Powder coating!!!!!!

[Zookie400]

my brother and i got our powdercoating oven, gun, and an assortment of other required bs today!

the oven is roughly 3' x 3' x 6' , big enough to do the quad frames

im very excited, cant wait to experiment with colors and make some cool combos. this will save us a lot of money on our own race machines, and my brother has been having a hard time getting a job that pays better than minimum (he is in high school) so he is going to keep mowing lawns and take on as much PCing as possible. as you could imagine there is already a waiting list of people who want things done

does anybody have experience/advise for the actual process? we are both green, so the first few samples should be interesting. i can lay paint with hvlp gun fairly well, but i dont think this is anything like that

 

[hawkdriver]

I've been doing my own powder for about 3 years now and love how well everything turns out. Since you have painting experience you will appreciate my next comment- it's all in the prep. It is probably even more critical than paint prep because it's not like you can just sand it down and re-coat it. I use an Eastwood gun and their powders. Been very pleased with everything I've done. I do mainly motorcycle, automotive and aviation stuff so I just use an old oven I took out of our old house in town when we put in new appliances to sell it. One day I would like to get a larger oven but I'm happy with what I have now. Be careful- it can get addicting. You will start looking around for more stuff to powder! Have fun!

 

[platinum01]

Dangit sure wish I knew that you had that Zookie. Just pulled the IC tubes off today and painted them with High Temp paint but really wanted the powder coated. HAHA. Sounds like a fun new toy to play with. Keep us updated on how things are going with it.

 

[Zookie400]

Be careful- it can get addicting. You will start looking around for more stuff to powder! Have fun!

my mother already has a pile of old milk jugs and other silly bits she wants done.

on a rather funny note....she wants us to hurry up and wire it up so she can use it to cook the usual thanksgiving feast: 2- 30lb turkeys, and 2- 5 lb spiral hams. normally she has the kitchen in the house going, as well as the kitchen in the RV to get all of the cooking done. yes, we have a big family the first thing out of her when she saw it was "how hot does it get and can it cook food?"

 

[Zookie400]

hawkdriver - how do you go about laying multiple coats???

you need to have a conductive surface to attach the ground lead to....correct? then where would you go about connecting it after you lay a basecoat?

also, what kind of prep is require between coats?

 

[hawkdriver]

I've had the best luck by letting the part cool completely and then starting all over again. No prep is needed as long as you don't touch it with your fingers or contaminate it in any way. You will always have a bare spot to attach a hook to. I would just leave the hook on it from the first coat and, after letting it cool, coat it again and then bake it one more time and you're done. You don't need the bare metal spot to bake anything after it has been coated but you absolutely need it to coat the part with powder. I don't know how serious you are about your mom cooking dinner in it but she can as long as you haven't powdered anything in it yet. Once you do I would not cook anything but parts in it.
I hope I answered your questions. If you need some help please let me know and I will do my best. Have fun!!

 

[DaveBen]

It is a one-shot deal Zook. No need for a second coat. Just lay it on thick.

Dave

 

[BamaSixGun]

Hey Zookie, how much is the SDD discount again?

 

[trackspeeder]

my mother already has a pile of old milk jugs and other silly bits she wants done.

on a rather funny note....she wants us to hurry up and wire it up so she can use it to cook the usual thanksgiving feast: 2- 30lb turkeys, and 2- 5 lb spiral hams. normally she has the kitchen in the house going, as well as the kitchen in the RV to get all of the cooking done. yes, we have a big family the first thing out of her when she saw it was "how hot does it get and can it cook food?"

Mmmm powder coated turkey.

 

[platinum01]

Mmmm powder coated turkey.