HF powder coat gun update

[LanceM]

After what seemed like a never ending quest I finally found a free electric range to use for powder coating. I am quite pleased with the results and wanted to say that the HF gun was well worth the sale price. After today's results I'm looking forward to doing other items and have learned allot doing just these few small things.

I used Eastwood's powders and they worked well. The items in the pics are all done in black wrinkle coat, the finish looks very old school which is what I was looking for and does cover/hide small imperfections.

I am now planning on building a metal cabinet to coat in so that it will be easier to reclaim the "overspray" powder. The cardboard box I used today worked fine but there is no way to reclaim all of the powder and what is left would contaminate other colors making this a one powder only box.

So I would say that if you were on the fence thinking about doing this yourself go for it, IMHO it works great.

[Jackhammer]

Lance, lookin' good!

I am contemplating the powder coating thing myself. Like you the draw back is an oven.

I just picked up 20+ various pieces from the powder coater. After closer inspection there are surface scratches from mis-handling and places on exterior trim pieces where they had it hanging and P/C didn't get on it. Needless to say unexceptable. It is going back this coming week. Obviously, I can control Q/C better.

The big draw back with a small oven is doing longer pieces like the drip molding and the window/door frames. But for smaller stuff it seems to be the answer.

What set up did you end up buying?

Do you know anything about these set ups? How does it compare with what you have?

www.caswellplating.com/index.html

[LanceM]

This is what I got, on sale they are $69

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42802

Extra cups are $5.99. WWW.eastwood.com has a bunch of colors/textures of powder, average price around $10 per 1/2 pound which will do about 20 sq ft price goes down with quanity of course.

The guns I have looked at all appear to be about the same in design, perhaps different boxes for the electronics but that's about it. They are all probably coming from the same factory in China... The only thing about the caswell one is the stuff you get with it, what would I do with those colors they supply in the kit? I'd rather spend the money and get colors I want.

I've lost the link I had of a homemade oven, the guy had a lot in it but built it to do it for profit, his plan used sheetmetal, metal house studs, and unfaced fiberglass insulation. It was all pop rivited together, a good idea and looked easy to build. He had like $800 in it using all new comercial componets. I figure I could build one for around $100 using componets from junk stoves (pleny good enough for DIY at home) that would be large enough to do things like window/door frames which are on my list of things to do.

My next project is to build an extention box that will slide into the door opening of the stove that will allow me to do a Datsun valve cover, nothing fancy, just something that will make it work.

[jmanz6]

I used that gun as well when I first started. It is a very nice gun for what it costs. I was very happy with the results. I have moved to a bigger, more professional gun so I can do larger parts. The HF gun is only one current level, so doing larger parts is more difficult. For the small parts, it's perfect though. I used powders from Pendry. They are in Indiana and have a huge selection of colors. They are a bit cheaper than Eastwood as well.

As far as doing larger items that don't fit in the oven. I use a radiant heater for my propane tank. They work great, and as long as you keep an eye on the surface temp (use a laser thermometer), the results are as good as the oven.

You will always have spots where the powder doesn't get to. That is a problem with powder coating. It has to hange from something, and where it is hanging, no powder goes. The trick is to make that spot as small as possible, and hide it in a place that will be covered in the reassembly (like a bolt will cover it or something).

[2003z]

Do you know anything about these set ups? How does it compare with what you have?

www.caswellplating.com/index.html

You would be better off with Eastwood's starter set. You get a lot more 'useful' items with it. Like the candy red you get with caswell, they aren't telling you that it needs to be applied over a chrome powder base, not included. And who needs pine green powder? Besides Eastwood is 10% off everything til the end of the month.

I started off with the eastwood starter kit, and now that I have a functioning business, have moved up to their pro gun.

Lance, welcome to the world of powder, its a highly rewarding hobby!

[LanceM]

Tell me more about using the radiant heater, I've got one, do you move it around to get all of the part?

Also does Pendry have a site??

[2003z]

double post, sorry

[2003z]

Here is my oven extension:

and a slider I use to make it even bigger. I designed it to fit the rear bumper, but haven't gotten around to pulling the bumper off next, as it appears the gas tank has to come out to reach the side mounting bolt.

If anyone needs larger items like a valve cover or drip rails, let me know. I specialize mostly in calipers, but you can see examples of my work at the website in my signature.

[LanceM]

Thanks Mike for the welcome, though I doubt I'll ever do more than my own items, it was and is an interesting experience. Never being involved in more than owning pc tools or other commercial items it something else doing it yourself. I'm amazed at how tough the stuff is, I did some test items and it is one tough coating, like everyone has said for so long, but who wants to take a new skill saw and work at chipping/scratching the finish

I'm going to have to be careful, I can see that already, all those items already painted.... pc would be so much better, all I have to do is take them back off the car and strip the paint and ....... See I'm in trouble all ready

[LanceM]

Mike,

Where did you get that insulation board for your stove extention???

[MikeW]

I designed it to fit the rear bumper, but haven't gotten around to pulling the bumper off next, as it appears the gas tank has to come out to reach the side mounting bolt.

It's a tight fit but you can get the bumpers on and off without dropping the tank. This is a good place to use ratcheting combination wrenches. Of course, I'm still missing the metal triangular plate that covers access to this area through the wheel well. Bambikiller sent me a paper template a while back to reproduce this part but I still haven't gotten around to it. If you unscrew this plate you'll find that you can get to the right side bumper bolt.

[Jackhammer]

Thanks....Lance and Mike for the great information. It has been helpful.

Mike...Super idea for making a larger oven.