I'm looking to powder coat some small parts, (ie. engine mounts, small engine parts etc. And from what I have found on the web, it looks like it is all pretty do-able. All you need is the gun the powder and a small oven (which is the most expensive part). I have found a oven to use but it looks like the thermostat control goes up to only 300 degrees... Will this be an okay temp for powder coating small parts? Thanks for the help and advice in advance. -Chris
Powder coating from home isn't that bad. I know alot of people use old ovens from home that you can get at yard sales or ?. Don't use your wifes or she will kill you. Turkey will never taste the same again. Powder temperature varies from the quality of the powder. I think harbor freight sells small kits w/ individual guns. All you need is air supply and 110 volts. Powder can be bought from Sherwin Williams, PPG, etc. I would say 400 degrees should cover most paints. You can also cook longer if the temp is too low. They are time and temperature not just temp. I am a powder coating engineer.
my setup was the eastwood one. i was doin small parts for motorcycles. parts turned out great. just make sure your surface prep is good.
I do stuff on the side, mainly for myself and for my friends. I use an old eastwood gun. There are two main things that make for a good finish. 1st is prep. Just like paint it's gotta be clean. 2nd is the oven itself. A small kitchen oven is great for little things. I use a toaster oven for little one off parts etc... but the key with ovens is to get an even heat. Once you build an oven ( I did 3ftx3ft, 4 feet deep) your main concern is to get the heat even throughout the oven. You can get great/perfect results at home.
Cool!, So Hypothetically I could use a small oven that only goes up to 300 deg. as long as I cook that parts a little longer than they would be cooked in a 400 degree oven? Would the parts have the same smooth finish, or would they be more rough due to the lower temp? Is there a method for determining how long to cook the parts for with an oven with less heat? Is it possible to replace the thermostat in a small shop oven like that, and therefore raise the temp? The reason I'm asking is because the oven is only $80.00 so its a lot better price, considering the ones at harbor freight sell for $400.00 and they are about the same size. thanks, Chirs
Ha Ha! Yeah I'll have to do something cool for tech week, just haven't figured out what... but it will be off the wall for sure!
Lots of variables, not brain surgery, but not simple either 1) clean werk space, trash in, trash out.... CLEAN< CLEAN CLEAN. we sweep our floors daily, and mop 2 times weekly, dust off rafters, equipment, etc. 2) prep of parts, very important for all oils, dirt, rust to be removed. 3) gun to part distance, voltage, and humidity play a factor 4) the powder cures @ 10-15 mins @ 370-420 part metal temp. (depending on powder formulation, and requirements) lots of cool things can be done with powder coating, although like anything else it has it's limitations too. like anything else experiment, practice, and have fun
You MUST be able to go to 400-425 degrees, if the powder calls for it. Longer time at lower temp does not work.
Aluminum intake, cast iron thermo housing, steel fuel log and carb bases all done at home. some of the Eastwood powders are marked to use 450* for 20 mins. The small toaster oven that I was given goes up above 450. I've never tried it, (I follow directions ) but I don't think baking it at a lower temp for a longer period of time will give you good results. You have to maintain the stated temp on the package for 20 minutes after the powder has melted and turned glossy. If it never gets up to temp it probably won't flow. Obviously a voltage regulator cover will take less time than a cast iron thermostat housing to get up to temp. I have done both in a toaster oven with good results. Once the powder flows set the timer and listen for the buzzer. That is a nice feature of a household oven. I use the timer for both ovens. Check the yard sales. I do intakes in a household oven plugged into my welder socket and smaller stuff in the table top toaster oven.
I picked up my oven used from an appliance dealer for 50 bucks. I've powder coated in it for years. My friend and I have just completed all the suspension parts for his frame off..........anything that fit in the oven, we did..........anything that didn't, like the rear end housing and frame........off the the powdercoater. It's easy, it's fun....and, when you get down to the last load or two of the day, the baking time is the same as "Miller Time".
I've seen it done at home all i can say it just get a pile of crap metal and start practicing on that first, don't start practicing on the parts you want powdercoated
I started out small with an Eastwood hobby gun and a toaster oven from WalMart. Then, I picked up a free oven off of Craigslist. Eventually, I bought a real good gun and had a large dedicated oven built. My big oven will hold 6 foot long parts, but I still use the old kitchen oven for a lot of things. There is no need at all to fire up the big oven for a set of pulleys or an intake manifold. It's pretty good extra cash if you care to pursue it.
