HOW TO: Powder coat (lots of pics)

It appears you have not yet registered with our community. To post, access all available content, and enjoy the benfits of being a forum member, please click here...

Join our community!

If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

HOW TO: Powder coat (lots of pics)
Topic Started: Nov 22 2009, 09:30 PM (188 Views)
scott0999	Nov 22 2009, 09:30 PM Post #1
Post Whore Posts: 562 Group: Official WI GM-Tuners Member #1,292 Joined: December 1, 2007	lately I've been getting alot of PMs with people showing interest in powder coating. How do you do it, is it worth it, ect. So I'm writing a how to what you will need: powder coating system: http://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder-coating/powder-coat-guns/original-hotcoat-powdercoating-gun.html oven. it has to be an electic oven that you can dedicate to powder coating. once you use it for powder coating it cannot be used for food ever again air compressor. for powder coating you dont need a big air compressor at all. your only running about 10psi so any small compressor will do infrared thermometer: you will also need some wire to hang parts with. this is the bare minimum you need to get started. theres many other parts like high temperature tape and silicone plugs to mask off areas you dont want coated. aluminum foil is good to use for valve covers and intake manifolds. for this how-to I'm just doing a small part for demonstration. heres the part I started with: my preferred method of prepping the part is sandblasting: there are also chemical strippers you can use to remove paint for prepping parts. but I usually only use them if the part did not turn out and I need to remove the powder coat. depending on the part your doing you might need to preheat it. some castings have air trapped in them, and when you put them in the oven the air escapes and causes bubbles in the coating. this is called "outgassing" basically if you want the part to turn out you should really preheat it until you become familiar with what parts normally outgas. for this how-to I did not preheat the part because I knew it would not outgas. I use a ladder and mount the oven rack to it with a vice grip. sometimes you will need to find some creative way to hang the part. the part for this how to was easy to do: and a closer view. note the ground wire attached: and here is the powder coating system hooked up below: the concept of powder coating is the powder is held onto the part with a static charge. then you put it in the oven to bake it on. before you begin coating go ahead and turn your oven on to 450F to preheat put on a dust mask and begin coating the part. move the gun in a circular motion about 6" from the part. I usually start away from the ground and work my way torward it. when your done touch the tip of the gun to the ground wire. you should see a spark which discharges the gun. disconnect the power wire to the unit. at this point its a good idea to take a light and make sure the part has complete coverage. go over to your oven and open the door. take the oven rack and walk it slowly to the oven and drop it in. I've never had the powder fall off so its not as bad as it sounds close the door and wait about 10 minutes. then check the part with your infrared thermometer: once the part reaches 450* go ahead and turn the oven down to 400*. wait 20 minutes and turn off the oven, crack the door open. wait for the part to cool off. once the part is cooled off its ready to be put into service



snowblindburd	Nov 22 2009, 11:42 PM Post #2
Beretta Junkie Posts: 4,981 Group: Admin Member #21 Joined: October 12, 2005	Excellent how-to Scott! This process is so cool and quick! Well. besides part prep.. lol!
	1990 Pontiac Sunbird /// 1995 Beretta Base /// betty progress /// NITROFEST Sept. 2010:MidWest Meet


GA_GT1	Nov 23 2009, 04:21 AM Post #3
Advanced Member Posts: 351 Group: Official WI GM-Tuners Member #7,268 Joined: May 9, 2009 Car Year/Make/Model 2004/pontiac/Grand AM GT1	this should be stickied


« Previous Topic · Exterior · Next Topic »