Coating Instructions and Recommendations
Powdered product is a complete package, for the specific preparation of solvent based coatings.
HI-TEK POWDER, OR SOLVENT MIXTURES SHOULD NOT BE ATOMISED OR SPRAYED.
HI-TEK POWDERED COATINGS ARE NOT TO BE USED AS POWDER COATING
HI-TEK POWDERED COATING PRODUCTS, NEEDS TO BE FIRST MIXED WITH RECOMENDED SOLVENT,
PRIOR TO USE, AND IS SUITABLE FOR TUMBLE COATING TYPE APPLICATION ONTO YOUR BULLETS.
Read the below details before starting.
*Use adequate protective gear including chemical resistant gloves, safety glasses,
a respirator adequate for painting and USE COMMON SENSE.
REMEMBER you are dealing with chemicals and flammable liquids & solvents.
Do not smoke, don’t use near Fire, or where vapours can ignite from sparks.
Use in area where there is adequate ventilation to remove solvent and oven fumes that are
generated.
Do not use any oven you intend to cook food in, and oven is to be a totally dedicated baking oven for
coatings and vented to outside from working areas.
Tools and equipment you will need:
- HI-TEK-LUBE COATING, POWDERED VERSION and Pure Acetone.
- The safety gear noted above.
- Measuring tools. (A set of cheap metal or plastic measuring spoons works well)
- Plastic containers to tumble/coat bullets in.
(For hobbyists, a small 5 litre bucket or disposable food containers are good, but any reasonably
strong, clean plastic container should work) - A container to mix the coating in. (A transparent or similar dispensing bottle with a thin nozzle
does a great job)
Ensure that coating and solvents do not affect containers used for mixing coatings.
- Waste newspaper, paper towels or waste rags and plastic sheeting to protect bench tops or work
areas. - Pure Acetone or MEK. (DON’T USE solvent blends containing Acetone or MEK)
(These are also suitable to both mix the bullet coating mixtures, and for clean-up of spills) - A well-ventilated area for working in. (Not your kitchen or inside an enclosed basement). Use in an
open garage, car port open to ventilation, and away from open flames) - Flat wire basket or tray capable of holding the weight of bullets, and withstanding the heat of the
oven. (If you can’t find something adequate, they are fairly easy and cheap to make from 1/4” wire
Mesh or similar) - An oven that can hold a temperature fairly well. You will need to test ovens ability, to hold at set
temperatures and temperature set accuracy.
(A toaster oven with a circulation fan can be obtained cheaply, and works great, but you will have to
verify actual
Temperature in oven, as compared to knob setting. Toaster ovens in majority have poor quality
thermostats and you can get temperature swings inside oven up to 50 degrees Celsius from knob set
indicator temperature.) - Use clean cast lead bullets that have not been sized. If your bullets have Wax, Alox, or any other
lubricant on them, the acetone will dissolve it and contaminate the coating and you will experience
failures.
Clean Lead will produce great coating, and waxy or dirty contaminated lead will cause coating
failure. Sized lead bullets may reduce adhesion of the coating to bond to the lead, as the sizing
process can close the pores on the surface of the bullet. Pre-sizing bullets requires a lubricant, and
that lubrication will reduce coating adhesion and cause failures. - A little patience. Read the instructions fully BEFORE starting, and take your time.
The coating process is not difficult but it can take a little practice to do it well.
If it doesn’t go well the first time, go back and read the instructions again, usually a simple mistake is
the problem. If you keep having problems contact us, we’ll be happy to help.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE STARTING. - A little goes a LONG way, start out with the smallest amount you can mix and to coat around 200-
300 bullets.
(One kilo, or (2.2lbs) of Powdered Hi-Tek should coat about 140,000 or more projectiles, with two
coats.)
