spot. With pistol boolits or low pressure applications coating the base or not coating the base doesn't matter much. Someone has a jig that used gas check to hold the base that was glued to a sheet. That same idea with the mesh instead of a screen would be ideal for a gas check boolit, but would leave too much of the base uncoated on non-GC boolits. Or, you could just set the boolts on top of the checks to raise them up off the mesh. My hands are too shaky to move something like that from PC booth, to oven without losing some.
Right now for what I have I need HP boolits. Doesn't bother me too much, but I have some that aren't HP that I would like a nice coating on.

[destrux]

I'm going to go ahead and order some stainless screen and JB weld it to my oven's wire rack. I had a thought about running the "self cleaning" cycle to burn the powder coat overspray off the screen after each batch. I'm not sure if it would do that, but I think it might. If not the propane torch should.

[fcvan]

xacex: I started out using aluminum flashing for my boolit trays. For 22 I drilled holes, for 30 I glued down gas checks, for pistol boolits I just set them on the metal. Lately, I've been using sheet metal as it is thicker. An 8"x12" piece was .97 at Home Depot. I cut them in half to 6"x8" using my paper cutter. I bend two corners up to give me something to grab. After PCing the boolits I transfer the tray to the toaster oven. After cooling the boolits just snap off the trays. I will look for an appropriate sized drill for the 30 GC shank as I prefer that to the glued on gas check.

[xacex]

I like the drilled hole in sheet aluminum jig, but they need to be covered with non-stick aluminum foil to be useful for any amount of time. That won't allow for recovery of powder. I think the idea of soldering gas checks to expanded sheet is the next best thing for recovery of powder, and coating rifle boolits. Flat based pistol boolits are no problem, hollowpoints are no problem, but long and slender or small boolits are a hassle.I think the Fastglock jig is the best idea so far, but needs something to protect the threads, and adjustability for different lengths of boolits.

[fcvan]

xacex: I haven't used any foil with mine and have PC'd several thousand with mine. I do get some buildup in the little 4"x4" tray. When the boolits start getting hard to set in the holes I just clean up the holes with the drill bit again. I do that maybe every 10th coating. I like the idea of soldering the gas checks to expanded metal as I'm sure there will be more powder recovery. I figure to use some solder paste that fuses at 600 degrees or thereabouts.

Realistically, I'm not losing that much powder to the tray but every bit helps. I'm using Harbor Freight flat black which is cheap, but recovering powder is still worth it. Once I get my tray methodology dialed in I will make several trays so that I can speed up my coating operations.

[bangerjim]

This is the one I have tried for gas check boolits. Just strips of aluminum the same thickness or thereabout of a gas check shank. Drilled it with a step bit till it fit. I would recommend wrapping it in non-stick foil because of the build up, and just poking your boolit gas check shank through the hole.







If I could find a sheet of aluminium the same thickness around town I would do one that held over 100 at a time.

I use simple AL roof flashing (cheap!).....lay it on a board.....and punch thru it with the correct size gasket punch from my HF set. The board creates a little flare on the back and the GC end of the slug slips in. If it does not, use a hand reamer to slightly enlarge the hole till it fits snug.

It takes only a few minutes to make one and so far I have used it 7 times before the PC builds up too thick. You probably could fit n/s foil over it! Haven't tried that yet.

I do not worry about saving powder. At $5.50/# at HF who cares! If your gun is working properly, there is very little overspray and waste.

bangerjim

[fastglock]

NOE 311155 PB for 300BLK






Here's my jig for the 155's. I'm using .380 brass (which somehow got in the mix with my 9's.And finally I've found a use for). The brass gets glued to the aluminum foil after the very first use. Now I get PC gas checks.

[fastglock]

LEE 309-230-5R 300BLK

also use for NOE 311247

[xacex]

Fastglock, I might try that 380 case set up. I could even give them a crimp to hold the boolit more centered. With the jig that is just aluminum plate I stopped using non- stick foil. Found the buildup is not a problem, and I can just give the strip a smack to release the boolits once they are cool.

[capt.hollis]

LEE 309-230-5R 300BLK

also use for NOE 311247

fastglock , that is awesome !

[Quiettime]

Here's the cheapy I made today, non-stick cookie sheet from the DG Boutique, pop rivets from Carquest, used some tin snips to cut the tray down to fit my toaster oven, drilled some holes and squeezed the rivits til they were tight, but not enough to break the shank.

[C. Latch]

NOE 311155 PB for 300BLK






Here's my jig for the 155's. I'm using .380 brass (which somehow got in the mix with my 9's.And finally I've found a use for). The brass gets glued to the aluminum foil after the very first use. Now I get PC gas checks.

Hmmm.

I could totally do that with 9mm cases for .45 bullets and scrounge up some .32 cases for .38 bullets. I like it. I like it a lot.

Thanks for the idea. I'll be trying that here in the next 20 minutes.

[Artful]

fastglock, very cool setup's - can you detail construction a little more for the creatively handicapped

[kbstenberg]

I did basically what Quiettime did but I used 1/2 plywood and 1 1/2" finishing nails. I drew the pattern I wanted on the ply. and shot the nails through it so the points were showing out the other side.
Just something to think of. Some of my HP cavities are to small to fit the poprivit studs. Second thought. Aren't poprivits lead if they are they might become looser with repeated heating cycles.

[C. Latch]

Tried fastglock's method last night. Very pleased with the results. .45 bullets need 40s&w cases: .38s need something smaller than9mm. May have to modify some 9mm cases with pliers.

[Quiettime]

...Some of my HP cavities are to small to fit the poprivit studs. Second thought. Aren't poprivits lead if they are they might become looser with repeated heating cycles...

I purposely used the 1/8" rivets as they have a 1/16" shank. This should fit most HP's. They are also either all steel, all aluminum, or a combination of the two. If they do get loose, it's about $2 a package and the tray was $4 at Dollar Gen. I think your idea is a lot quicker though. Took me about 45 minutes to make mine. Part of that was because I grabbed the wrong drill bit out of the index and had to redrill all 43 holes

[popper]

Just size down 9mm neck to 30 with sizer die.