DIY Powder Coating and Oven
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:34 am
Those of you that have managed to keep up with my Locost rebuild thread may have noticed a distant lack of updates, initially due to tour prep and post videos etc but, I have been a bit distracted of late.
As some of the long in the tooth SKCCers may recall in the far flung Dettling Kit car show days I purchased one of the Electrostatic Home DIY powder coating kits and had a brief go at coating a few brackets, notably the home brew bracket that used to stop my bike carbs falling off, by securing one edge to the block and the other to the carbs.
Sure those of you who frequent car shows would have seen the family run British firm trying to drum up business,
and those that do not know already powder coating is a system much more hard wearing than paint, consisting of a multitude of coloured powders ( even Chrome) that are sprayed from a low pressure air supply and via one system or another positive charged whilst the object that is to be coated is negative charged, so the powder sticks to the object until the powder coating it too thick for the static charge to get though the powder, thus ensuring an even coat.
Once this is done the object is normally moved carefully into an oven, normally electric where the temp is raised to 180-200 deg dependant on powder type, when it gets to the temp the powder becomes fluid and flows to create a coating, at this point a timer is normally started and the object is left at this heat for 10-20 mins dependant on powder and then the heat is removed and the object is left to cool naturally, normally out the oven. At this point is fully cured unlike paint that has to be treated carefully until it fully cures over a number of days
Removing my bracket last year reminded me how well it had held up, compare that with the rather poor adhesion from rattle cans I have experienced recently as part of project Locost and there is a lot to be said for the powder coating process. I got the kit car internal panels done by a professional years ago at not too much wonga and they have held up the best of the whole car coated surfaces.
Some ‘You Tube’ watching last year looking for welding tips and tutorial brought me to a site where ‘Martin’ does full time You Tube videos as part of his living and he was patching up a transit, he also does odds and sods such as restoring old stuff he finds and gets cheap. Recent projects including lawnmower / engine restorations, a trotter van on the go, dinky toys etc, Retrohax and rerestore being his two different channels.
well a month or so ago Martin started a project to do DIY powder coating for his restorations and as part of that build a DIY powder coating oven and then go through the process of preparing and using his new style powder coating kit that the same company now make.
Part of my Powder Coating set up I did a few years ago was to get hold of an old domestic oven and use that to cure at 180deg the applied powder on the part as per instructions, but obviously limited on the size of the bits you can fit in and is still buried in my council gaarge, I tried the idea of using a heat gun but that was rubbish for my application.
His is one of my YOU Tube subscriptions so kept an eye out for updates and he did a really good job dismantling a domestic oven for useful bits and then with an office cabinet of transferring the elements, controls, thermostat and light into the cabinet and of sandwiching rock wall insulation between a new set of walls inside and has already used it to powder coat a kids toy cooker as part of retrohax build. He even used the oven window in one of the cabinet doors.
This sort of idea being common practice amongst home users
The powder coating company website https://www.electrostaticmagic.co.uk/
could do with a few more videos but I decided to have a gander to see what was about on ebay, as I already knew having been keeping an eye on the scene the professional oven are in the £0000s.
There was the normal fare of company units that apart from the cost would take up all of my garage space, but as luck would have it I came across a DIY unit that was for sale as a ‘buy it now or make me an offer, but at £30 it would seem rude to haggle ( sure Tony B would have though ), a quick check as to where Colchester was and checking three times I was not about to commit to buy at £300 (my eyes are not what they used to be )and a few comms with the seller confirmed it just needed a new 13 A plug and maybe relining with tin foil at some stage (a cheaper and quicker alternative to rockwall and additional panelling).
A think about when I could get down there and not lose too much time in the garage, and I found myself clicking the BUY IT NOW Button.
Dreaming of powder coated wishbones for the next 24 hrs I decided to check how big it was and if it would fit in my tin top, pheu save me the grief of lending a small trailer again.
That coming weekend and an afternoon trip to Essex and a natter with the seller, he actually knew Martin having bought his T Shirt business off him a week or so ago.
Turns out he uses it as part of a recon service for classic mini parts and was moving home and wanted to make a better one when he had time, but it could do with relining with new baking foil, Martin recons he used to get great results with it.