Don’t worry if first coating appears a little thin on alloy, as you can always recoat them again after
baking. You do not need and should not use heavy coats, (especially with first coat) for product to
work. Heavy/thick coat may be counterproductive, as it may cause other problems such as very slow
drying, and poor adhesion during and after bake as well as causing touch marks and projectiles
bonding together. - Two or three coats works great. Applying thick coats can be rough looking, and will probably crack
and flake off during smash test, sizing, loading and shooting. Thickly applied coatings may not cure
and adhere correctly, as thickly applied coatings forms a “skin”, which prevents fast & total
drying, and prevents heat penetrating to the alloy for correct curing/bonding to take place. - Bullets cast with sharp edges, webbing, and little flakes of Lead, hanging from them will coat fine,
and after first coat is done, it is recommended that these are sized after the first coat is baked and
after it passes all tests. The majority of coated Lead will remain OK, but the unwanted webbing,
flakes etc are removed. Then simply recoat a second time, and may be a third time if required, and
these subsequent coats will cover any exposed Lead. If you require a sizing lube with first coat to
remove burrs, try to use Hi-Tek Aqualube, as a very dilute sparingly applied dry film lube. This should
not interfere with recoating with second coat.
Do not use any other sizing lube, as it will interfere with coating adhesion. - Allow the bullets to dry thoroughly once they are coated. Warm air drying may be required to
ensure adequate drying is done before baking.
IMPORTANT When you think they are dry, only test bake a few. After baking, they must pass solvent
& smash test.
Only then bake the bulk, if the few test bake samples passes all tests.
If they go into the oven wet, or not completely dry, the coating can bubble up and look rough, and
the fumes are harsh and can be flammable, and results will be unsatisfactory.
If coating was not completely dry, it will cause failures with adhesion after baking and fail smash
test.
Give adequate time to dry, don’t rush drying, the warmer and drier the space you work in, the
better. Coating may take as little as 10 minutes to many hours to dry. This is dependent on the
ambient temperature and humidity.
With ambient drying, humidity can be trapped/locked inside coatings, however they may feel dry to
the touch.
However, when test baking a few, will expose under dried coatings by appearance of fine blisters
being formed during baking. If you get these fine blisters, or flaking with smash test, especially with
the first coat, you can almost guarantee that the coating was not adequately dry before baking.
It is then a simple fix as the remainder can be warm air dried, at about 50C, and test baking a couple
with tell all.
Again repeat; only test bake a couple when you think they are dry.
NOTE. You cannot fix a poorly bonded baked coating by applying further coats.
If you have smash test failure and or blistering, after first coat was adequately baked, it is a remelt
job. - Having several batches of bullets rotating through the oven at once will speed things up quite a
bit, but wait until you get the hang of it before trying it. Once you have successfully done three or
four batches of bullets, you’ll feel like an old pro. - When you mix the coating, it’s better to have too much solvent in mixture than to have too little.
First thin coats dries much more quickly, and can be referred to as a primer coat.
First coat must be thoroughly dry to be bonded well to alloy after bake, before applying any other
coats.
A LIGHT STAIN TYPE COAT IS BEST FOR FIRST COAT.
Thick coats = bad bullets, thin dilute coats = good bullets.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Applying second or third coats to poorly bonded first coat will not fix bonding problems with first
coat.
Re-baking to fix poor adhesion problems will not work. After baking the coating is set and cannot be
reactivated.
Before projectiles are baked, first coat must be dry totally, even if warm air drying is required to
complete drying.
When you think they are dry, test bake only a few first. If all is well, only then bake the rest.
If first coat has not bonded, and is heat cured, the application of further coats, won’t fix the lack of
adhesion of previous coat.
If first coat has not bonded after baking, do not re-coat again, but work out why first coat failed to
bond.
MOST IMPORTANT If you are uncertain, simply ask for help from your supplier or manufacturer. - Experiment with your mix a little if your results aren’t what you want. Acetone levels in the
mixture can really make a difference depending on your working conditions.
Diluting the powder/Acetone mixture more with Acetone does not hurt coating, as adding more
Acetone, simply extends coating to cover more projectiles and you end up with much smoother
coating films. - For mix ratios of the powdered coating, the starting mix should be 20 grams to 100 -130 millilitres
Acetone. Further dilutions can also help to coat to make “thinner” coatings, which is mostly
important with first coat. More diluted mixtures will cover much more projectiles.
