Powder Coating Boolits

[orisolo]

I wonder if anyone tried this powder?
Sound like it could be the good of both worlds (Acrylic and Epoxy).

"H-Series Hybrid powders perform well over cold rolled steel, castings, hot rolled steel and aluminum substrates suitably pretreated. They may be applied by corona or tribo charged electrostatic powder guns.
It is possible to achieve film builds of 1 - 1.5 mils, but 2 - 3 mils is the norm."

http://www.prismpowder.com/hybrid

[a.squibload]

Well I was holding out for "cheap but good" but DANG!
AZBrian, my first thought was Hot Rod! As in Race Car!
(Can you do candy apple red with glitter?)

You substituted an anodized aluminum boolit there, right?

[bangerjim]

But you have to log in with your info to get prices! Sounds like the filthy ObamaScare website!

if they cannot publish on-line prices, something is rotten there?

banger

[a.squibload]

el34, questions:
(didn't mean to short you, those look really good too!)

The nylon holds up to the oven OK? How hot do you bake 'em?

Looks like the boolits overlap the screwheads so no powder gets on
the screws, correct? Obviously they don't stick. Slick setup!

(I may have missed a few kudos to other PCers, been racing through
these PC threads getting all excited, I may never swage again!)

[AZBrian]

I am using a color called 'Lollipop Blue'. It is meant to be an overcoat and has a high gloss. I have found that anything with a high gloss seems to work well for bullets. The satin or flat colors I have tried have more texture to them.

Nice looking. What powder and color are you using?

[el34]

el34, questions:
(didn't mean to short you, those look really good too!)

The nylon holds up to the oven OK? How hot do you bake 'em?

Looks like the boolits overlap the screwheads so no powder gets on
the screws, correct? Obviously they don't stick. Slick setup!

(I may have missed a few kudos to other PCers, been racing through
these PC threads getting all excited, I may never swage again!)

I was trying to think of a way to keep the boolits from sticking to whatever they were sitting on. For proper ES application they need to be on something conductive, connected to the ground clip of the PC high voltage box. That means the charged powder will be attracted to both the boolit base and what it's sitting on, forming a fillet. This stuff is tough, the reason for using it, but at least for me it makes popping the cooled boolits off a bit difficult.

The flathead screwhead is smaller than the boolit base and I thought the steep angle underneath would help. It does, it's the best method I've found so far, but most of them need considerable force to pop them loose. Currently I use a 4" piece of small diameter pcv to tilt them off.

The nylon was to help insulate the screw shaft but now I'm not sure it really contributes anything. I'm about to rebuild my fixture with short FH screws and no spacers.

Google told me nylon melts at 415F, I cook at 400. The first couple of uses the spacers shrunk a bit and I occasionally re-tighten the nuts underneath. It all works but I know somebody has a better method.

[AZBrian]

I have tried it with added glitter, actually, but it looked a bit over-the-top (if it doesn't already look that way ). A candy red is very nice. But I like that blue and brass combo a lot. There is also a candy black that is nice. I bought a PC setup a few years back, along with a bunch of powder, to coat motorcycle parts. I only used it a couple times for that and the setup was sitting around. Then I came across threads on PCing boolits. I was very happy to have everything I needed! I went through a phase that I imagine others do... start casting and make them as fast as you can and in large quantity. Then get to the point where you have 'a comfortable reserve' and start concentrating on making the perfect boolit (long way to go here, I am sure). At least that is how I worked at it. PC is a good coating and it doesn't hurt to make them look nice too, right? Now I have all these darn plain boolits around I need to shoot up.

Well I was holding out for "cheap but good" but DANG!
AZBrian, my first thought was Hot Rod! As in Race Car!
(Can you do candy apple red with glitter?)

You substituted an anodized aluminum boolit there, right?

[Echd]

I decided to start with HF ES PC based on bangerjim's enthusiasm. I bought the red, white, and yellow with the gun. They turned out ok from the getgo. I had trouble finding a way to keep them from sticking, even the non-stick foil stuck leaving a flange.

I made a jig with 6-32 flathead screws and nylon spacers to hopefully prevent the fillet from forming between boolit and screwhead and it worked. I got excited and ordered candy colors from PowderBuyThePound.com. My pics-

Attachment 84165 Attachment 84166

Attachment 84167 Attachment 84168

Attachment 84169 Attachment 84241

Attachment 84170 Attachment 84171 Attachment 84172

The 356 120TC on the left are a nice candy teal but the pic didn't capture it very well. I have candy raspberry (380's) and gloss black (357's) yet to try.

Those are beautiful, but I have a really hard time spending 4-5x the cost for PBTP powders over HF.

