oven not big enough for powder coating

i have a rear axle i want to powder coat, but my oven isnt big enough, any ideas? maybe a heat gun might work but i havnt tried it.
thanks for any opinions.

 

If your close to Louisville I know someone with a big enough oven........

 

They make IR lamps, but personally, just get it done, the h***le wont be worth the cost.

 

i hear you, the heat lamps cost a couple of hundred bucks i think
has anyone ever tried the heat guns?

 

I would have someone do it in an industrial over to make sure everything is cured evenly.

9"?????

 

try a heat gun on some s****, or i dont know about where you live but around here old but still working ovens are free and theres tons of them, you take a couple, cut the backs out of them and line them up.

 

Just got a rear diff and driveshaft back from a powdercoater.......$120.00.........seemed worth it to me.

 

hmmm, i dont know of any services around here, i guess i can ask around tho...and ima try that heat gun anyways on some s****
thanks guys.

 

If it were me, I would get a second stove, cut the backs out of both and but-weld them together so you have a door at both ends and run two stoves. Allot of fab, but thats just me.

 

I cant imagine a heat gun would work. Most powders need to be cured 350 degrees and up for 20-30 minutes from the point it starts to "melt". Heat gun might work on a small piece of s****, but you would be a month of sundays on a rear end, and I'll bet the end result wont come out as hoped.

 

You really need consistent heat of 300-400 degrees depending on the powder for a fairly specific length of time.

I think a heat gun is gonna leave you more than disappointed.

1. Chance of overcooking and yellowing.

2. Chance of undercuring and having the coating be soft and not resistant to anything.

3. Chance of both scenarios on the same part.

General pain in the rear...

 

A heat gun won't work because it blows air and it will blow the powder off the part. I always bake but a few friends I know have done bike frames with a Infared lamp. It is very time consuming but the results seems satifactory. You hold the lamp if one area or spot untill the powder melts then move to next ajacent area allowing the heat to slightly overlap the previovs area. You just leep that process up till the whole parts is melted or glazed over. I would guess then, you would be able to use a heat gun then to heat the part to get the final cure. I have a large body lamp with eight bulbs I have thought about trying but it would be hard to concentrate heat in small tight area.

 

Try TNC Powder Coating on Onslow Pines Rd - down from New River Harley Davidson on the left heading towards HWY 53 (right side heading towards HWY 17).

TNC Powder Coating
1191 Onslow Pines Rd
Jacksonville, NC
(910) 381-0749

 

I'm not sure 'they' recommend using a house oven for powder-coating. Outg***ing, etc....your wife will be pretty pissed when her souffle smells and tastes like car parts.

I know I read this caution somewhere in an article about powdercoating...

dj

 

You buy (or get a free one) at a thrift store or Craigslist that you use specifically just for powder. NEVER use the one you use to cook food in.

 

yaaa, i got mines for free from lejeuneyardsales.com but you dont see them on their often.

 

I have four of them that I removed the burners from and then stacked them double. Works great when doing a set of wheels.

 

Sorry, I'm laughing my *** off. Heat Gun!?? Are you serious?

Once you have the part sandblasted and cleaned-up, it's a short distance to spraying paint. There's no advantage to powder coating in todays market. It was a good deal when natural gas was cheap, but now gas costs a fortune.

The idea of spraying powder on a hot surface was a financial one. That era is over.

For every cubic foot of natural gas you use, three billionaires get richer.

 

My powdercoating oven is pretty good sized dedicated built unit. It's 6 feet long for doing stuff like rear housings and core supports.

I cook my lunch in it all the time while I'm running parts through the cycle. I just wrap my food in aluminum foil and lay it on the floor of the oven for a few minutes. You aren't supposed to do it, but I do it anyway.

 

I run a pretty decent sized powdercoating shop. My main oven is 6 feet long, 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide internal dimensions. It pulls about 30 amps of electricity at full blast. I use it for a majority of my jobs like wheels and suspension parts.

The era of paint is closer to being over than powder. The EPA is killing the paint business over concerns of solvents and iso chemicals. Powdercoating has none of those issues to be concerned with. That is the reason PC will continue to grow and replace paint on lots of applications. Plus, materials are cheaper and the final finish is tougher.

The days of spraying paint without a booth and ***ociated specialized shop equipment are coming to an end. The local paint places here basically won't even sell paint products to anyone but shops anymore. Too many driveway paint jobs are being noticed by the bunny huggers of the world.

 

No advantage to powder coating? Dude, where did you come from? Powder coating last longer and is more scratch resistant then paint.

 

ya, i have to agree with this guy...i never heard a bad response to any powder coating work.

 

have you thought about taking it to a powdercoater with a bigger oven?
or buy a bunch of IR lights

 

That's the theory. I have a frame and an alternator that tells a different story.

My days of buying into that fantasy are over.

 

Just a little food for thought…
First, I ***ume the rear end is cast. If this is the case, you will need to preheat the rear end in order to sweat out the oil and grease out from within the pours of the cast. If you don’t, the gases from the oils beneath the surface will rise through the powder coat as it is curing. Also, preheat the rear end BEFORE powder coating. This will insure an even temperature throughout the part or parts you are powder coating.

 

you still have to powder the huge bulky item and get it into the oven w/o touching it.
easier said than done if your talking shoving it into a couple old house ovens back to back.
easier to pay a pc guy 100 and be done with it, I blast, prep, coat, bake and wrap 'em for 120 single color. there probably is someone close to him that would do it that easy as well.

 

Let the pro's do the big parts and let your oven do the small stuff !
If you are going to get the rear done , think of everything else too big or small and you will get a better price ! A big oven costs the same to heat a rear or a rear with small parts ! just a thought !

 

What type of rear? (ford, chevy ?)
See if you can get it hot tanked or pre cooked, you may think you have it clean but when it is powdercoated and baked you can get grease/oil "cooking" out of the casting, around the axle tubes/center housing or even around vent tube hole and into the powder.
Had local engine rebuilder hot tank 12 bolt chevy then took it to a powdercoater to finish.
I powdercoating small as part of my business but this rear was to big and too much h***le, find someone with the right equiptment you won't be sorry

 

While I do agree with you in your arguement, I didnt ask for instructions myself. I ***ume he wants to do it his-self, and I am abliging the question. No one will ever do anything themselves without alittle "what if I ...." and if you dont have any creativity than go ahead and pay someone else to do your work and take credit for building you car for you.

 

I painted my last rear-end with Por-15. Hard as a rock, looks great and not as expensive as powder coating. Don't get me wrong, luv powder-coated parts, it is just that I am a cheap *******, save that for the parts that will actually be seen.