Use an appropriate solvent mask, safety goggles, and avoid inhalation of all vapours, and apply
coatings in well ventilated areas away from you, sparks and naked flame, and use/process these
products in a well-ventilated area. - Wear work clothes or an apron, and cover your work area with a plastic sheeting and old
newspapers to absorb liquid spills, this avoids stains on work bench surfaces. The first few times you
use the coating it will be messy. Even after you get the hang of it it’s not a particularly clean process. - Reloading with HI-TEK-LUBE coated bullets should be done using quality reloading equipment
with data obtained from a reloading manual. Use loading data that is normally used for your
particular bullet and application.
We do NOT provide ammunition loading data. - HI-TEK-LUBE coated bullets, should not require further lubrication. Some harder alloys, or drastic
size reduction requirements, you can use additional lubes such Hi-Tek Aqualube can be used on final
cured coated alloys to reduce loads on sizing equipment. Do not use any other lubes between
coatings
Step by step coating instructions. - Get a measuring spoon, and or a syringe, a mixing bottle, powdered coating and Acetone or MEK
solvent. The diluted mixed coating, can separate in the bottle pretty quickly, so you’ll need to shake
it well to make sure it’s mixed well before applying to alloy.
Dropping a bullet into the bottle of coating before shaking will speed resuspending up a LOT.
The bullet will bounce around like the marble in an aerosol paint can and mix things thoroughly. - Put about 100 of the bullets you want to coat in the tumbling container and have them in reach.
You’ll need them in a minute or two. Turn on your oven to reach about 180C . - Over a trash can or separate container measure out the coating powder first, and the solvent
second, into pouring mixing/dispensing solvent compatible bottle. - Put the lid on the mixing bottle, cover the tip of the spout and shake for a few seconds to get
everything mixed. During this shaking a small amount of pressure will build in the bottle, be careful
when you take the cover off your spout. In a sealed mixing container, you can get warming during
the dissolving of the coating powder, and this can produce a pressure build up. When opening the
mixing bottle, the mix can spray out of nozzles with the pressure that may be inside mixing bottle. - Pour a VERY SMALL amount (we recommend starting with 1cc/ml per roughly 400g (1 lb)of
bullets) of mixture in the container uncovered with the bullets and start shaking. Shake them and
rattle them around pretty rapidly, a good rule of thumb is to shake them as hard as you can without
shaking them out of the container.
Keep shaking for 10 to 15 seconds, and do not shake coat for extended periods, and allow the
solvent to evaporate, which will happen quickly. (If you shake coat for too long, you will hear a
distinct change in the sound of the bullets rattling around when the solvent evaporates).
If you shake coat for too long, or if coating dries too fast during coating process, the coating
becomes sticky and you hear a change from sharp sound too dull sound. When this happens, coated
projectiles may appear rough and textured. Avoid getting to this stage during coating. Shake coat
quickly, until all are coated, and within 10-15 seconds.
If you end up shaking too long and coating starts to look rough, and tacky, it is not the end of the
world, as all you do is, add 1-2 mls of Acetone to the mixing/coating container, and repeat mixing
coating, but this time, do not allow the coating to become partly dry/sticky/tacky whilst shake
coating.
Then simply pour the wetted coated alloy onto wire mesh type tray/support, and dry well without
disturbing product. You can spread them out until they are not touching each other by shaking the
tray. At this point the first coating will
be thin and may become a little sticky and you may still see lead through it fairly easily. No problems
If the coating looks rough or has a lumpy surface at this point, it is likely that used too much mixture,
not enough solvent, or had shaken coated for far too long. This is not a big deal.
Until coatings are baked, the uncured coating can be recycled/redissolved with clean solvent in your
coating container by re dissolving only with a little Acetone, and shake coating quickly.
