Had a big day yesterday

thump_rrr

thump_rrr

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I had a big day yesterday.
I cast my first batch of 600 125gr 9mm and 375 230gr .45 out of my automated Magma caster.
I bought a nice used toaster oven for $45 and powder coated my first batch of 9mm.
I used the Princess Auto Power Fist powder coating using the shake and bake method.
I took 3 coats to get the above results.
I sized them through my Star Lube Sizer (no lube).
I test loaded 50 rounds to try out later today.
Here is a video of my Magma Caster that I automated.
This is an older video from around a year ago.
I got too busy with work and set the project aside till now.
I added a touchscreen which I can also use to search the web if I wanted to.




 
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Looks like you got pretty good results. However, to save yourself some work I suggest you try Emerald Coatings (ht tps://emeraldcoatings.com) Tool Blue. It is the gold standard for getting excellent coverage (i.e. 99%+) in one coat using shake & bake. It is also one of their cheapest powders at $12.65/lb. If you don't care about colour their Phantom High Gloss Clear also gives nearly 100% coverage with one coat although it is a little more expensive ($16.10/lb.).
 
bertn said:
Awesome!

question for ted; how many 9mm/357 bullets can you roughly coat with 1lb powder doing shake n bake?
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I have never really counted but typically I add about 1 teaspoon of powder to 100-125 pre-heated 125 gr. 9mm bullets to shake & bake them and there is residual powder left over so you're not using it up very fast. There are one heck of a lot of teaspoons in a pound of powder so I would estimate that you're talking several thousand bullets per pound of powder (easily 4000-6000, maybe more).

I'm kind of OCD when it comes to powder coating (i.e. i like to get as close to 100% coverage as I can with no irregularities so I pick up each bullet individually and stand it on end to prevent them touching and sticking together). I wear latex gloves to avoid powder transfer to my fingers. I have two toaster ovens (a single shelf and a double shelf) on the go so it is a continuous process of pre-heat, arrange bullets, put tray in oven, repeat. Each batch only takes about 12-13 minutes to fully cure and with three trays of bullets on the go at all times I can easily PC 700-800 per hour.

My friend hatman1793 does his in bigger batches by not bothering to arrange them base down but just baking them as they fall from the shake and bake container on to the baking tray. They might not be quite as pretty but he does more per hour and they seem to work fine, especially for handgun bullets.
 
Emerald Coatings is missing a huge advertising opportunity not promoting their *Tool Blue* powder to reloaders. A big shoutout to ElvisAmmo on YouTube for pioneering & sharing his powder~coating process.
As Ted_Dent testified, *Tool Blue* & *High Gloss Clear* powders offer the best coverage in one coat & surpasses the hammer test. I have personally recovered 9mm so-coated cast bullets from the outdoor backstop with the base 100% still covered.
If you are casting pistol bullets & even some rifle bullets you should powder coat & move on from the old school method of lubing….powder coating is superior. Ask me about my 5 step process…..
 
ted_dent said:
Looks like you got pretty good results. However, to save yourself some work I suggest you try Emerald Coatings (ht tps://emeraldcoatings.com) Tool Blue. It is the gold standard for getting excellent coverage (i.e. 99%+) in one coat using shake & bake. It is also one of their cheapest powders at $12.65/lb. If you don't care about colour their Phantom High Gloss Clear also gives nearly 100% coverage with one coat although it is a little more expensive ($16.10/lb.).
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I’ve read through the powder coating thread and I’ll be ordering some Jollipop Red to match the rest of my presses.:)
 
Well done,

Do you know the bullets rate made per hour? Can you speed it up a bit or the time spent is to solidify the projectile and ensure it will not deform on the way out?

Anyway, well done!!!
 
thump_rrr said:
I’ve read through the powder coating thread and I’ll be ordering some Jollipop Red to match the rest of my presses.:)
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Hopefully you have better luck than me but i have found that some colours like red, green and yellow just do not adhere well to bullets using the shake & bake method. I assume it has something to do with the electrical conductivity of differing pigments that give the powder its colour.

