For those who are powder caoting, who has tried a powder coating gun?

T

ted_dent

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Several threads on the board about powder coating bullets but I can't anything about anyone who has tried powder coating bullets using a powder coating gun like those from Eastwood or Harbor Freight.

Has anybody tried this or have a link to a site where someone has? It seems like it might be the fastest way to powder coat a lot of bullets.

Thanks.
 
Well, it's up to you but I would stay away from powder coating a barrel. I had a Martini receiver and its exposed parts powder coated and it was fine. Because my binlaw was also interested we coated a worn out and rusty, cut off barrel and it warped, even though it was suspended from a frame with a wire through the bore to keep it hanging upright. That was enough for me to shy away. I was going to get a REM 700 action coated as well but again, the experience with the barrel makes me nervous.
 
@ted_dent
I've seen tutorials all over the place where guys in the US use harbour freight powder coat guns to coat upright bullets. It works just fine but tumbling them is just a lot cheaper and more accessible to more people.

@bearhunter
A steel barrel warped at regular oven temperatures? Or the paint just didn't coat well?
I can't possibly believe barrel steel warped at 350'F which is the usual powder coating temperature.
 
bearhunter said:
Well, it's up to you but I would stay away from powder coating a barrel. I had a Martini receiver and its exposed parts powder coated and it was fine. Because my binlaw was also interested we coated a worn out and rusty, cut off barrel and it warped, even though it was suspended from a frame with a wire through the bore to keep it hanging upright. That was enough for me to shy away. I was going to get a REM 700 action coated as well but again, the experience with the barrel makes me nervous.
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the op isn't talking about powder coating a gun.


OP: check out the cast boolits website for more info in the coating alternative section of the forum. lots of people using a powder coating gun with the best results you can get. however you need to keep the bullets grounded which means standing the bullets on end on a conductive surface. many have built jigs to dump the bullets onto and automatically standing them up. they only seem to coat 100 at a time though so i think the shake and bake method is the quickest, but doesn't give the purdy results that using a PC gun gives. if i could find a PC gun sub $80 locally i would give it a try.
 
LUTNIT said:
@ted_dent
I've seen tutorials all over the place where guys in the US use harbour freight powder coat guns to coat upright bullets. It works just fine but tumbling them is just a lot cheaper and more accessible to more people.

@bearhunter
A steel barrel warped at regular oven temperatures? Or the paint just didn't coat well?
I can't possibly believe barrel steel warped at 350'F which is the usual powder coating temperature.
Click to expand...

The powder coat adhered just fine. The barrel had a slight warp in it at the other end of the oven. This particular oven actually reaches 400F at the high point. The oven is large enough to do a car/pick up frame. This is a commercial operation. Maybe a smaller oven at lower temps would be better.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
the op isn't talking about powder coating a gun.


OP: check out the cast boolits website for more info in the coating alternative section of the forum. lots of people using a powder coating gun with the best results you can get. however you need to keep the bullets grounded which means standing the bullets on end on a conductive surface. many have built jigs to dump the bullets onto and automatically standing them up. they only seem to coat 100 at a time though so i think the shake and bake method is the quickest, but doesn't give the purdy results that using a PC gun gives. if i could find a PC gun sub $80 locally i would give it a try.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Spawn. I'm in to much of a hurry.
 
bearhunter said:
The powder coat adhered just fine. The barrel had a slight warp in it at the other end of the oven. This particular oven actually reaches 400F at the high point. The oven is large enough to do a car/pick up frame. This is a commercial operation. Maybe a smaller oven at lower temps would be better.
Click to expand...
Even 400'F I can't possibly see barrel steel warping or bending. Steel doesn't even become malleable for smithing with a hammer until around 1000'F. To warp under it's own weight you'd have to be quite a bit hotter than that; maybe 1500'F? The powder coat will burn off well before the steel will budge even a tiny bit.

If it warped it must have gotten quite a bit hotter or was already bent. You can't even anneal or temper steel at only 400'F. Was it possibly an optical illusion somehow? Was it hit by something?
 
Spawn-Inc said:
the op isn't talking about powder coating a gun.


OP: check out the cast boolits website for more info in the coating alternative section of the forum. lots of people using a powder coating gun with the best results you can get. however you need to keep the bullets grounded which means standing the bullets on end on a conductive surface. many have built jigs to dump the bullets onto and automatically standing them up. they only seem to coat 100 at a time though so i think the shake and bake method is the quickest, but doesn't give the purdy results that using a PC gun gives. if i could find a PC gun sub $80 locally i would give it a try.
Click to expand...

I live near the border and a Harbor Freight is only about 20 miles away. Their powder coat kit is $80 but often on sale for $70 or sometimes less with 20-25% discount coupons. Think I'll give it a try. Lots of other stuff I could powder coat if the bullets don't work out.

Thanks for the replies.
 
I have the HF gun sitting in the Garage currently in an un-opened box, been waiting to mass cast a large batch of 9mm then PC them all at once.
Sadly there is not enough hours in the day.
 
I think the downside for a home operation would be the powder "overspray" that floats around and falls onto everything. So your powder usage would be higher since the bullets don't represent a big surface area compared to how they would need to be set out.

If the smaller margarine or yogurt containers aren't big enough I'd just go to a gallon size ice cream bucket.
 
BCRider said:
I think the downside for a home operation would be the powder "overspray" that floats around and falls onto everything. So your powder usage would be higher since the bullets don't represent a big surface area compared to how they would need to be set out.

If the smaller margarine or yogurt containers aren't big enough I'd just go to a gallon size ice cream bucket.
Click to expand...

most of the people who use the powder coat guns on castboolits use a booth to paint in and can collect the overspray and reuse it.
 
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