Oven recommendations and/or regrets.......

[Dub_from_GA]

Good evening everyone.

Getting my gear together to cast for .45acp, 9mm-.38Super, .44mag, .38spcl, etc.

I definitely want to powder coat 'em. Have some Smoke's PC on the way.


I will be picking up a toaster oven dedicated to boolits and would appreciate a nudge in the right direction...in terms of what to avoid and what has worked well for you.


I made an annual trip through Walmart and saw that the basic toaster oven has now grown to include some elaborate looking stuff....and the price range is huge.


I tried to search forums for "oven" in the title but came up empty. Maybe I goofed.

[littlejack]

You have any GoodWill or St. Vinnies stores back there? I bought one at GoodWill this last weekend. Powder coated today, and it worked great.

[Kraschenbirn]

You don't need anything really sophisticed unless you're planning to coat bulk quantities. For myself, I coat batchs of 100-200 boolits at a time and have two nearly identical West Bend convection ovens; one purchased from a garage sale ($12) and the other from a Habitat for Humanity thrift store ($16). Both serve quite well for my powder coating needs, however, the temp control dial is not accurate on either one but a couple of $9.95 bimetallic oven thermometers took care of that. Btw, I checked those thermometers against each other by heating both in the same oven and the readouts were were +/- 5 deg. F. of each other in the 400-420 deg. range which agreed with the reading from my hand-held infrared thermometer. It ain't rocket science and you don't need to overcomplicate the process. Just my nickel's worth.

Bill

[D.Bullets]

Get a double shelf, cheap nothing digital, then put in a PID. and wire the fan to run with the on switch not the PID.

[Hick]

Black & Decker toaster oven works fine too

[Lloyd Smale]

i have an old range out in the barn. it will hold LOTS of bullets. this was an old one of ours we replaced. that said if you ride around here its pretty common to find them out front of peoples houses with free signs on them

[pworley1]

I bought the Cheapest one Walmart had ( I think it was about $17.00) and it has worked well. The main thing about whatever oven you get is to find out where to turn the dial to get about 400 degrees.

[Sasquatch-1]

I agree it doesn't have to be expensive. Just something that gets up to 450*. Something on the larger size if you're going to do a lot of bullets. As mentioned, an inexpensive thermometer is a good idea.

[Doubles Shooter]

As others have said, hit a Goodwill or similar store and look for a used one. I got mine for $9.95 and have coated thousands of bookies 150 a batch with it. Don't trust the dial. Get an oven thermometer. They are cheap. Also get a convection type oven for better heat distribution.
The money you save going with a used one will buy more casting goodies.

[Dub_from_GA]

Thanks for the tips.

Definitely will be running an additional thermometer in it.

[charlie b]

I do like having the extra space in my newer model. Makes it not so tough to manage the standing bullets on the tray. Mine happens to be a convection oven which I also like.

It is a Toshiba two shelf oven.

[Walter Laich]

Get a double shelf, cheap nothing digital, then put in a PID. and wire the fan to run with the on switch not the PID.

+1
built my own PID from plans on this site. Ebay good place to get all the parts

holds temp within 2°

cheapest wally world toaster over with two shelves--mine are both wire grid ones and not the solid one that comes with it

[Lloyd Smale]

i was talking a full sized range. you can get them free on the side of the road and you can do 50lbs of bullets a crack. couldnt imagine doing it in a toaster oven has to be like wading in mud or loading 9s 0n a single stage press or using one cavity molds

[Dub_from_GA]

I do like having the extra space in my newer model. Makes it not so tough to manage the standing bullets on the tray. Mine happens to be a convection oven which I also like.

It is a Toshiba two shelf oven.

I went in to Wallyworld for the first time since the Covid crazy timeframe.

I suppose I'm way behind times and haven't been keeping up with modern kitchen apparatus developments. Convection, air fryers, magic pots, Ninja-stuff, etc, etc.

I was a bit out of my league as I stood there on the cooking wonderment aisle.

Evidently it showed. A fairly nice look women in her mid 40's (probably mid 50's with modern botox, cool sculpting, etc ) gave me a laugh as she was coming by...."Are we buying a gift ?". "Ah....no....I'll be using it". "Okay, whatcha gonna be cooking ?". "Well.....I'm planning on baking bullets, actually". "Hmnn have fun with that" and off she strolled.

Dangitman.

I could've said just about anything and probably had a date, lol.


I did think the convection air flow may prove helpful and a larger size may help keep temps easier regulated.

Working this week.....I'll give it another trip to Wallyworld this coming weekend.

[charlie b]

I'd stop by a goodwill or other thrift store (eg, Savers) first. Never know what you might find.

Lloyd, if I was making a bunch of pistol or similar bullets I'd probably find the space for a full size oven. Since a large batch for me is 200 or 300 bullets, the smaller toaster oven fits my needs better. And, it fits in my shop without moving something out

[OS OK]

I like the convection oven because it circulates the air mass and helps to dilute hot spots around the glowing heaters.
Those radiant heaters really scald the PC if you set your tray too close. I disconnected my lower heaters and use only the top set...I moved the tray as far as I can get from the top heaters.
Before the transition to PID, I used the bimetallic thermometers and I found out that they lie...I bought the tube type thermometer ...



(don't know what is in the tube? 'spirits or Mercury') but it is accurate as verified by the PID control.



The top analog thermometer is a BBQ type with a short probe...it is not necessary as it just monitors the temp inside the control box where the PID is located. I put a computer fan inside that box because it is next to the oven wall. Electronics don't like heat.

[charlie b]

Interesting. I never use the top heating elements (the 'broil' setting) since I don't want the direct radiation heating. I use only the bottom elements (the 'bake' setting) and raise the tray up (the advantage of an oven with two shelves). I also use a silicone baking sheet on the tray so that helps 'even out' the heat as well.

[popper]

I tossed my cheap oven and use the hard topped hot plate (same one I use for mold preheating). If gargage temp is cold, I put a plastic baking dish cover.

[reedap1]

I bought this one a few years ago:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I costs more than the Walmart or Good Will specials but I wanted something new, big enough to hold two trays of bullets and convection to circulate the air. I'm glad I made that purchase. After about 3000 rifle bullets I would say it was a good choice. It holds the temp well and recovers fast and I put two pieces of 3/16 aluminum plate on the bottom of each rack to hold items. That has worked very well, they get to temp, and that plus a silicone over matt

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

allowed me to have powder coating success from the start. I was going to buy a PID but this over does well holding temp if you find the right setting. There are lots of ways to skin this cat, you can start with less expensive equipment and then modify it as needed.

Make sure you mark the oven "Not for food" so the wife doesn't reheat her pizza in it!

Good luck, this the the place for the information database you will need.

Paul

[jsizemore]

Countertop,2 shelves, 2 elements, already has a convection fan and the ability to take inexpensive bake sheets you can buy anywhere. You can do 15lbs at one time and don't have to do any special wiring.