- While the bullets are drying, cap the bottle with the mix still in it and set it aside, and store out of
sunlight and keep cool. The same mixture will be needed for the next round of coating.
You can speed up the drying process by using a fan to blow onto the bullets, but don’t rush at this
point. The bullets need to be fully dried before they are baked. If possible warm to about 50C for
about half hour.
Thinner coats dry faster and more complete, especially if warm air fan forced drying is used.
Warm air drying can be also done with trays on top of your oven to use heat coming through top of
oven.
When you think that coating is dry, only test a few with baking. Only after the few passes all tests,
only then cook the rest. In cool or cold climate, warm air fan forced drying may be required, or
alternatively, alloy may be pre-warmed to about 25-30 C before coating.
With warmed alloy, the coating process becomes more critical to coat quickly, as coating will tend to
dry faster in container whilst tumbling/coating.
Coating about 400g (1lb) should not take more than 10-15 seconds of quick mix/tumbling. - Once the bullets are fully dried, and the oven is at set temperature, place the fully dried alloy into
oven. Watch the bullets for the first few minutes. If the coating starts to bubble, the bullets weren’t
fully dried. Again, not a big deal, just allow a little more drying time on the next coat, and it will help
to use a little more solvent or use a smaller amount of mixed coating with the next batch to speed
drying.
You can eliminate having to recycle a lot of failed baking batches by only baking the lot after you
determined that coated batch was totally dry.
The coating may change colour slightly during baking, don’t worry, it’s normal. If colours change
drastically, your oven temperatures may be not correct, or you baked it much too long.
Over baking will not damage adhesion, but will change or darken final colour from original colour. - Once the bullets are baked, take them out and let them cool fully before the next application of
coating.
Test baked coating, (especially first coat) to make sure coating has cured/bonded properly.
If the bullets are attempted to be coated when hot, the solvent will evaporate much too quickly and
the coating will be lumpy and rough looking. After the bullets are thoroughly cooled, inspect them,
the coating should be fairly smooth and even, and should not scratch easily. See testing on final
page. - Repeat the coating and baking process (usually twice will do, but feel free to experiment) until the
coating completely covers the bullet and little or no lead can be seen through it.
Some coatings are coloured but transparent, so seeing Lead through those is not a problem.
In some instances, after user is experienced enough, one single well applied and bonded coat, may
be suitable for use.
Coating twice or more, certainly improves cosmetic appearance and thickness of coating on alloy.
REMEMBER, the correctly baked/bonded coating is very tough, and if alloy is coated with a single
blotchy & uneven colour, in some applications, this may be used, as this single layer should
separate barrel bore from alloy during firing.
Coating twice or more, simply guarantees, that Lead is totally encapsulated and product also looks
“pretty”.
Multiple thin coated alloys will be more heat reflective, and has higher load capability, which is
useful with very high energy loads.
BAKING MATTERS
Do not rely on your product being at correct temperatures after baking is finished. Air temperature
inside an oven does not tell you what is temperature of the load inside the oven.
What is important is, the fully dried coated alloy, must get to 180C in the oven, and then stay there
or above for about another 2-3 minutes.
Achieving correct product temperatures, in a specific time, will depend on if your oven is fan forced
or not, and greatly will depend on load weight placed inside the oven.
IMPORTANT It is not the oven temperature that is crucial, but monitoring product temperature is of
vital importance. This will determine in a specific oven, how long it takes for a specific load to get to
180C to begin correct curing conditions. Once product reaches 180C it must remain there or above
for another 2 minutes.
OVERBAKING MATTERS
All coating adequately dried can be baked even excessively. That over baking does not cause
bonding failures.
Over baking will not harm coating. However, colours will suffer, as overheating/baking will change
and darken final finish, and in some instances cause to coating to turn Black. This overbaking
condition will not affect bonding.
Inadequate drying will cause adhesion failures.
Size and load your coated bullets with appropriate Lead Bullet loading data from your favourite
reloading manual.
TESTING THE BULLETS
Remove one or two bullets from the batch of bullets you have just coated and baked, after they
have cooled to room temperature.
