sfc rick

I just bought the harbour freight kit and red powder coat a couple of days ago, today went and picked up a large oven with two seperate oven compartments.

Tomorrow I'm going to wire the Oven in and the next couple of days going to try my hand at it. It should be fun and I'm sure I'll powdercoat everything I can pickup and stuff in the oven.

c4cruiser

Do it outside or have a way to get lots of air circulation around the oven. The HF coatings get real stinky.

sfc rick

Thanks for the advice!

I've already made sure to use my carport for the experiment so it wouldn't stink up the house or my shop. Later I may add another addition to my bike/vette shop for this hobby.

CorvetteMike2024

Post up pics when you do them. I have wanted to do some home cookin myself. Good luck.

Corvette Mike

sfc rick

Oh I'll post the pics for sure!

Frizlefrak

Yep....would love to see your results. Might be something I want to try my hand at down the road.

kenv

^^^Ditto^^^

pologreen1

cool, I almost bought one from them about 10 years ago, and decided, I would quickly run out of things to coat.

I think it will be fine, it is a little different than painting with liquid.

Frizlefrak

Ya know, I tend to go overboard too....I can see myself running out of things to coat but still wanting to do it. Next thing I would be powdercoating the dishwasher, the iron, the neighbors mailbox, the vacuum cleaner....and dismantling each so it would fit in the oven. Then I would get a $600 electric bill for running the oven 24/7. Could get ugly in a hurry.

kangi

Can't wait to see how it goes

johnnymo63

Sounds cool.

Do you have a sandblaster to prep the stuff you want to paint, or doing it mostly by hand?

nutz4c4

Get in touch with Agent86. Dan has done alot of home cookin' with really nice results.

sfc rick

I already polished most of the parts, so buying a bead blaster wasn't in the plans. But I did catch myself eyeing one at Harbour Freight looking pretty lonely and begging to go home with me.

RedVette84

I'd like to see the results also.

JackDidley

If you said that around here, cops would be all over you.

Midnight 85

I do my own powdercoating and a bead blaster can be a very valuable item for the process. It will get into nooks & crannies you normally can't get to. Polishng the metal first is a definite plus. the parts will look much better when coated. There are lots of little tricks that will make your job easier such as being sure you cook all aluminum parts before coating so they can "outgas". This will eliminate bubbles in the coating from escaping gases within the aluminum. Also, any parts such as an intake manifold will coat more evenly if you preheat them and coat them while they are still hot. If I can be of any help just pm me, also Agent 86 would be a good source of knowledge. I have started experimenting with certain procedures and am getting ready to try some of the exotic colors and basecoat clearcoat powders. Everything red & silver on my engine is powder. Sorry I don't have a better pic right now.

[IMG][/IMG]

ottawabarber

Midnight85 just finished a major engine rebuild for me and did some GREAT powder coat on mine.

Here is the valve covers out of the oven



Here is the finished job with plenum powdered also

sfc rick

Thanks for the tips "85" and the pics from ottawabarber!

I'm sure I'm going to get the bead blaster, it seems I can't look at it in the store and NOT think of ways to use.

redrose

common errors;
1) poor grounding...if your pant legs 'cling' to your leg when you trigger the gun, look for grounding prob (wall outlets often are not good grnd)

2) dirty parts...unlike wet paints, powder has '0' solvent in it and will not 'dig its own fox', even fingerprints may cause lack of adhesion

3) 'Faraday cage'...tight inside corners may exclude powder due to this magnetic phenomenon

4) bake time/temp must follow powder mfr's recommend

5) keep your powder dry.

turbotim23

Hi I have a Harbor Freight powder coating gun. I found it really makes a mess outside in driveway and wind is a problem. I didn't want to do it inside but I'm making a simple box w/filter and fan to control this a little better. I second the advice on preheating parts, It looks look much better doing it also! I wouldn't buy your powder from HF you can buy used powder from places that have big runs of parts and have left over powder. Most times you can buy it for less than a dollar pound. search the web there are sites that tell you how to build your own powdercoat oven. I want one big enough to do quad frames, They charge big money to do these I think you could make good money doing it at home. So far I do mostly small parts that I blast myself or sometimes I use a vibratory polisher filled with different media.Sometimes that's much easier,you just throw parts in and let it run for a few hours.The best powder is the fake chrome, some of these need to be clear coated after though. also check out the translucent powders they are 3 stage process but look like candy automotive paints. One thing I did was contact various powder coat companies for samples not telling them I only did it at home, they will send you 3 to 5 lbs free to try their powder. as it takes that much to try it in a big machine but that goes a long way at home. Good Luck Tim