I invite you to join me in my exploits via videos and write ups to get my system working and see if the oven works and does what it says on the Tin or in this case the cabinet , i have yet to complete this so you can join m me in my triumphs or despair
As some of the long in the tooth SKCCers may recall in the far flung Dettling Kit car show days I purchased one of the Electrostatic Home DIY powder coating kits and had a brief go at coating a few brackets, notably the home brew bracket that used to stop my bike carbs falling off, by securing one edge to the block and the other to the carbs.
Sure those of you who frequent car shows would have seen the family run British firm trying to drum up business,
and those that do not know already powder coating is a system much more hard wearing than paint, consisting of a multitude of coloured powders ( even Chrome) that are sprayed from a low pressure air supply and via one system or another positive charged whilst the object that is to be coated is negative charged, so the powder sticks to the object until the powder coating it too thick for the static charge to get though the powder, thus ensuring an even coat.
Once this is done the object is normally moved carefully into an oven, normally electric where the temp is raised to 180-200 deg dependant on powder type, when it gets to the temp the powder becomes fluid and flows to create a coating, at this point a timer is normally started and the object is left at this heat for 10-20 mins dependant on powder and then the heat is removed and the object is left to cool naturally, normally out the oven. At this point is fully cured unlike paint that has to be treated carefully until it fully cures over a number of days
Removing my bracket last year reminded me how well it had held up, compare that with the rather poor adhesion from rattle cans I have experienced recently as part of project Locost and there is a lot to be said for the powder coating process. I got the kit car internal panels done by a professional years ago at not too much wonga and they have held up the best of the whole car coated surfaces.
Some ‘You Tube’ watching last year looking for welding tips and tutorial brought me to a site where ‘Martin’ does full time You Tube videos as part of his living and he was patching up a transit, he also does odds and sods such as restoring old stuff he finds and gets cheap. Recent projects including lawnmower / engine restorations, a trotter van on the go, dinky toys etc, Retrohax and rerestore being his two different channels.
well a month or so ago Martin started a project to do DIY powder coating for his restorations and as part of that build a DIY powder coating oven and then go through the process of preparing and using his new style powder coating kit that the same company now make.
Part of my Powder Coating set up I did a few years ago was to get hold of an old domestic oven and use that to cure at 180deg the applied powder on the part as per instructions, but obviously limited on the size of the bits you can fit in and is still buried in my council gaarge, I tried the idea of using a heat gun but that was rubbish for my application.
His is one of my YOU Tube subscriptions so kept an eye out for updates and he did a really good job dismantling a domestic oven for useful bits and then with an office cabinet of transferring the elements, controls, thermostat and light into the cabinet and of sandwiching rock wall insulation between a new set of walls inside and has already used it to powder coat a kids toy cooker as part of retrohax build. He even used the oven window in one of the cabinet doors.
This sort of idea being common practice amongst home users
The powder coating company website https://www.electrostaticmagic.co.uk/
could do with a few more videos but I decided to have a gander to see what was about on ebay, as I already knew having been keeping an eye on the scene the professional oven are in the £0000s.
There was the normal fare of company units that apart from the cost would take up all of my garage space, but as luck would have it I came across a DIY unit that was for sale as a ‘buy it now or make me an offer, but at £30 it would seem rude to haggle ( sure Tony B would have though ), a quick check as to where Colchester was and checking three times I was not about to commit to buy at £300 (my eyes are not what they used to be )and a few comms with the seller confirmed it just needed a new 13 A plug and maybe relining with tin foil at some stage (a cheaper and quicker alternative to rockwall and additional panelling).
A think about when I could get down there and not lose too much time in the garage, and I found myself clicking the BUY IT NOW Button.
Dreaming of powder coated wishbones for the next 24 hrs I decided to check how big it was and if it would fit in my tin top, pheu save me the grief of lending a small trailer again.
That coming weekend and an afternoon trip to Essex and a natter with the seller, he actually knew Martin having bought his T Shirt business off him a week or so ago.
Turns out he uses it as part of a recon service for classic mini parts and was moving home and wanted to make a better one when he had time, but it could do with relining with new baking foil, Martin recons he used to get great results with it.
I invite you to join me in my exploits via videos and write ups to get my system working and see if the oven works and does what it says on the Tin or in this case the cabinet , i have yet to complete this so you can join m me in my triumphs or despair