Use a rag or paper towel and moisten with Acetone.
Rub the test bullets back and forth for 30 seconds. If proper curing has been obtained, there should
not be any of the
coating removed from the bullet and the towel should be free of any colour transfer from the bullet.
If it fails this test, STOP, and investigate why this happened.
Failures can be caused from low bake temperatures, over loading of oven, poor heat circulation in
oven, improper bake time and inadequate drying and using too much coating.
Most common failures with coating bonding, especially with first coating, is not allowing coating to
totally dry. Second reason why coating will not bond after baking, is using too much coating and
then, not adequately being dried.
It is much more difficult to dry thick coatings adequately.
Third reasons for failures especially with first coating is using or wrong mix ratio, Much too
concentrated, and of course, dirty or contaminated cast alloys which can be contributed to Mould
release lubes, Waxes or other contaminating lubricant aids being on the projectiles being coated.
Remember, it is better to use more Acetone and apply VERY thin multiple coats, as opposed to one
thick heavy coat using a strong brew mixture.
Two coats should provide about 1.5 to 1.8 thou of finished baked film.
SMASH TEST.
Place the above bullets on the floor or other sturdy object (use some common sense here, and not
the good dining room table) and literally smash the bullet with one or more blows with a suitable
hammer.
Check to see of the coating is flaking off. Compare your smash tests to other results to ensure that
tests results are comparable
If coating flakes from alloy, especially after first coat is baked, and the bullet has failed this test, you
must start over.
This failure can be caused by coating being applied to thickly, and inadequate drying before baking
or overloading oven or combination of all.
If after baking, the colour starts to go towards Tan , or going towards Brown, the cooking time or
temperatures were not correct or both. Over baked product should work OK only the colour is
altered.
HI-TEK POWDER.
Basic Data and Mix Ratios.
Start mix, 20 grams of powdered coating to 100-130 ml (3.5-4 ounces) of Acetone.
(To same amount of powder, you can use/add more Acetone to further dilute product ) Adding more
solvent will not harm coating.
With Acetone, ensure that you are using Pure Acetone, and not solvents containing Acetone.
Using wrong solvents will cause failures.
Until the coating is baked, it can be re-dissolved, recycled and re used.
Once coating is baked and is a failure is then a re-melt job.
DRYING MATTERS
Normally 10-30 Minutes drying is adequate in warm to hot and low humidity conditions. Coated cast
in sun can get fairly hot and quickly.
However, drying can take much longer if conditions are not correct for good drying such as cool or
cold conditions and in high humidity, especially during rain.
Drying will greatly depend on ambient temperature and humidity levels and air circulation around
drying coating.
Without having warm and dry conditions, the drying time in some instances may take substantially
longer from (1-24 hours). This does not affect baking and bonding.
In cool/cold, high humidity areas, coating may not dry well at all, and after flash drying of Acetone,
product may require warmed fan forced air drying to about 50C for ½ hour or so, or even longer,
depending on ambient conditions, size of batch, and warm air blowers’ capacity.
The fan forced warmed air drying is easiest to do. This will speed up production output and reduce
inconsistent drying rates due to environmental changes.
If using too much coating, especially with first coat, drying and uneven finishes can be caused and
very long drying times can occur.
With uneven rough finishes, with inadequate drying, you will get smash test failures as coating will
not bond to alloy if coatings are inadequately dried before baking.
BAKING MATTERS
WARNING Do not bake any coated casts until they are totally dry.
Dryness pre testing, is of paramount importance
You can also generate solvent vapours which is flammable.
Bake Temperature: 375 to 395 Degrees Fahrenheit, Bake Time: Approximately 10-12 Minutes, (This
will depend on oven and load) and user must determine what loads are acceptable and controllable
to get reproducible results at a specific time in their specific oven.
Bake times will depend on oven, and, if you have fan forced air circulation in oven, and weight
loaded into oven, and if adequate heating available.
Ovens can vary greatly, so testing is required by user to ensure oven adequacy for the job.