It is possible but like some said it is dependant on the time and temperature curve of the pigments in the paint. There isn't just 1 set time and temp so you have some wiggle room.. Your flow and gel time must be able to handle lower temperatures. Again this is based on the powder. I have trialed powder that cured at 250 degrees but that is not readily available. Also depends again on the quality or spec of the powder you want referring to fade, abrasion, how high the temp is and how sensitive that is. But like most said, 400 degrees is pretty common. Ensuring the oven is even is also good but finding a sweet spot in a cheap oven only takes trialing. Alot of cure times are based getting a part up to temperature. A piece of sheetmetal takes much less time than say a axle. Your part must reach setpoint for the powder to start "melting". For that reason less time may be required to get the same result. Some people are using UV to cure as well which only heats the outside. If a powder is rough than it isn't fully cured. My suggestion is use a cooking oven. Should be readily available locally and gives you a range of temps. Buy a gun and get some powder and go. Also look to see how thick the powder should be but practice is required to get good at that before it dries. Don't know how much guns are but I would say $300 and you could be going. Guys all agree on the price? Nick
I picked up an oven at a used appliance store with new elements for 75 dollars and it does the parts fine. One thing to remember on powder coating is the metal has to be clean same as if you would spray paint. I usually baked the bare metal @ 400 degrees prior to coating to burn off any impurities let it cool then powder coat it and bake.
As stated before, most require temp to be around 400 degrees. There are some powders on the market that are "low temp", I believe they are around 250 degrees. Sears sells a gun that does not require you to use a compressor, it generates it's own air.
Dude, build your own oven, I've seen a bunch. Metal frame, sheetmetal covering inside, insulation, then an outer layer of sheetmetal. Basically mimic wood frame construction with metal. Heat source, get an old POS electric house oven that has top burner issues. Put an ad on CL offering $5 and pickup, you'll have one by the weekend. Remove the main baking elements and heat controls for the oven compartment. Hang the element inside your cabinet and put the controls outside. They'll work just as well in your cabinet as they did in the original oven, and they go to 450F. Good luck
Alright! So lets get down to the details on building an oven, and Hell, If it looks cool enough... Maybe I'll do a tech article on building one!. What should the inside metal thickness be? would 18 gauge work alright? What type of insulation needs to be between the inner and outer structure? Whats the best way to make the door on the front? Let's do this.... bounce some ideas back and forth, talk about the best concepts for a home built powder coating oven, as well as a good demension for it, and whether or not it needs a circulation fan, and we'll see if we can't get one built! Let the ideas start flowing...
I did a bracket with black and most of it came out dull with some spots shinny, any advice!! I used a toaster oven rather than heat up an old(free) wall oven, thanks, Henry.
The best one I've seen used thin sheet, you could see distortion around fasteners. And the interior panels were kind of reflective, probably stainless with a crude polish job. It minimizes consumption and heat because I.R. can bounce back onto the workpiece instead of going into the walls. Ventilation was an oversize computer fan mounted on a small tube to isolate heat, and it blew in. There was a passive vent on the other side of the oven with an adjustable damper/cover dealie. Insulation? Yellow house insulation without kraft-face paper, that stuff won't blink at 450f. Yeah you might get fiber breakdown over time but that's an awful lot of heat cycles for a home user.
We built mine. It's 18 gauge metal on the interior. 4 inch thick rock wool high temp insulation. 7600 watts of elements. It heats fast and is well insulated. We bought new elements and scavenged the thermostat and control from a residential oven. The elements are controlled by a contactor which is linked to the residential temp control and thermocouple. We did it this way so any repair parts down the road could be bought on the spot at a local electrical supply house. I didn't want any hard to find stuff that could hold me up if it ever broke. We built a sturdy trolley system into the top of it to support parts on rollers. I built it long like this so I could do motorcycle frames, bumpers, rearend housings, core supports and the like. It's 6 feet deep, 4 feet tall, and 2 feet wide interior dimensions. Cubic foot wise, it's about the limit for my single phase electric service without doing a bunch of rewiring. I'm very satisfied with it. I used one of the internet calculators to determine how many watts my 50 amp electric service would support, then how many cubic feet of space that those watts would heat. It seems to be spot on. From room temp to 400 degrees temp, it takes 20 minutes. You've got to compromise on interior volume. For my jobs, it is more than enough. If you get the thing too big, it will cost so much to run that you don't feel compelled to fire it up very often. I do small batch jobs mostly like sets of wheels. It's ideal for that.
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