Sandblasting and powdercoating

[InsanePyro]

I'm looking to get into powder coating. Sadly I don't have alot of money right now so for starters I'm looking to do it on the cheaper side. I want to start with smaller stuff and then maybe I'll work up to getting a bigger equipment. The first thing I want to do is these valve covers I've had sitting in my garage for ages. I'm wondering if theres any sand blasting equipment that you guys know of thats a abit on the cheaper side but will still do a decent job.

 

[Catamount]

I do some small stuff for myself and made a thread about it here: http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68956

If I were looking for a blaster, I would check CL often or maybe buy one of these: http://www.barrelblaster.com/

Also, you do not want to blast valve covers unless they are VERY well taped off. The particles will get trapped in the baffles and never come out until they're back on the engine and all of the sudden you've got sand in your cylinders.

 

[mayday0017]

+1 on blasting valve covers... only way I would do it is to solvent clean the **** out of them. Then bolt the valve cover down to a piece of MDF with gasket maker. After that I would make sure I had oil cap screwed on and bolts screwed into any other ports to block them off...

 

[z28snksknr]

If you are sticking to small pieces, for $39 this is the best use of your money:

http://www.eastwood.com/abrasive-blast-intro-kit.html

I've used this in my driveway to do a set of wheels, rusty parts, etc. with a small 30 gal. compressor. It works and doesn't take up any room in the garage.

 

[rsanter]

The pressure pot blasters from HF work just fine
All you need to build is a box to contain the blasting bounce so you don't make a mess

Bob

 

[InsanePyro]

Yeah the insides are all crudded up (junkyard find...looks like oil dried to them or something)

So perhaps I could just soak them...in what exactly though?

So this would be a bad idea?

 

[pipsters]

What about a soda blaster, will that remove paint?

 

[mayday0017]

brake cleaner, lacquar thinner, gasoline, really any of these things can get that "dried oil" off if you soak it... I would most likely stick it in a bucket of gas first if it was me, then I could let the gas sit a day or so and pump off the top and leave the nasty **** in the bottom to pour on ANT beds that way the good gas could go in my lawnmower. If it doesn't do the trick you arn't really out anything.... The other 2 woudl end up costing a little more but would work as well...

 

[InsanePyro]

Yeah I sprayed them down once with pb blaster and went at it with a putty knife and that got a good amount off and then I took them to car wash and blasted them with a high pressure washer...but I like that idea of soaking them in gas...just with them being so big I'm afraid of how much gas will more or less be reduced to bon fire starter after this

 

[sparky7]

I bought a soda blasting setup like the eastwood one above to try and blast bilge paint off of fiberglass in the bilge of my boat, it works but not very well, i have been told that i need more PSI, it works ok for a second but the pressure drops off to around 65 in about 15 seconds with my 30 gallon oilless compressor.

 

[SpawnedX]

I blast my VCs with walnut shells and then spend a good long time with the parts cleaner making sure I get every last piece of media out. I use HF stuff for my powder coating including an old oven for baking it. I got a lot of good tips out of a Project Car Magazine for doing it and so far everything has come out nice.

I no longer have this car or that VC, but it still is holding up today.

 

[Daniel Kinder]

Hey insane,
I used to polish metal and powder coat a few years back.

The best thing I found was to soak the parts in a solvent over night then use aircraft stripper (follow directions) to remove paint from the surface, then use a product like acetone or the like to wipe down.

Next is the most important step, is to do what is called a bake off, set oven for 450 degree's and bake your part/s for about 45 minutes then after removal always do a final wipe down with the acetoner to remove the oil/grease that's in and out of the metals's crevices so that when baking your powder coated parts that any remaining oil or grease doesn't contamenate your process.

In a powder coating only oven (I had a old house hold oven that I used ''ONLY' for powder coating smaller parts and this process.

Here's a couple things I used to do and maybe help show a little more info?
http://www.showcardetailing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1130

http://www.showcardetailing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1112

 

[InsanePyro]

Yeah my biggest problem is the baking part...I don't have a 240V in my garage and I don't think my landlord would like me digging up the yard to run wires...was looking at those heatguns...

 

[Toolhorder]

I know this thread is about powder coating but have you thought about rattle canning your parts instead? I just sand blasted some headlight trim rings and they came out great. The trick is prep. I sanded at 600 then primed, 600 again and more primer, 1000 then first coat, second coat then 2000 grit then 2 coats of clear (again rattle canned) and then 2000 grit, polished and buffed then waxed. Looks like a pro paint job I can't even tell.
Everyone is so into the powder coating but I don't really get it. Regular paint works just fine. I swear it's like a bragging right to say you have something powder coated nowdays.

 

[InsanePyro]

I've never had much luck with rattle cans. Plus I can't seem to be able to find the red of my truck in rattle cans...a buddy of mine however has powder coat in the same color

And at the very least I think these are gonna need to be sandblasted...some of the **** on them is STUCK on...when I have some money to burn I might just let them sit in a few gallons of gas