Do It yourself Powder coating, anyone here attempted it?

[wigginwilly00]

Anyone here try doing their own powder coating? Currently my truck is pulled apart so now would be the time to getr-done. A couple of buddies and myself want to try our hand at powder coating several parts.

We need to find a quality powder coating kit and cheap oven to accomplish these tasks.
I searched and didn't come up with any How-To's in the forums but maybe someone can chime in with their experience.

I'm told the process is pretty easy and prep work is key but I'm searching to see if anyone has any opinions on any particular kits or direction? Or should I just leave this task of powder coating to the professionals?

-Chris

 

[Dark_5.0]

Stay away from airless kits. Pneumatic hobby kits do great on small parts like intakes, valve covers etc... Large parts are very hard to do with the hobby kits, I learned the hard way on some inner fender wells.

Prep and cure time are key to good results. I am getting to the point where I can do multi layer candy colors, clear coat etc...

I did the intake and valve covers as well as various suspension parts on my 5.0.. I am about to coat some stuff on the lightning and CRX.

 

[wigginwilly00]

Looks good man..

Seeing all of these "Do it yourself" jobs is really tempting.

 

[203Cree]

Caswell Inc. - High Voltage Powder Coating System

Have that kit, have used it a TON on several bikes and a few cars. Buy the powder from them too. As was said, prep and setup are key. A good clean oven (electric, let's stress that) is a plus as well.

 

[Tex Arcana]

Ovens are easy to get, and cheap.

Process, however, is another question.

SCCA has banned any powder-coated aluminum wheels from any of their competitions, because people were using a high-temperature process (~400degF) that was weakening the wheels and causing breakage on-track.

I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure that anything over ~270degF will cause problemes with aluminum, so be careful. If the parts aren't going to be stressed, you'll be okay; but if they're things like wheels, suspension components, etc., you might want to make sure before you do it.

 

[203Cree]

Most of the regular usage powder is right at 400 deg for cooking, with a cook time of 10 minutes or so. I wouldn't think that would be enough to weaken metals, but I could be wrong I suppose.

 

[Wayneovich]

My friend picked up a kit from Harbor Freight don't know if you are a fan of them but it was cheap. As for an oven check around any local goodwill stores they always have them there.

 

[wigginwilly00]

Good info here..

Any other guys have pics of the process with their powdercoating from start/finish?