I tried many processes people espoused including using airsoft BBs, pre-heating the bullets, tumbling in a plastic bag in a vibratory tumbler, etc. and none of them came close to the near 100% coverage Tool Blue (and Phantom High Gloss Clear) consistently gives me with just pre-heat and shake & bake.

If you'll be satisfied with 50-75% coverage then go for it but don't be surprised if the covering is sporadic. Of course a powder coating gun sytem should give full coverage with any of the powders but a lot of people don't want to spend the money to go that route.
 
Eduardo said:
Well done,

Do you know the bullets rate made per hour? Can you speed it up a bit or the time spent is to solidify the projectile and ensure it will not deform on the way out?

Anyway, well done!!!
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In the video it is at around 500 rounds per hour.
0.5 seconds of dwell time.
0.9 seconds to pour.
6 seconds to solidify
6 seconds to cool the mound at the bottom of the stroke.

I have reduced the time to solidify down to 3.5 seconds.
That puts me in the 650 rounds per hour range.
I have not played around with the cool down time yet.
There are probably a couple of seconds that could be gained there.
If I can gain another 2 seconds that would bring the round count up around 800 per hour

The time really doesn’t matter that much.
It’s not like you’re sitting there manually doing anything other than tossing the sprue back in the pot and adding some lead once in a while.

It’s a 40lb pot so it has enough lead to make over 2,000 125gr bullets.
 
ted_dent said:
Hopefully you have better luck than me but i have found that some colours like red, green and yellow just do not adhere well to bullets using the shake & bake method. I assume it has something to do with the electrical conductivity of differing pigments that give the powder its colour.

I tried many processes people espoused including using airsoft BBs, pre-heating the bullets, tumbling in a plastic bag in a vibratory tumbler, etc. and none of them came close to the near 100% coverage Tool Blue (and Phantom High Gloss Clear) consistently gives me with just pre-heat and shake & bake.

If you'll be satisfied with 50-75% coverage then go for it but don't be surprised if the covering is sporadic. Of course a powder coating gun sytem should give full coverage with any of the powders but a lot of people don't want to spend the money to go that route.
Click to expand...
I have an electrostatic gun but I want to make a proper spray cabinet with good ventilation before going that route.
The funny thing is that I own a company that does heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

I don’t have the patience to stand a few thousand bullets on end one by one.
I’d rather do a second coat instead.

I’ll add a pond of tool blue to the order to see the difference.

Thanks.
 
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thump_rrr said:
I have an electrostatic gun but I want to make a proper spray cabinet with good ventilation before going that route.
The funny thing is that I own a company that does heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

I don’t have the patience to stand a few thousand bullets on end one by one.
I’d rather do a second coat instead.

I’ll add a pond of tool blue to the order to see the difference.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
I'll be interested to see how they come out with a second coat. I hope it works for you but I would not be surprised if it doesn't. Some colours just don't like to adhere using the shake and bake method. I stand them up so that they are not touching anything except the parchment paper lining the pan so they are pretty much imperfection free. If you just dump and bake there will be imperfections where they touch the pan or other bullets. Probably doesn't make a difference with handgun bullets at shorter distances but would definitely affect accuracy with many styles of rifle bullets, especially the longer, thinner ones.
 
Auggie Doggie said:
Phantom Glass Black also provides fantastic coverage, and goes on a bit thicker if your mold throws a bit under sized.

Auggie D.
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The increases bullet size has been my saving grace. About 10 years ago I got into older rifles from 1860 and up and most of them I had a hard time sourcing a bullet mould, so I would special order one to my specs and away I would go. At 100 plus bucks for every mould I would have to purchase with the rifle, it can add up quickly (money I could be spending on powder etc). Since powder coating came along I can just buy an off the shelf mould that is close and powder coat it to get the desired size I need and a bonus is I don't have to worry about lube. For black powder I still put lube in the grooves for the sake of the black powder residue etc.
 
Another vote for tool blue, thousands of rounds to the pound. If you're thinking if ordering one, order two. It is also very useful for cutting in with and lending thickness to powders that tend to give a thin, patchy coat. The bonuses are using up sub optimal colours, less waste, and you get some funky tints.
Princess auto red is thin, but with some tool blue, better. If you're into purple.
 
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