powder coating

[ChestnutLouie]

I have been tumble lubing my bullets using the 45 45 10 mix and it works well for 38 and 45 at 800fps, but I can't help myself and want to try powder coating.
The Eastwood Ford blue looks great but Eastwood's instructions say bake for 400 degrees F for 20 minutes; will that cause hardening???

Thanks
Francis

 

[RBHarter]

Nope softening . It goes to air cooled hardening unless you treat them as if it were heat treatment .

 

[Brad]

Agreed, not gonna cause hardening. If you dropped the hot bullets into water it will cause some hardening.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Well thats argueable...

i agree the baking will remove temper is any.. (soften). But quenching would likly only return the bullets to a hardness they started at. Inicially harder, they as they stabulize they soften to what they where pretty quickly.


I have done tests for my self all different ways. Never have I acheived appreciably hardening by baking and quenching. (Baking to temper hardness specifically YES) BUT if bullets are of any hardness if you dont quench they are always softer.

all this isdependent upon how hard they start at. Meaning if your casting dead soft you wont find much if any changes regardless what ya do. Conversly if you start out with super hard allow IT will be effected the most thru these processes.
.
CW

 

[Brad]

You have never gotten harder bullets by baking then quenching?
i can adjust hardness based on heat treat temp followed by quench. Need to heat for a good hour to really get best results, it takes some time for the crystalline structure to rearrange.

Lots of excellent info right here thanks to our own Rick. http://lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Inicially sure. But they quickly return to close as they began.
Absolutely yes. Longer bake and quench hardens the heck outta them!! (Again if hardness is there to improve. Dead soft wont harden like WW or lino)
If quenched inicially out of mold. Things change again its all realitive
cW

 

[DHD]

I have been tumble lubing my bullets using the 45 45 10 mix and it works well for 38 and 45 at 800fps, but I can't help myself and want to try powder coating.
The Eastwood Ford blue looks great but Eastwood's instructions say bake for 400 degrees F for 20 minutes; will that cause hardening???

Thanks
Francis

I haven't used any Eastwoods PC but don't imagine it would be different than using Smokes PC. Really easy to do and the outcome is worth the effort. I haven't used my LAM for anything but installing gas checks in a couple years.

Dive on in.

 

[wquiles]

I have been tumble lubing my bullets using the 45 45 10 mix and it works well for 38 and 45 at 800fps, but I can't help myself and want to try powder coating.
The Eastwood Ford blue looks great but Eastwood's instructions say bake for 400 degrees F for 20 minutes; will that cause hardening???

Thanks
Francis

I have gotten lots of great tips on my own thread on PC ...
link

 

[Ian]

Wheelweight-ish alloy will revert to its just-cast hardness as soon as the alloy reaches 400⁰F. However, in order for it to achieve a hardness greater than air-cooled, it must be maintained at 400⁰F or greater for a much longer time....like 45 minutes minimum and then immediately quenched.

Heating for 20 minutes and quenching does nothing to harden them beyond what they would be if dropped from the mould onto a towel.

After heat treating (or air cooling) there is of course the normal period of time afterward during which precipitation hardening occurs, a period of days to weeks depending on how much antimony, tin, and grain refiners such as arsenic and sulphur are present in the mix.

The powder coat interferes somewhat with quench-hardening even after a proper heat soak time and temperature, we think this is because the paint acts as an insulator and slows the heat transfer during the quench. What that equates to is coated bullets will at maximum quench be a few bhn points below what the same alloy would be under the same circumstances without the coating.

Oven treated and quenched bullets will maintain their hardness for years. Yes, they do soften back up over time, but it takes a decade or more to see any significant drop. The softening, like the hardening, is a function of time and temperature and it is reported that keeping you heat treated bullets in a freezer will slow the softening process even more still.

 

[DHD]

Great explanation Ian! I suppose for a knuckle dragger like me the answer to hardness and heat from the PC curing is, not enough to matter one way or the other.

Sorry for the Hijack OP!

 

[fiver]

hi-jack ...LOL here.... LOL.
not possible.

Ian pretty much hit on what I find too.
except the part about the P/C making up for some of the lack of toughness needed in the alloy when you use it.

it takes me about an hour to bake my P/C bullets,, the last 20 minutes are at 400-415.

 

[Ian]

Cured polyester powder coat has been reported to be about 35 bhn but I have no idea how it was tested unless about 50 layers were built up on a coupon.

In any event, Fiver's right, the thin paint is very tough for what it is and lets us do extraordinary things with very soft alloy. The PC is slippery and changes the launch dynamics and methodology, but that's been covered here a bunch and....speaking of thread drift...was that a rabbit?

 

[462]

Hijacking jackrabbit?

 

[358156 hp]

A hare to the right of slightly off kilter?

 

[Brad]

It was a squirrel.

somebody already ate the rabbit

 

[358156 hp]

Probably Ian. He killed Bambi too, you know.

 

[Ian]

Hey hey now...he didn't have no spots doggone it

 

[popper]

Eastwood Ford blue Lots of bullet coaters use it, works fine.

 

[358156 hp]

I'm still working with my initial order from Smoke. I bought 4 lbs of different colors, then was gifted another 3-4 lbs by friends. That, folks, is a lot of powder to use up at about 1 tsp. at a time. My favorites are Carolina Blue, Clear, Gloss Black (flat black doesn't tumble worth a hoot for me), & JD Green. Pink (yes, pink), JD Yellow, and Purple have disappointed me a bit. FWIW, I tried mixing the latter powders with clear to salvage them and they don't blend at all. The results look sort of like a lava lamp. I still cling to them because I hate to throw things away that I might want again in 20 or 30 years. I haven't tried hot flocking these powders yet, maybe that will do the trick.

 

[fiver]

i think some of those colors have a higher gloss content and our application methods just don't apply the gloss and the color evenly.

it's like painting metal with a brush.
the paint goes on, but it looks like ass.