Powder coating. Have to step up my game to keep up.

    @SaltyClownNY for the pricepoint... this setup from Harbor Freight is hard to beat (I’ll have a similar setup once we get all the components to make my spray booth and heat oven)


    The paint gun
    https://www.harborfreight.com/…coating-system-94244.html


    To get the existing paint off (can be used for other garage applications like removing rust... etc.)
    https://www.harborfreight.com/…-blast-cabinet-62144.html


    You’ll use soad for most your applications...
    https://www.harborfreight.com/…e-soda-blaster-61850.html

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    Been looking for a used oven off Craigslist too. Thanks!

    :00000436:
    Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. - Bill Gates

    Hey Erica!


    I know you use a lot of Harbor Freight items and they seem to work for you! In my experience, I purchased the HF Powdercoating gun as my initial starter and boy let me tell you it almost forced me to quit after 1 week! 2 guns and about 3 bottles of wasted powder(gun does not put off a very good charge to begin with even with an 8' grounding rod outside!) I gave up on that gun and bought an Eastwood Dual Voltage kit. What a night and day difference!!! I can get up to 5 colors to stick with this gun without a problem! They are well worth the money and after purchasing 3 guns from them(so I don't have to change out powders as often) I had a problem with 1 gun and it was a cosmetic issue(the plastic tube that the powder sprays through is not glued correctly so the bottle rotates around the nozzle). I called Eastwood and they said I could have my money back on that gun or they would send me a new one. I opted to take the new one and they didn't want the old "spinning" gun so now I have 4 functional guns!! Great product and you can adjust the KV rating to get additional powders to stick. I HIGHLY recommend you add an earth grounding rod to any powder coating set up if you are using an entry level DIY gun.


    I too thought about purchasing the HF Sand Blaster box because it is a great price when it is on sale or you can find a 25% off coupon but after watching some Youtube videos and hearing how much "modding" must be done to make it functional, I am going to go with a more professional one when they go on sale (like an Eastwood). Good luck with your PC projects and if you ever need any advice just shoot me a PM. After doing this every day for almost a year now I have learned a lot of good tricks for the DIY powder-coater!!


    Customized Insulated tumblers are keeping me busy in MULTIPLE states lately!


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    I use the Harbor Freight Powder coating gun a few times now I'm on my second one with a few uses, and I'll upgrade soon. I have a small sand blasting Bench top Blast cabinet and it works fine.

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    Oh Hun, I know... HF has some real low cost/cheap stuff (lol, I’m also a big fan of Northern Tool, which is pretty cheap as well). That said however, everything I’ve ever gotten from both these places has performed/stood up really well to more-than-standard abuse (minor tweaks here and there, but overall, the stuff was good). Now I know what your thinking ~> Erica’s gone all “HF Fan Girl” here... Not the case. Eastwood DEFINITELY makes better stuff... albeit, it much more expensive (can you keep a secret, after checking out the dual volatage kit, I just made an order) ~> LOL... don’t let the HF marketing folks know!


    I’m still going with the HF blast box and soda tank though. I’ve seen some really AMAZING finishes on Aluminum using that config (which is 99% of the material I’ll be blasting).


    EXCITING TIMES!!! :thumbsup: Thanks for the insight (it’s always most appreciated)! <3

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    Quote from ericastar76

    Oh Hun, I know... HF has some real low cost/cheap stuff (lol, I’m also a big fan of Northern Tool, which is pretty cheap as well). That said however, everything I’ve ever gotten from both these places has performed/stood up really well to more-than-standard abuse (minor tweaks here and there, but overall, the stuff was good). Now I know what your thinking ~> Erica’s gone all “HF Fan Girl” here... Not the case. Eastwood DEFINITELY makes better stuff... albeit, it much more expensive (can you keep a secret, after checking our the dual volatage kit, I just made an order) ~> LOL... don’t let the HF marketing folks know!
    I’m still going with the HF blast box and soda tank though. I’ve seen some really AMAZING finishes on Aluminum using that config (which is 99% of the material I’ll be blasting).


    EXCITING TIMES!!! :thumbsup: Thanks for the insight (it’s always most appreciated)! <3

    Then when you get your Blasting box (and I am in no means trying to talk you out of getting one) look into a company called Tacoma Company I hear their upgrade kits for the HF blasting box is AMAZING and turns it into what it is expected to do!


    I sure in the hell wish I had your luck with them HF tools because the prices are perfect for my cheap :DONKEYSS: !!

    Owner of Three's Da Life Fenders and Three's Da Life Apparel


    Proud supporter of S.O.G. (Slingshot Owners Group) :thumbsup:


    WWW.ROCKMYBLING.COM

    Quote from STYLN

    Then when you get your Blasting box (and I am in no means trying to talk you out of getting one) look into a company called Tacoma Company I hear their upgrade kits for the HF blasting box is AMAZING and turns it into what it is expected to do!
    I sure in the hell wish I had your luck with them HF tools because the prices are perfect for my cheap :DONKEYSS: !!

    Counting my blessings and lifting prayers to he HF and NT gods that my luck continues ~> LOL... I went VERY budget heavy on the CNC/3D printer/Laser/etc. etc. that HF and NT have been a purse saver for Stacy and I.


    I dream of a day... when all my tools are MAC, my CNC is a HAAS, and our design shop ~> 10+ bays with a wet bar for all of us to hang!

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    Quote from ericastar76

    Counting my blessings and lifting prayers to he HF and NT gods that my luck continues ~> LOL... I went VERY budget heavy on the CNC/3D printer/Laser/etc. etc. that HF and NT have been a purse saver for Stacy and I.
    I dream of a day... when all my tools are MAC, my CNC is a HAAS, and our design shop ~> 10+ bays with a wet bar for all of us to hang!

