30 caliber ESPC Jig

[BT8850]

I know alot of you that coat rifle boolits use some sort of washers, jigs, etc. to hold them either nose up or nose down while spraying/baking so I thought i'd share some pics from my experiment last night, see what you all think.

The boolits are from the LEE 312-155-2R (Courtesy of trade with DeanWinchester, THANKS!)

Powder is Super durable wet Black from PBTP, Sprayed with Harbor Freight PC gun with no diffuser tip @ ~20psi

The aluminum strips measure .127" thick and the gas check shanks on these boolits are ~.105" tall and .292" dia at their widest so the boolits don't quite go all the way through the holes, and still have a little clearance side to side. The holes are 19/64" (.297") drilled roughly 3/4" apart center to center, spacing is about perfect for this set up.

The aluminum strips were just scrap I had laying around so I couldn't tell you where they came from but any similar strip (steel/aluminum etc) would work if you wished to duplicate this. All I did was marked it, had a friend drill the holes on a drill press, deburr them a little, then wrap the strip tightly in non-stick reynolds aluminum foil. Once wrapped, just popped the boolits through and sprayed one strip at a time in my "spray booth" (cardboard box ). A couple quick shots down each side with the PC gun and they were coated very evenly (albeit perhaps a little thin on this particular run). Then you just put the strips on your handy toaster oven tray and into the oven they go! Bake at time and temp your powder calls for and bing bang boom nice coated boolits!

Observations:

- I like this idea because by only doing one strip at a time I am shooting much less powder because I don't have all those 'missed' spots I'm trying to correct like I sometimes do with a full tray of boolits

- The strips hold the boolits pretty securely during transportation from booth to tray to oven yet let go of them fairly easily once the powder has cured and cooled

- This method covers all the bore riding portions of the boolits as well as leaving the GC shanks bare so that checks should seat no problem

- With longer strips, and more of them, I could do ~120 boolits at one time with ease, double that is using both tray shelves in the oven (My favorite part!)


Changes I'll probably make:

- More strips, longer strips

- Use a tray that has FRESH no stick foil on it, in the pics you can see I stuck them on a tray that I had already sprayed and cured some powder on and the strips were stuck



So there it is fellas! I'm sure I'm not the first one to do this, just figured I'd share. Thoughts? Critiques? Questions? Comments??

Here are a few pics . . . .

Attachment 115972


Attachment 115973

Attachment 115974

That Ominous Glow . . .
Attachment 115975

Finished. Note, a bit of flashing on some of them, will probably be remedied during sizing.
Attachment 115976

[fcvan]

Very handy work indeed. I confess I'm using the fender washer and foil routine and very pleased with the outcome. I need to break down and get a drill press so I can experiment with something like this. Great pictures, and very inspirational!

[gpidaho]

Just how I do them, but I use 1/4 aluminum plate cut to fit the oven as a rack. With sanding the PC off the plates if and when you lose good ground you don't even have to use foil, just tap them out with punch or dowel. This can be used as a means of shading the nose also with proper sized holes drilled in plate, just invert boolit gas check on and coat. GP

[xacex]

Been doing that method for a while. Switched over to ASBB tumble coating, and have not looked back. I found the aluminum foil was a pain, and I cannot do as many at a time than with the ASBBTC.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...oat-jig-thread

Some more ideas to try here.

[Beagle333]

Pretty cool. 'Looks handier than using the fender washers. 'Wish I had a drill press.

[el34]

Pretty cool. 'Looks handier than using the fender washers. 'Wish I had a drill press.

Well go get one! Just think of all the money you'll save not having to buy fender washers.

[ipijohn]

Well go get one! Just think of all the money you'll save not having to buy fender washers.

Why not go high production and buy a small punch press?

[BT8850]

Been doing that method for a while. Switched over to ASBB tumble coating, and have not looked back. I found the aluminum foil was a pain, and I cannot do as many at a time than with the ASBBTC.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...oat-jig-thread

Some more ideas to try here.

Ah hah! I knew there had to be a jig like this somewhere burried in the coatings and alternatives forum! Thanks for the link, if I ever get into casting HP's the nail/rivet set up looks like a dandy way to go.

[bangerjim]

Pretty cool. 'Looks handier than using the fender washers. 'Wish I had a drill press.

That little cheeeep-o press HF sells (with the crank adjustable table) is a good one for around $60. Check for a discount coupon fir -20% I have one in my back shop and it does everything I need in small (relative inaccurate) drilling. For real accurate work I use either my $400 floor press or one of my 3 milling machines. You don't need real dead-on accuracy for drilling holes in a piece of aluminum for this!

Just buy one!

banger

[Beagle333]

Well go get one! Just think of all the money you'll save not having to buy fender washers.

But I wonder what the market is like for used fender washers? I gotta recycle my capital somehow!