Powder coating at home!!!!

I bought the powder coating kit from Eastwood and most likely the oven from Harbor Freight I have not made up my mind as of which oven to get. With all of the various engines that I am building and I have a lot of small pieces that require to be painted or powder coated. I would like to know if any of the members here on the HAMB are doing powder coating any advise or recommendation you may have for me. I appreciate any feedback.

Thank You

Frenchy

 

I bought the Eastwood Hot Coat Pro system a few years ago and use it all the time, works great.
As with anything, preparation is the key, coating is the easy part
Eastwood has a forum for powder coating and I found it to be very helpful
If you are just doing small parts get an old household oven
I built my own oven for bigger parts.

 

We are talking about getting one of the home kits to do small stuff, so this thread will be interesting.

Don

 

Look at your local craigslist under the free section I see ovens listed for free in my area all the time. Post up some your pieces when you get going.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=387625&highlight=powder+coating+home

 

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I have had very good luck with the Eastwood home system. About 5 years ago we used it to powder coat the intake manifold, runners, and plenum (EFI) on my fathers '57 Chevy convertible. We also used it on all the pulleys and under hood brackets. The stuff has held up very well and still looks great.

I'm getting ready to bust it out again and do some under hood stuff on my coupe.

We use an old home oven we picked up from the curb.


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We have the Eastwood kit, an old mustard yellow Kenmore and a laser thermometer.

Did my wheels most recently and I'm about to do the calipers and master cylinder for my disc conversion.

Full blog post - http://rustyfiftyone.com/dont-step-on-my-teal-suede-shoes/

Usually we hang stuff but the wheels were too heavy so we ended up using a light bulb and a landscaping brick on the rack.

 

on the powder coating gun i have there are 2 tips one for large pieces and one for small pieces.changing the tips saves on powder. just buy a good grade of powder i use a used house oven works good.

 

I've been happy with the powder and customer service from All Powder Paints (.com)

 

I've done a little bit with a freebie takeout home oven, the oven works fine, you need to make sure you've got an IR temp gun to take part-metal temps.

I found that half of what I wanted to do ended up being just a little too big to fit, and I needed the space in the shop for more cabinets, so ended up scrapping the oven. I've got a Techshop membership these days so get access to their (little HF) oven in Menlo Park and (much bigger, can handle an axle housing or bike frame) oven in San Jose.

In the past I've taken bigger stuff or bigger batches to a place in Santa Clara for blasting and coating, need to get back in touch with them as it's just about time to do the '64 frame.

Yeah, allpowderpaints.com is a decent resource for buying coatings and etc.

 

+ 1 on the Eastwood DIY An old electric oven will fit a 17" rim perfectly. Media blasted a set of aluminum wheels, baked one at a time for 30 min. at 400* to clean the wheel. Powder coated it, and baked for 45 min. powder coated the clear coat, baked for another 45 min. Was amazed at the finished product....

 

We just completed a project coating stainless steel power washer emergency egress handles safety yellow. Came out nice, using a cheapo Eastwood kit and powder.

 

We've had the best results by heating it first to pre clean and then applying the powder while the part is still hot, then back into the oven to melt the powder.

 

I've been home powdercoating for about 5 years, and love it. Much cheaper than paint once you have the equipment setup....

But powder isn't the 'miracle coating' that some will have you believe; it does have it's limitations. It surface scratches much easier than paint (it is plastic, remember that) so is a poor choice for larger trim items and visible sheetmetal. And beware the 'exotic' coatings ('chrome', metallics, candies); my experience is these just aren't as durable as the solid colors. That's the biggest downside to powder; while it's nearly impossible to chip it, it will 'mar' and 'touch up' ain't gonna happen.

A few tips (some gleaned the hard way... )...

A free/cheap used home oven works great, buy some cheap HF caster wheels for moving it around. If you want a bigger over, there's lots of 'home brew' designs available on the 'net that can be built out of an old home oven on the cheap. I've even seen some 'fold up' designs so you don't have to store some monstrosity.

If coating castings or parts that were rusty/corroded (particularly aluminum), clean them, then pre-bake them at at least 400 degrees for an hour to make sure all the corrosion is 'baked out', then re-blast them before coating. Castings that have been in contact/coated with grease/oil, do the same. You can be amazed at the amount of 'stuff' that will bake out of a 'clean' part, and will ruin your coating if not gotten.

Don't coat anything with attached rubber parts, or with any sort of bearing in it, as the heat will kill the rubber and congeal any lube left in the bearing. Solid bushings will be ok, but not oil-impregnated ones. Also don't coat any 'assemblies' unless you plan on never taking it apart.

Getting powder off is a PITA; if a coating didn't turn out, I've found the cheapest/easiest way to remove it is apply heat with a propane torch and use a wire brush, kinda like removing undercoating. Re-blast once you've got it all off before recoating.

And while most powders are pretty much impervious to common automotive chemicals, be aware that brakleen, some carb cleaners, and electrical contact cleaners will kill the gloss on mere contact.

I'll caution against clear-coating polished metal (which would seem to be a natural application). The problem is sooner or later you'll get an opening in the coating, and corrosion will start under the coating. No way to get at it unless you remove it, and it can be a real PITA to do so.

Great stuff, as long as you understand it's limits....

 

Are you guys just doing the one coat or are you using primer and clear coats as well???