    You mean one of does? :thumbsup::D:D or the one in the back which has 100" travel in "X" axes? That was in the old days and they where all mine ;(:thumbsup:

    Do not resent growing old. Many are denied.... The Privilege :REDSS: :SUPERCHARGERSS: : :HEADERSS: : :COILOVERSS: Wycked hitch





    Edited once, last by mytoy ().

    Definitely get the warranty on the powdercoat gun from harbor freight, that is the same powdercoat gun we started with a long time ago now. With some practice you can get pretty good results from it, but we would go through one of those every 6 months or so. I think we still have some of the old setups around here still that we kept for parts.


    When you start doing enough powdercoat, start looking at something like this -


    PSS Spectracoat ES01-H Powder Coating Gun System | Powder Buy The Pound


    That is very similar to what we have been using now for a couple years. The hopper not being on the gun makes getting around the pieces and a more uniform coat much easier. Also the higher voltage of the more professional systems allow multi-stage powdercoats to be done much easier without shooting them hot.


    As for a good starter oven, we actually just started with a regular home electric oven. They are very cheap to find, have a nice window to watch flow out and can be found all over craigslist.


    As for the powder itself, the Harbor Freight stuff can be made to work and we did some really good work with it, but once you get good powder, the difference is amazing and well worth the extra cost for the much nicer finish that they give. Nice fresh powder almost looks like a liquid in the bottle, when it is like that it flows out of the gun very nice.


    Anyway, hope that helps. We have been shooting powder for about 10 years now, if you have any questions about it, I am happy to answer them.
    Dave

    Definitely helps @Dave@DDMWorks (and that's a REALLY NICE powder gun setup BTW)!! :thumbup:


    I ordered the Eastwood Dual Voltage Powder Coating Gun Starter Kit yesterday per @STYLNs suggestion. However, if demand affords the ability to make a lot of powder coated things, I'll definitely consider upgrading my setup.


    Then there's the powder... I think for my first go-round in all of this, HF powder should be ok (I do have a few tools to help me attain a nice/sleek mirror finish and hope to perfect that process). Additionally, I plan on cutting out some high-temp silicone jigs and stencils using the CNC drag knife to help dummy-proof all the applications. The pre-planning goal is trying to remove as many difficult variables as I can since I'm "relatively new" to powder coating (the idea is too layer the jigs with rare-earth magnets between those layers ~> they shouldn't demagnetize in the heat as it bakes)


    I would LOVE to have an actual oven... Converting a smoker (smaller than the one shown in the video link), was only a consideration because of limited space in our garage.


    We'll see how it goes... I know it will take a lot of trial and error to perfect (if you don't mind, I would love to swing by one afternoon and observe your process) ~> cause I got to tell ya... the stuff you made for my sling is AMAZING! :thumbsup:

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    Not sure what anyone else was using but I bough powder from powder by the pound and found a color that was a dead n match for my ultra sonic fast base grey.
    My powder coater had no issues with the stuff and the price was reasonable
    Now it was Dr. Dave that made it go fast but the powder made it look good while it was going

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    Had a question about the 40 lb. Portable Soda Blaster and the soda. If you are say taking paint off of a wheel rim to powder coat it, how fine of a soda do you need to use to have it come out nice and smooth? I see a medium and large soda, but is medium fine enough to do powder coating on top of the finish? Do you need large and then hit it with the medium? Just wasn't sure if you can do everything with the medium and if you need large soda. Thanks!

    :00000436:
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    Quote from ericastar76

    Stick with the medium on aluminum and run it 100psi... that’s the best setup for paint removal without marring the material. Large works better for steel applications.

    Here is something else I learned after using a bead blaster (Glass Beads/not sand) for 20 years. If you want a pretty Satin finish on stainless steel without the etching reuse the blow by (DUST out of the collector bag) in the blaster. If I did not want to take the time to polish , this is what I always did.

    Quote from FunCycle

    Here is something else I learned after using a bead blaster (Glass Beads/not sand) for 20 years. If you want a pretty Satin finish on stainless steel without the etching reuse the blow by (DUST out of the collector bag) in the blaster. If I did not want to take the time to polish , this is what I always did.

    Awesome. I was kind of wondering what you could do with the collected particles. I took @ericastar76 advise and had a Harbor Freight 20% off for one item and picked up the Soda can she recommended. Will give that a try without a booth outside to see how it goes and then will go from there. This is kind of a test to see. Will do my valve cover first (just lightly to rough it up a bit... it's a new cover and never touched oil) and then I'll try the wheel. Also have two metal fins I made for covers for where the side fenders used to be. If all that goes to plan, I have a long list of things that need to be done 8o maybe a kid or two, the dog, etc. I love to paint! LOL

    :00000436:
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    Quote from SaltyClownNY

    Awesome. I was kind of wondering what you could do with the collected particles. I took @ericastar76 advise and had a Harbor Freight 20% off for one item and picked up the Soda can she recommended. Will give that a try without a booth outside to see how it goes and then will go from there. This is kind of a test to see. Will do my valve cover first (just lightly to rough it up a bit... it's a new cover and never touched oil) and then I'll try the wheel. Also have two metal fins I made for covers for where the side fenders used to be. If all that goes to plan, I have a long list of things that need to be done 8o maybe a kid or two, the dog, etc. I love to paint! LOL

    You will be pleased with the results... the machine is quite capable of producing a nice finish. And for the price ~> it's hard to beat!

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