What all is needed to powdercoat?

[450R_lover]

Hey Pappy... I have been thinking about getting into powdercoating. I recently bought an old used home oven off of someone for $50.. haha.. i thought it was a good deal. but anyway.. could you make a list of what is needed to be a beginner powder coater? gun,compressor, sandblaster ect. ?
Thanks...

Oh and would this be a good one to buy? it comes with a compressor.. which i dont have. instead of buying a 400 dollar compressor i thought this would be a good deal. what do you think?

http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=15970&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=459&iSubCat=460&iProductID=15970

[Pappy]

oven (house oven works well for small parts)

applicator gun (eastwood or columbia both sell decent hobby guns)

compressor(size will depend on wether it will power just the gun or also a blast cabinet)

blast cabinet (again, size depends on what you aim to do)

area to apply powder that is well ventilated and has some form of draft system to capture powder and contain it from getting EVERYWHERE (imagine blowing baby powder into you shop or garage)


thats the basics. i started out with almost that exact set up, and at times will still use the hobby gun as they do a great job on small items!

[450R_lover]

awesome.. thanks.

Im just going to do small parts for now. I was going to get a small bench blast cabinet large enough to do swingarms,a-arms, ect. just not big enough for frames. would that small compressor that comes with the gun be enough pressure for a small blask cabinet?

Whats the best way to cure the part? Temp? how long? and also, how do you make sure you have the part up to the right temp before you start timing?
thanks alot man. :D

[Pappy]

a small compressor will not handle even a small blast cabinet. a small bench top will need 15 to 20 cfm at 80 psi continous to strip a stock swing arm....lol so basically, a compressor needs to be big big big, if its to small then you'll be kicking your self.

each powder may have a different cure schedule. use a laser thermometer to register the part temp and once it reaches the powders cure temp, you can start timing it.

a basic set up like your describing would be roughly like this....


prep part

apply powder

hang part in oven

turn oven to desired temp (at first...some parts may require a higher temp to get actual part temp to correct degree rating)

allow part to flow out and check 10 minutes after oven reaches target temp

check 10 minutes later to see if part is at 3/4 target temp. (this is where i start my cure schedule) if part temp is targeted at say 400 degrees, once the part reaches 375 i start my timing. on say gloss black, that would be 10 to 15 minutes at which time i would turn off the oven and allow everything to cool.

with my big oven, a timer starts when the oven reaches a temp. i have entered and will shut itself off at a time duration i have entered into the computer. depending on what house oven you bought, you can use the self timing system to do exactly what the commercial ovens do...lol

[450R_lover]

thank you sooooo much. Your a Really good man! Ive had parts done by you and just thought it would be cool to do it myself and maybe make some extra cash.
thanks for everything ;)

[Pappy]

no problem, its a fun hobby

[450R_lover]

hey, do you ever use the paint strippers that eastwoodco has on their website? Do they work for powder and paint?

Also, when you sandblast something that you are going to coat, dont you have to smooth down the metal afterwards? i know that sandblasting makes the metal rough and when doing smooth high gloss colors it seems like you would need a smoother surface.

Thanks

[Pappy]

i havent used any kind of paint stripper in years, everything here goes to a burn off process.


the surface profile can affect the final outcome of the finish, but with powder, your applying at a much thicker rate then paint and normal "tooth" caused by blasting is needed!

[450R_lover]

oh.. ok.. thanks. well. i found a blast cabinet that said that it only requires 5cfm at 40-80 psi. Would that really be enough to strip powder or paint off the metal?
thanks

[Pappy]

it will remove some paint, but probably wont even dull powdercoat. pc gets gooey when blasted, kind of like glue. the heat from the blasting melts the powder and it doesnt really like to come off.

chem strip works, but is very mess and nasty to work with. as long as you are careful and can deal with the mess it may be your only option prior to media prep

[450R_lover]

ok.. thanks

[450R_lover]

Where do you get your powder? I was looking on eastwoodco.com and noticed that the colors on there are not what you call them. Do you just rename them for better reference? I was looking for some of the colors that you have like fire red ect....
Thanks

[Pappy]

www.tigerdrylac.com