With HF, the prices are pretty much equal to normal lubing. At that price its pretty silly!

[AZBrian]

Google told me nylon melts at 415F, I cook at 400. The first couple of uses the spacers shrunk a bit and I occasionally re-tighten the nuts underneath. It all works but I know somebody has a better method.

I like your setup and the Nylon sleeve is a good idea. Silicone plugs are used for plugging bolt holes, etc..., with powder coating. There are also silicone sleeves that are used to go over bolt shafts. Silicone is heat resistant to over 500F and the powder doesn't adhere to it. I bought a big kit a couple years back that had an assortment of sizes. I am sure the Nylon spacers are cheaper though.

I am going to steal your idea and make something like this too (thx!). I find that when putting the boolits on Al foil, I don't get as thick of a PC film toward the base of the boolit. I don't mind whatever fillet I may get and the boolits don't stick too much to the Al foil for me but I do like the idea of getting better coverage at the base.

[el34]

Those are beautiful, but I have a really hard time spending 4-5x the cost for PBTP powders over HF.

With HF, the prices are pretty much equal to normal lubing. At that price its pretty silly!

Yep, all my reloading gear is red but occasionally I splurge just for the fun of it.
"All things in moderation, including moderation".

I like your setup and the Nylon sleeve is a good idea. Silicone plugs are used for plugging bolt holes, etc..., with powder coating. There are also silicone sleeves that are used to go over bolt shafts. Silicone is heat resistant to over 500F and the powder doesn't adhere to it. I bought a big kit a couple years back that had an assortment of sizes. I am sure the Nylon spacers are cheaper though.

I am going to steal your idea and make something like this too (thx!). I find that when putting the boolits on Al foil, I don't get as thick of a PC film toward the base of the boolit. I don't mind whatever fillet I may get and the boolits don't stick too much to the Al foil for me but I do like the idea of getting better coverage at the base.

Thanks for the kudos but I can't say that my rig is all that great. However, I don't know how much better it can be, that dang fillet glues the boolits to whatever they sit on. I've imagined a grouping of 3 sharp needlepoints replacing the screw. They would support the boolit as well, provide conductivity, probably create only a small fillet, but the idea seems impractical. I'll just shut up and keep doing what I'm doing I guess.

[bangerjim]

I decided to start with HF ES PC based on bangerjim's enthusiasm. I bought the red, white, and yellow with the gun. They turned out ok from the getgo. I had trouble finding a way to keep them from sticking, even the non-stick foil stuck leaving a flange.

I made a jig with 6-32 flathead screws and nylon spacers to hopefully prevent the fillet from forming between boolit and screwhead and it worked. I got excited and ordered candy colors from PowderBuyThePound.com. My pics-

Attachment 84165 Attachment 84166

Attachment 84167 Attachment 84168

Attachment 84169 Attachment 84241

Attachment 84170 Attachment 84171 Attachment 84172

The 356 120TC on the left are a nice candy teal but the pic didn't capture it very well. I have candy raspberry (380's) and gloss black (357's) yet to try.

Great looking slugs!

I posted some pix several months ago after rigging up a jig just like that but got away from it as the boolits fall off the screws way too easy. I only have to turn around from my spray location to my oven, but the slightest bump or jar going into the oven cause the dreaded domino effect! After several tries and re-coats and several long strings of not-to-nice words, I went back back to the non-stick foil. I only get "flanges" on the bases after using the foil 3-4 times. The I just throw it away and get a new piece.

Good work!

banger

[el34]

Thanks Jim. I tried the non-stick foil almost the day you posted about it. It was better than the non-non-stick but I wound up with foil GC's and worn out fingernails scraping the flange off. I know sizing would whack it but I wanted a way to avoid it altogether.

I only move a foot or so to get them in the oven and haven't had any fall off except a few with poorly-cut sprues. Now when I feel a boolit teetertotter I toss it in the remelt tub.

[Smoke4320]

I have tried it with added glitter, actually, but it looked a bit over-the-top (if it doesn't already look that way ). A candy red is very nice. But I like that blue and brass combo a lot. There is also a candy black that is nice. I bought a PC setup a few years back, along with a bunch of powder, to coat motorcycle parts. I only used it a couple times for that and the setup was sitting around. Then I came across threads on PCing boolits. I was very happy to have everything I needed! I went through a phase that I imagine others do... start casting and make them as fast as you can and in large quantity. Then get to the point where you have 'a comfortable reserve' and start concentrating on making the perfect boolit (long way to go here, I am sure). At least that is how I worked at it. PC is a good coating and it doesn't hurt to make them look nice too, right? Now I have all these darn plain boolits around I need to shoot up.

