Came across this video and thought I would share - might be an option for some of us, doesn't look too hard!
DIY Powder Coat
- Thread starter Ceros_X
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Nice!
It may have to wait until summer but this must be in my arsenal...
something , something SFF wallet drain..
It may have to wait until summer but this must be in my arsenal...
something , something SFF wallet drain..
The HF kit (the exact one in the video) is how I got into powdercoating.
It works, but you have to know its limitations.
The first thing you need to know is that powercoating is not magic. You will not magically get better results than using a Rustoleum paint can. You need to learn technique same as anything else.
The second thing you need to know is that powdercoating is much more time and equipment involved than spray painting (much more so than if you just use aerosol paint cans).
The third thing you need to know is that home powdercoating is _extremely_ messy. You can ruin your garage/shop/back porch extremely quickly without a collector. The fine powder if it is not completely cleaned up has a way of embedding itself in everything forever after a couple days. Humidity accelerates this. Getting your parts into your oven is quite tricky too, and if you bump it during hanging you will need to start all over again.
The fourth thing you need to know is that your parts must be extremely clean, and free of any cleaning chemicals. If not, the powder will not flow, bake, or cure correctly. Stripping powdercoat is not something that is fun to do at home. With paint, although you do need a clean and smooth surface, primer will pretty much stick to anything. Not so with powder.
Now some notes specific to the HF kit.
1. Ionization. The kit is like what, 70 bucks? The guns my buddies use at there shop are 10 grand a pop. Turns out there is technology in the guns that make a big difference in getting powder to be charged correctly so it lays down nicely and doesnt do...odd...things. This is unfortunately something you just need to deal with with this kit. I would say it is OK for a hobbiest, but boy can it be frustrating.
2. Grounding. Pay to have a big grounding rod put in near where you are powdercoating, and do some mods to make sure your hooks, cables and clamps are beefy. In my experience the wall wasn't enough.
Both these two points mean you will be using a TON of powder. Not that big of a deal in terms of cost for us hobbiests, but it makes a huuuggge mess and you need to have good lighting setup because your part will take forever to get good build-up.
Some more tips...
Make sure you have a good compressor, and that you can get DRY air out of it. REALLY dry air. That is the hidden cost with this kit...an air drier. If you have even a teeny bit of humidity in your lines...forget it. 10 mins in you will be absolutely done.
Be VERY careful! You can cause an arc to jump from your gun to your ground, and I have seen powder ignite too. I actually had this happen to me with this kit and I woke up on the garage floor. I partially blame myself, and partially the tip design. Because it is so hard to get the powder to stick with this kit you gotta get really close sometimes which makes this more likely to happen.
You can get pretty decent results with it, and I certainly fell in love with powdercoating, but really what made me hang this up in my garage never to use again was the mess and the fact that if your bake messed up...it was so hard to strip at home. Compared to "wet" paint you can just use a normal paint stripper and try again in the morning.
Peace and good luck!
My Chicago/Central Machinery HF Powdercoat gun...hung up in the rafters of my shop where it will stay until the end of time (or someone picks it up for free)
It works, but you have to know its limitations.
The first thing you need to know is that powercoating is not magic. You will not magically get better results than using a Rustoleum paint can. You need to learn technique same as anything else.
The second thing you need to know is that powdercoating is much more time and equipment involved than spray painting (much more so than if you just use aerosol paint cans).
The third thing you need to know is that home powdercoating is _extremely_ messy. You can ruin your garage/shop/back porch extremely quickly without a collector. The fine powder if it is not completely cleaned up has a way of embedding itself in everything forever after a couple days. Humidity accelerates this. Getting your parts into your oven is quite tricky too, and if you bump it during hanging you will need to start all over again.
The fourth thing you need to know is that your parts must be extremely clean, and free of any cleaning chemicals. If not, the powder will not flow, bake, or cure correctly. Stripping powdercoat is not something that is fun to do at home. With paint, although you do need a clean and smooth surface, primer will pretty much stick to anything. Not so with powder.
Now some notes specific to the HF kit.
1. Ionization. The kit is like what, 70 bucks? The guns my buddies use at there shop are 10 grand a pop. Turns out there is technology in the guns that make a big difference in getting powder to be charged correctly so it lays down nicely and doesnt do...odd...things. This is unfortunately something you just need to deal with with this kit. I would say it is OK for a hobbiest, but boy can it be frustrating.
2. Grounding. Pay to have a big grounding rod put in near where you are powdercoating, and do some mods to make sure your hooks, cables and clamps are beefy. In my experience the wall wasn't enough.
Both these two points mean you will be using a TON of powder. Not that big of a deal in terms of cost for us hobbiests, but it makes a huuuggge mess and you need to have good lighting setup because your part will take forever to get good build-up.
Some more tips...
Make sure you have a good compressor, and that you can get DRY air out of it. REALLY dry air. That is the hidden cost with this kit...an air drier. If you have even a teeny bit of humidity in your lines...forget it. 10 mins in you will be absolutely done.
Be VERY careful! You can cause an arc to jump from your gun to your ground, and I have seen powder ignite too. I actually had this happen to me with this kit and I woke up on the garage floor. I partially blame myself, and partially the tip design. Because it is so hard to get the powder to stick with this kit you gotta get really close sometimes which makes this more likely to happen.
You can get pretty decent results with it, and I certainly fell in love with powdercoating, but really what made me hang this up in my garage never to use again was the mess and the fact that if your bake messed up...it was so hard to strip at home. Compared to "wet" paint you can just use a normal paint stripper and try again in the morning.
Peace and good luck!
My Chicago/Central Machinery HF Powdercoat gun...hung up in the rafters of my shop where it will stay until the end of time (or someone picks it up for free)
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Thanks for the extensive writeup ! Hmm, I guess I'll swing back to HVLP if I ever need a project that requires painting. I have more experience (yet still just peasant-level) with spray-painting so rather than getting into something completely new, I'd much rather hone the skill I'm mediocre at.
I'm with you. I actually am trying to get better at HVLP because I hate relying on someone else's schedule to powercoat, and really it is not a hobby that is easily done at home.
I like painting, but after reading Josh's insightful piece, I don't want to attempt it. One thing I cannot do when painting, building, hell even cooking, is maintaining a clean work space and it would be the worst to get all that powder stuck in my garage.
I feel like for something as simple as painting a Yeti(Really just an overpriced mug that you could get off Amazon for 10$) it seems viable, but for any complex uses, like painting a case, it wouldn't be the best idea to take on yourself.
I feel like for something as simple as painting a Yeti(Really just an overpriced mug that you could get off Amazon for 10$) it seems viable, but for any complex uses, like painting a case, it wouldn't be the best idea to take on yourself.
What machine do you have or have experience with ? I have my sights set on the Fuji DIY series.
Looks good but I do not think I would be able to do it myself.
I still need help from a powder coating company.
I still need help from a powder coating company.
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