Powder coating at home.

[Cobra5150]

I've got a few pieces I need to powder coat. In the past if an oven would have been available I would have coated other things too so this Isn't a one time thing. I have two options I can think of,
First is I found a conventional wall oven/microwave at the local thrift store. it appears to be in three seperate sections with a digital control panel at the top. In my garage I just don't have or want to dedicate that much space to an oven. Would it be possible to remove the microwave section that is between the oven and controls then rewire it so only the oven will work. I may have to fab up some sort of thermostat and switch if the panel wouldn't work.
Second is a large toaster oven like this one from WallyWorld:

Anybody use either of these two routes with their PC'ing?
Thanks.

 

[Jay H 237]

Just get the large toaster oven. I have one that I use and it works quite well. I don't have the room in the garage for a full sized oven like you so the largest toaster oven I found is what I use.

 

[KCHOTBOAT]

I did the large toaster oven for about a week and out grew it. HF has a oven that they put on sale for $299.00. It did most of the parts that I needed to but wheels.

 

[buening]

What do you guys use for a powder coat gun? The one from Eastwood?

 

[SC-Eric]

I was Senior Chemist for Trimite Powders for seveal years... so... I know a thing or two (maybe even three) about Powder Coatings.

I would recommend trying to find a convection oven on eBay. A good brand would be Blue M. I've seen good ovens sell for less than $100.

Toaster Ovens can work fine if you get the part up to temperature and hold it there long enough. A fancy oven is NOT a must. Parts that are thick will require more time to get the part up to temperature. If you underbake the coating it will be brittle and have low chemical and abrasion resistance. If you overbake it, it might yellow... This will all depend on the exact chemisty of the powdercoating (epoxy, polyester, epoxy polyester hybrid, urethane... etc...)

 

[comp]

I was Senior Chemist for Trimite Powders for seveal years... so... I know a thing or two (maybe even three) about Powder Coatings.

I would recommend trying to find a convection oven on eBay. A good brand would be Blue M. I've seen good ovens sell for less than $100.

Toaster Ovens can work fine if you get the part up to temperature and hold it there long enough. A fancy oven is NOT a must. Parts that are thick will require more time to get the part up to temperature. If you underbake the coating it will be brittle and have low chemical and abrasion resistance. If you overbake it, it might yellow... This will all depend on the exact chemisty of the powdercoating (epoxy, polyester, epoxy polyester hybrid, urethane... etc...)

so this is why some things are pre-heated ?

 

[SC-Eric]

The cure of powder coatings (excluding UV Cure and IR cure... etc... let's just say conventional powder coatings) is incredibly dependant on the part temperature. Convection ovens help to keep a part more evenly heated although thick portions of a part are going to take longer than thin portions of a part.

Sometimes things are heated up to improve the transfer efficiency (the percentage of the powder that is attracted to and sticks to the part). Also, if a part is non-conductive, heating is one way to get the powder to 'stick'. Glass would be a good example. Also, you can spray an alcohol resin solution on a non-conductive part to impart conductivity.

Last, sometimes parts are weird shapes and conductive pieces that are too close to each other have identical charges that are too close to each other. Remember, like charges repel each other. So, this can recharge the powder and actually repel it from the part. This is usually fixed either by heating the part or formulating the powder to be sprayed with a Tribo gun.

Most powder coatings are forumulated to be sprayed with a Corona gun.

Wow... that hurt my brain... I've been out of powder coatings for over 10 years! I can't believe I remembered all of that. Maybe brain cells DO grow back!

 

[KCHOTBOAT]

What do you guys use for a powder coat gun? The one from Eastwood?

Of all the cheap guns I liked the Eastwood the best with the added kit they sell for it.

 

[Tantara]

When I bought my wife a new dryer I got the store to throw in a used oven that was traded in by someone else this works for me.

 

[PoorOwner]

can you tell me how you like the HF oven?
I read the quality isn't that good..

There was once I saw in the catalog they have a 220V version now.. (might be a typo) since I can't find it in the website yet.

 

[jay50]

What ever you do, don't even think about using the house oven for this; the baked chicken tastes awful the first few times following some powdercoating project....LOL

 

[MXtras]

Maybe not use the house oven, but a home oven works. I picked one up junk-man style from the side of the road, tore the oven out of the chassis and built a new frame for it with a digital controller and thermocouple. I use it to cure urethane parts.

Price = free.

Scott

 

[KCHOTBOAT]

can you tell me how you like the HF oven?
I read the quality isn't that good..

There was once I saw in the catalog they have a 220V version now.. (might be a typo) since I can't find it in the website yet.

It worked fine. It takes time to get the parts of to temp. Because of it's shape it worked better on some parts that the old house hold oven I also had. The combo of both worked great for me.

 

[Toxicscrew]

I use a small oven like that for doing, well small parts when I don't want to pay to fire up the big oven (4x4x5) or just have something like a shift handle or when I DFL coat bearings. Works great and like I said saves utility bills.