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I'm building some engines in the next few years (small block for the Corvette, 455 for the Firebird and the I-6 in the TR6), so I thought it would be handy to have a powder coating system. I went with Eastwood's when they had one of their weekly sales. It came with a gun, filter, high temp masking tape, wire for mounting the part being powder coated, plugs so you don't powdercoat threads or areas with tight clearance and three powders. I went out and bought a good sized toaster oven for $100 and was ready to go.
Today, I turned my air compressor down to 8 psi, cleaned a breather with paint prep and preheated the oven to 450°. I sprayed the part with Chevy orange and put it in the oven. After the powder flowed out, I turned the oven down to 400° and let it cure for 20 minutes. The results are below. It's pretty east and I'm very happy with the results. I'm going to get a used oven for the car shop I have at work so I can bigger parts like the intake manifold.
Yep, looks good. I did the same thing. I was very impressed with my first few jobs. Now if it can fit in the oven, it gets coated instead of painted. The other good thing is that after the part cools, it's ready for installation. None of this waiting for paint to dry stuff.
Like HOOHAH, if it fits in my oven, I powdercoat it. Great for all the little things with the headlights, brackets, etc.
Hope this helps
Russ
That's exactly what I bought from Eastwood. I also found a GREAT deal on Craigs List for a garage oven. Only a year old and paid 100 bucks for an 800 dollar stove from a woman who moved from a house to an Apt and had to get rid of it quick.
St. Jude Donor '05-'06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15
I got one for Christmas about 2 years ago and have used it twice now. Both times, the parts turned out real nice. I even got a used oven for FREE from one of my buddies that does appliance repair. The first time I used it, I made such a mess with all of the overspray. Lots of wasted powder on the floor. I bought the biggest rubber maid storage container and that is where I sprayed my second set of stuff.
Take a look at the Eastwood Powder Coating Forums. Some of those guys are really good.
Hi,
If you DON'T take the cost of the equipment and oven in to account, how does the price of just the powder compare to buying paint?
It certainly is a superior finish for many parts.
Regards,
Alan
8 oz of Chevy orange powder is $8, 5 lbs is $50, from Eastwood. It should only take one coat to have good coverage. A 12 oz can of Krylon Chevy orange spray paint is $5. Some parts, like the water pump and damper are going to have to be painted since they can't go in a 450° oven without ruining them.
Hi,
If you DON'T take the cost of the equipment and oven in to account, how does the price of just the powder compare to buying paint?
It certainly is a superior finish for many parts.
Regards,
Alan
On their website they say an 8oz bottle will usually cover 10-20 sqr ft.
Love my kit, got it from Eastwood. Built a "spraybooth" with only one open side out of 1/4 plywood with a rotating lazy susan rack that the oven rack slides into (so i can hang things off it or set things on it) not the prettiest but it works great. I found my oven at a thrift store for seven bucks (don't use your house oven) changed the plug so i can swap with the dryer in the garage and got one of those little oven temp gauges to make sure i'm cooking at the right temp. Also, you might want to cover the rack with tinfoil so it doesn't get powder coated too, I hang the small parts with steel wire and connect the ground lead to the rack; if the rack gets coated it's tough to get the ground later on. powder seems to go a long way, all the below parts plus a few others and maybe used half a bottle. Some pretty wild colors are available too.
Last edited by MyRed69; Feb 27, 2011 at 02:27 PM.
Reason: fixed pic link
I think I understand all the pro's for powder coating, other than mentioned above, what are the other "cons" ???
Is it plastic powder ?
Does it take more to scratch it ?
Is there anything that shouldn't be coated ?
Can it be electrified to keep it from getting all over the place ?
Thanks,
Frank
That's how powder coating works. The gun also comes with a little box that you plug into the wall and hook it onto the piece to be coated. That charges the part, you then spray powder that is designed to be more negatively charged and therefore sticks to the part when they come together. You only spray at 5-10psi so there shouldn't really be all that much overspray if you're doing it right.
You then bake it in the oven to turn the powder to a liquid then it hardens. Giving you a hardened and durable coat.
Anything you want powder coated needs to be able to handle high temps for the curing so that leaves some things out. So i've heard you shouldn't really do aluminum wheels?
My neighbor bought the Eastwood kit and wanted to do bigger parts than would fit in his oven. He built a 60"X40X40 steel box. Had the outside insulated and put 4 General Electric oven heating units in it. He does really big parts now.
afaik
most of the "chrome" OE badging found on present day passenger vehicles are actually thermoplastic coated via "vacuum metalizing" ... same for much of the OE chrome-like interior plastic parts