 

Yes, I have done one coat on parts and used the primer to fill minor imperfections, also some colors require a clearcoat
Very simple process if parts are prepped properly

 

I have the E-Wood kit from way back. All I can say is that it was one of the better investments i've made. Everything from a-arms to wheels,and everything in between-I coat. Rotors,calipers,any small pieces that fit in my oven.......VVVVV
OVEN- Obviously we all cannot swing a walk in,or an industrial,so-
Look around- A LOT of people switch out their electric units for gas,and they're damn near free. So hunt.
VVVVVVV -Powder......
E-WOOD has it.... OK..... But, If you go to a "powder coater" and ask to buy some powder,9 outta 10,you will walk away a happy camper.
I can get at least 5lbs for about $20 bucks. Really. Look at what you would pay for a pint can!
VVVVVVV- Realize all the prep to paint a part,materials,time....
Once I did this,no more painting for me unless absolutelly nessesary.....
I would never go back to painting.........
You'll learn as you go,so give it a shot,but it doesn't happen overnight.
I still have to farm out parts that don't fit in my oven,but I won't be doing production line frames......
Carry on,learn as you go,and reap your time and $ saved.

And just for shit's and gigles,I just bought a brand new in box,with 10 cans of powder E-WOOD kit complete with wire,tape,and plugs for $40.......

Money well spent. Now get coatin'!

 

I PC at work
We built an oven from a old box van body … a conex box would also do the trick,
Granger has heating elements.
Movable wall saves heat - time - $ for smaller stuff
PVC primer is said to soften PC to were it scrapes off easy but iv yet to try it

 

A friend of mine has a setup and has found the home oven to be too small. He is converting an old chest deep freezer into an oven with hanging racks that are removable. The parts can be hung on the rack to be sprayed, then the whole rack is placed in the top loading oven. This eliminates some of the surface damage done to the coating when moving parts into the oven.

 

So far I am very impress with all of your feedback on this subject . I cant wait for this kit to arrive.

Thank You everyone great topic.

Frenchy

 

As long as the insulation in that freezer isn't combustible...

I've been able to use the spray Klean-Strip to remove powdercoat, easy enough on flat surfaces, for crevices, etc you'll still be reaching for the sandblaster.

 

Bluemeanie,
What is the light bulb for?
NRM

 

I'm guessing it was the closest thing he could grab that'd act as a cone to support the wheel.

 

I have a Harbor Freight gun that I bought maybe 8 years ago. It works good, and I've powder coated most of the small parts on my engine and car over the years.

I garbage picked a double electric oven (over and under) on trash day. Very cool because I can cure two different parts at the same time. One element was out, but it was easy to replace for $45, and now it works perfectly. There were still size limitations though, and I couldn't get a wheel or large oil pan in it.

I saw some guy on Craigslist selling his old setup, and he had (for lack of a better term) a sheet metal dog house on his oven. He opened the oven door, and put a sheet metal box on top of it to effectively double the size of the oven. Great idea!

I made a 18 gauge galvanized double wall dog house for mine, and put fiberglass insulation inside, and handles on top. I bought some 7/8" fiberglass rope, the kind they use on wood burning stove doors, and put it around the end that meets the oven so it seals up pretty nice. It works excellent! The outside of the box is barely warm to the touch, and the inside heats up to 400 degrees just about as fast as without it. Now I can do wheels and large oil pans too. It took one full 4x8 sheet of metal, and a finger brake to bend it all up. It cost me just over a hundred bucks including the fiberglass rope seal.

The commercial ovens they sell for powder coating cost stupid money, and I doubt they work much, if any better.

 

I snapped a few photos of the double oven and dog house this afternoon:

 

Bumping this.

I have been researching this for a while. Just curious if the powdercoat at home has the same durability that a commercial vendor has? I want to do my next project with a lot higher standards that the Produce truck. It's my keeper truck.

You say it scratches, but what about chipping? That's what I seem to have more problems with. For instance, say on suspension parts, like backing plates or spindles etc.

 

RH,
get your powder from www.prismaticpowders.com American made, quality powder. You wont need an account and can purchase 1# at a time if you want.
as far as chipping goes, make sure you prep good and clean and then bake and cure properly, dont short bake cycle.

 

I've had large pieces done commercially, and haven't noticed any difference in durability between my home-coated parts and those. Using a quality powder seems to be the key here. I've had good luck with Eastwood and Prismatic.

Chipping is all about surface prep. Powders like a good surface 'tooth' to grip, that's why sandblasting is the much preferred method. The smoother the finish, the more likely you'll get chipping. You'll see chipping/peeling on commercially-produced parts, but that's almost always due to coating over unprepped metal; many just degrease then coat. Mill or machined finishes aren't 'rough' enough for the best adhesion. The big expense in commercial coating is masking machined surfaces for blasting/coating.

 

I have already set up an account with Prismatic. I have been collecting samples for colors I am interested in.

How do you guys store the powder?
When you say sandblasting, is that strictly with sand or glass media etc ok?

 

Storing powder is in a moisture free environment, like a cabinet in the garage, or a spare space..... And- when I purchase powder, it is usually in a zip lock bag= from a shop. I double bag it anyways.....Never have had an issue through the years.
Blasting? Sure- sand will be fine. The bench top isn't as aggressive, so it depends on the part actually- IE alum,steel..... and current state of such part= clean,kinda,or rusty as hell....
I'm lucky as I have my bud put my stuff in his metal shot cabinet. It turns the rustiest piece of crap into nice shiny metal again. Then it's just blow everything off once more, hang, shoot, bake, install when part is cool.....and as always- results may vary.....