Q-tip coated with Pam cooking spray and coat screwhead .. still conductive and no stick .. It works great for me

[KYShooter73]

Has anyone tried spraying a pan with Pam before placing your boolits base down and spraying? I know you would have to be careful not to get any on the surface you are coating. If no one has tried this I may run a little experiment this evening.

[fcvan]

My plain based boolits have been coated and cooked on a piece of sheet metal and that works pretty good. They are placed onto the sheet metal by putting them into a bullet tray from an ammo box to space them evenly. I plan to use the non stick foil next time to see how that goes as the sheet metal gets pretty thick after a few thousand boolits coated. For my 30 cal gas checked boolits I glued gas checks to the sheet metal so I could snap the boolits in, coat, and then snap out. On the 22 cal I drilled a piece of aluminum so the gas check shank slips into the hole. That works great.

In other news, I went to the range over the weekend. I was shooting .223 through an AR I just built. It is new and tight so the rounds weren't consistently cycling as they do through my Mini 14 or my brother's AR. (Lyman 225-415, PCd and gas checked, 14 grains of 4227) After about 50 rounds the rifle started fully ejecting, and another 50 they started fully cycling.

After I got the rifle sighted in with a box of factory, I switched to my HF Black Beauties. Grouping was as good as the factory rounds. I was also shooting up some old test loads with the same boolit. Some were copper electroplated (I had to try that out. Works good but labor intensive) and some were lubed with Lyman molybdenum disulphide lube. Those were slicker and so pressure was down or something as they were the same 14 grain load but wouldn't cycle the Mini reliably. The PCd boolits also seem to be as slick but they were starting to cycle as the rifle was breaking in. Anyway, good day at the range (forgot the chronograph) and PC is the way to go for boolits!

[el34]

Q-tip coated with Pam cooking spray and coat screwhead .. still conductive and no stick .. It works great for me

Brilliant. It's good to have smart people in the house.

[Beagle333]

For my 30 cal gas checked boolits I glued gas checks to the sheet metal so I could snap the boolits in, coat, and then snap out.

Genius! I was wondering if there were other ways.

Now, for rifle boolits..... my noses are already at .301, so I don't need to coat them. How are some of you PC'ing and leaving both the gas check and the nose clean?

[popper]

Uhg, cold and rainy here - but we NEED it. I decided to PC (RD PB & w/o GC). Started @ 9 & finished @ 12:30. I pin nailed ~ 150 in the base, washed in acetone, put a hook in the nail to hang over the oven rack rods, sprayed & baked. ~15 I'll do again, but very little shading. Pulled the pins from good ones with NN pliers & wire cutter/crimper. Actually the most even/best looking I've done in >1000 CBs. Most of my time was charging the compressor, setting up a new 'catcher', washing & drying, refilling the PC gun, etc. I normally coat over the GC (works for 1" @ 100 in 308) but I might try putting GC on a few of these to see how checking over PC works. Now to stuff some 2400 under them and wait till the rain stops.

[a.squibload]

Still haven't heard Rangefinder's tumbler details, hope he didn't get
beat up at the kid's birthday party! (I want cake NOW!)

I found a HF coupon, almost talked myself into getting a sprayer.

Looks like any method needs nonstick foil to keep the equipment
from getting all covered up in PC, UNLESS the PC is self limited,
it's not conductive is it (after baking)?
I used liquid soap to apply the PC, the bases were coated,
stuck to the screen, wasn't too bad to get loose but the bases
were all ragged looking, inconsistent.

Got me thinking about how to spotweld straight pins to screwheads...

[bangerjim]

Still haven't heard Rangefinder's tumbler details, hope he didn't get
beat up at the kid's birthday party! (I want cake NOW!)

I found a HF coupon, almost talked myself into getting a sprayer.

Looks like any method needs nonstick foil to keep the equipment
from getting all covered up in PC, UNLESS the PC is self limited,
it's not conductive is it (after baking)?
I used liquid soap to apply the PC, the bases were coated,
stuck to the screen, wasn't too bad to get loose but the bases
were all ragged looking, inconsistent.

Got me thinking about how to spotweld straight pins to screwheads...

NS Al foil minimizes the boolits sticking to the foil. It does NOT prevent powder from sticking to the foil itself. And yes......it DOES build up coat on coat on coat!! After 4 uses, my foil coating is thick and will actually crack when I remove it and wad it up for the dumper.

Remember............you are talking about a high tension static charge here, not a standard electrical circuit. The PC forms a good electrical insulation, but is still very conductive to static electricity, so coats will build up. It is NOT self-limited.

The HF powders are so inexpensive, why bother trying to recover any of it!!!!!!!

banger