DIY Powder Coating and Oven

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locost220
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DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby locost220 » 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,

EC_starter_1_large.jpg
powder coat gun
EC_starter_1_large.jpg (16.28 KiB) Viewed 3419 times


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.

IMG_20190519_171321.jpg
domestic oven


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.
IMG_20190519_141542.jpg
in honda

IMG_20190519_141947.jpg
out of Honda

IMG_20190519_142005.jpg
out of honda door open


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
Locost book chassis, Undergoing testing post rebuild :D :?
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Sylva Leader, stuck to the trailer

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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby greenwoo » Thu Jul 04, 2019 1:10 pm

oh this should be interesting Rich, looking forward to seeing the results.....

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Tony C
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby Tony C » Thu Jul 04, 2019 3:36 pm

What could go wrong? Electric heating elements in a metal cabinet :o Look forward to hearing how you get on, but please be careful, can you supply it via an ELCB to be on the safe side?
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locost220
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby locost220 » Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:15 pm

Cheers Tony, The whole garage workshop combie is feed via an RCD and MCB and I can confirm they do work so I should be fine.

I watched the videos I have done on this already and can see I need a few lessons on presenting and set up.
Rich.
Locost book chassis, Undergoing testing post rebuild :D :?
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Nash
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby Nash » Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:32 pm

I love it when a plan comes together Rich. Looking forward to the results fella
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby Wingco » Thu Jul 04, 2019 8:12 pm

Love this Rich, ill get my wish bone off and drop them over :D :D
Looking forward to your story on this
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby locost220 » Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:20 pm

Once home and a new plug fitted, quick look over and standing well back when I turned it on it worked first time, with both the elements heating,

IMG_20190519_144028.jpg
CONTROL PANEL

IMG_20190519_144048.jpg
WIRING

IMG_20190519_144237.jpg
INTERIOR


my oven thermometer that I had from the small domestic oven showed I was getting 120 deg, checked it in my own oven and seemed to work fine up to 200 deg so I was well short of the 180 required for the powder I had.

IMG_20190519_172656.jpg
TEMP GAUGE


Reading up on the facts it appears that the additional heat is required to etch into the surface being coated so thought I would see what years old powder would do at that temp
I dug out the system
IMG_20190519_173114.jpg
OLD BOX


and powder
IMG_20190519_172822.jpg
POWDER


I had and rechecked the air pressure requirements ( 10-15 psi) and got a bit of rusty metal
IMG_20190521_195917.jpg
BARE STEEL

I decided to divide the metal strip into three sections thus, grind a piece of the strip, wire brush another and leave the last bit rusty to see how it performed, using the years old powder ( apparently it is recommended to use it within 6 months)
I had a small tomato green house I had got for the original attempt as a spray booth that was put back into use for this, the older system I have relies on a control box that has basically three outputs,
IMG_20190521_204610.jpg
IN OVEN START



1 goes to the gun and is used to provide a positive charge to the powder as it passes over a cone on the output from the gun
2 one is a thin lead with a croc clip on that has to be attached either directly to the item being powder coated or to metal hanger or suspension devise to complete the circuit.
3 a foot operated pedal that is depressed to charge the gun,
Pulling the handle on the gun allows powder to get sucked from the plastic bottle it is sitting in and pass out over the cone in a dust cloud onto the object.
Ideally the object gets spun round to allow powder to touch all areas, high temp tape or silicon type plugs are used to protect area that are not required to be coated. At this point the dust is only stuck to the object so any jarring must be avoided, any errors can be blown off with an air line and reapplied.
I think the powder I used Satin black needs sivings at least, probably replacing once I am happy that everything else works , at £7.99 – £9.99 dependant on colour and type with as a rough guide that half a Kilo covering 4 square metres of flat surface it not bad value for money .


I got a better result than I had anticipated and it seemed to resit scratching at least, all good.
IMG_20190521_212756.jpg
FINISHED STEEL


The newer system they do does away with the lead to the gun and uses a charged cylinder to energize the powder instead of the cone and a wrist strap from you to the object I believe

So over the next few days, a few text exchanges with the seller, I pondered if to simply replace the foil lining ( that to be fair did not look that bad ) or to go the fully monty and line the cabinet with inner walls insulated with rockwall type thermo insulation to hold in the heat, the outside of the cabinet was too hot to comfortably rest on when it was in use so clearly too much heat was escaping
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Kegco
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby Kegco » Fri Jul 05, 2019 4:08 pm

Rich, I think when you get it right and your totally happy with it, you might be our new SKCC powder coating guy. Get ready for the queue of jobs :D
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby greenwoo » Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:05 pm

how long does it have to bake for Rich?

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locost220
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Re: DIY Powder Coating and Oven

Postby locost220 » Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:48 pm

10 mins once the part has reached temp so I recon it will take half hour from cold.
Locost book chassis, Undergoing testing post rebuild :D :?
Robin Hood 2B, keeping me sane
Sylva Leader, stuck to the trailer


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