Those of you who do your own powder coating?.

[tkent02]

How is the learning curve? I have an engine I'm rebuilding now, and a couple complete bikes that need to be rebeautified.

I do my own paint, I'm getting pretty good at it.

Can I just buy the Eastwood gun and go to town or will there be a lot of ugly parts made before the good ones start to happen? I know it's all in the prep like anything else, but is it tricky? Any down side to it?

I'm sitting on the fence between doing this now and continuing with spray cans of epoxy paint, engine paint, caliper paint.

It seems like with these projects lined up, now is a good time to start. I have a toaster oven to use, and there's a full sized electric kitchen oven down the street for free?.

Or do I need something better?


This bike would have looked a lot better If I had powdercoated everything?

Of course it would have looked a lot better if I had painted all those parts, too.

 

[Nessism]

Rattle can paint is not very durable, even if you bake the stuff. Powder coat on the other hand is uber durable. There are various types (urethane, polyester) so you need to do some research depending on what you want. You also need to prep the material correctly. Typically a phosphate wash is done just before coating. At any rate, I think it would be a lot of fun to learn. I say get on the learning curve Tom and see where it takes you...

 

[Guest]

You have to do the same prep as you would for painting and if that isn't done you'll have problems, otherwise it is easier than painting with a spray gun.

 

[crackerman]

I got the Eastwood kit. Get the complete kit with plenty of plugs and tape. I picked up an oven from Craigslist. Prep the parts right and it's pretty easy. You don't need much of a compressor, I use my pancake roofing one, as you shoot at a real low pressure.

You def want to pre bake your parts before you shoot them. The powder will stick way better. You need to figure out your set up, like how your going to hang parts, shoot them, then transfer them to the oven. Bake time is pretty quick, like 20 minutes. Powder gets everywhere, but you can just sweep it up.

 

[tkent02]

Ok, planning on the Eastwood kit. You sound happy with it sounds like?

Is there special powder for things like engine cases that get hot? How hot is OK? Cylinders? Mufflers? Head Pipes?

Can I spray it outside in decent weather? I'm good for the compressor and the oven, just need to go pick the big oven up.

Anything else I need to get ahead of time?

 

[Seaking]

If you spray powder indoors you can easily set up a booth with a bathroom fan to pull air through a furnace filter at the back of the booth so you won't end up with a lot of powder on the floor to sweep up, it keeps things tidier. If spraying outdoors, you obviously have to be aware of the breeze.

I built a 4' X 4' X 2' both with corrugated plastic panels that folds up to 2'X x 4' x 4 inches for when I'm not using it.. works great for powder and other paints. I call it my Origami Booth.

You can get nice results with the Eastwood kit on the first go, and gets even better with a little more practice. As you mentioned, it's all in the prep before spraying powder.

I was told NOT to use glass to blast parts but sand and soda is OK.. but they couldn't tell me the "why" glass was bad.. Once I cleaned the glass blasted parts off properly, I couldn't see what the issue was on a test piece.. unless the problems pop up later on...

 

[Guest]

There is virtually no overspray, which causes dry coats with a paint gun, also, as mentioned, you don't need as much CFM.

I live a couple miles from Eastwood and have all sorts of coupons, so if anybody wants to get a "group buy" together, I can go over, pick it up and distribute it.
You do get bulk discounts, btw.

 

[barnbiketom]

Eastwood here too and best thing I ever bought...
just get it and if doing aluminum, preheat @200 for 20 minutes then shoot the stuff on and bake.

Clean the parts with LINT FREE rags and Acetone ( home depot sells quarts) and you will get professional results the first time out. Good Luck!!

 

[Guest]

I think Eastwood recommends a full size oven but the lights work great.
Just expensive.

 

[tkent02]

There is virtually no overspray, which causes dry coats with a paint gun, also, as mentioned, you don't need as much CFM.

I live a couple miles from Eastwood and have all sorts of coupons, so if anybody wants to get a "group buy" together, I can go over, pick it up and distribute it.
You do get bulk discounts, btw.

How many is a group, and how big the discount? I was going to order the kit tonight.

 

[Guest]

Sorry, I was offline for a couple days!

Did you order anything,?
The powder coating kit was, I think, on sale until today....

 

[Guest]

Also, this last year Eastwood separated the online store from the actual store and it seems that you can't order stuff online and pick it up. The "in person" discounts at the store are sometimes more or less than when you order online.

 

[GateKeeper]

powder coating in your garage alone...

powder coating in your garage alone...

I just saw this vid and thought you might find it interesting and or funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T01zIKxP0Ms

.

 

[tkent02]

Thanks for the video, it actually helped a little.

Got the Eastwood stuff yesterday, went to find my toaster oven. It's been out in the shed for five years or so, now it's gone. Who steals a toaster oven?

Anyway goodwill had a nice new looking Black & Decker one for $7. That'll do.

Chose a part that a few flaws wouldn't hurt, how about the oil pan? No one will see it no matter how bad I screw it up. I cleaned it up, preheated it to let the oil and stuff outgas out of the pores in the metal, let it cool, shot the powder, cooked it, I have only one thing to thing to say?

This is really easy!

There is one spot that didn't get enough powder, one spot where it wasn't clean enough, the rest looks great! I need a better pair of scissors or something to cut the masking tape, that's about it.

 

[GateKeeper]

Nicely done....

I am sending you all my parts.....

now if your oven was only big enough to fit a bike rim......

.

 

[tkent02]

Nicely done....

I am sending you all my parts.....

now if your oven was only big enough to fit a bike rim......

.

It will be, there's an electric kitchen oven on it's way here, I can build an insulated half box type thing to sit on the open oven door which will make it big enough to do wheels.

For now I need to be content with toaster oven sized pieces.

 

[tkent02]

Easy easy easy:

 

[Seaking]

Very nicely done! Good on ya!

My plan is to suspend some parts to powder then transfering them to the pizza size toaster oven.. How easy is it to knock the powder off if you accidently tap the item on a hard surface while transfering? Most of the flat parts I'm doing can be laid flat on the rack and powdered, but the 'all around' small parts I am thinking of making some kind of support, something like a rotisery stand so it can be powdered on it and transfered to the oven..

 

[tkent02]

The powder falls off is you bonk it on something, or if you brush against it. No big deal, just hit it again. I've been using regular masking tape, just remove it before it goes in the oven. Even doing that I haven't knocked the powder off except one time. Pizza size would be better, probably big eough for a valve cover, what about an engine case?

 

[Seaking]

Thanks for the info.. I'm picking up my powder coat kit next week.. only had a chance to use a friend's unit to see how it all worked.

On my GS650G engine, the valve cover doesn't fit by that -> <- much.. can't close the door.. but the side engine covers do well.. The oven I have is 12" deep, 13" wide and 7" high from the bottom most rack. Good for now.. Electric ovens are easy and cheap to come by around here, $10 or free will get you a decent one if you don't mind it not having working burners on top, just the working oven Just need to find space to park it in the garage now..