DIY powdercoat - Baking question
 

Been playing with a powdercoating system lately... Really nice! Loving it!

Of course my next project will HAVE to be powdercoated...

It's a new front winch bumper. Which causes the dilemma, anyone have bright ideas as to how to bake the coating on? Bumper doesn't fit in the oven :bang:

Anyone have some bright ideas? Short of calling up the paint shops and begging for some oven time? (temps gotta be 450f for ~1hr)

Andy

Sorry, I have no answers for you as I've no knowledge of powdercoating. I would, however, like to get into a little smalltime pc'ing myself.

What system are you using? Is it something you've made or purchased already complete and ready to use?

http://www.caswellplating.com/powder/powder_coat.htm
That's what I'm using (bought second hand), powder from a local coatings company.

a while ago i remember reading something or watching it on tv about building a temporary oven. Maybe you could do like a blast furnace type thing and a bunch of heaters.... not really sure if that would work though, as i don't know anything about powder coating.

I just know i have made blast furnaces out of thick foil and propane to forge steel rebar

On something that large if you don't have a high dollar (voltage) gun the powder won't stick anyway...regardless is you have a big oven.

:guitar:

maybe take it to a local powder coater and see if you can throw it in their oven for a few $$$'s that's what I did when I had to powder coat big items.

wabbit: Got some backup for that statement?

Just sprayed a 3' section of the same 6" hss channel I'll be making the bumper out of (scrap) - stuck just fine - although I'll agree with ya I may have to relocate the electrode as 3' is pushing the limit.

Pondering building a temporary oven - spoke to a few shops last week, wasn't much saving, and would loose a lot of coating in handling I think...

A 3' section...is not a whole bumper...try powder coating something the size of an ARB or TJM and you will see what I mean. Powder coated a steel bumper for a full size pickup a couple weeks ago and it did not want to stick using a cheapo gun...had to get a better one.

:guitar:

Here are lights that can be used for the curing process

http://www.caswellplating.com/powder/caswell_lamp.html

**Idea**

Get all "Myth Buster"!!

Rent a 40" Container and a propane unit!!
Goto the kitchen drawer and grab a temp probe...Voila!!

(Be sure to rig some sort of venting.)

~Course by then, it just might be cheaper to drag your kit down to the local bodyshop and use their oven, huh?

450* for 1 hour??? Are you using some ceramic coating or something? Most TGIC powders bake at 400* for 10 minutes. This is getting the part up to 400* and shooting it with an IR thermometer to ensure proper cooking times. Sounds like to me that you got the wrong powder for the application.

IR lights suck...gotta have 2 placed strategically around the bumper. Then you get uneven heating and baking of the powder.

All in all...you guys got the right idea....but the cheapo guns are crop dusters. You don't get the right amount of voltage needed to make the powder stick to a cool part. Most guys will heat up the part first then shoot it so it instantly starts melting on the metal substrate when it is applied. Don't forget pretreating...some iron phosphate with a distilled water rinse after that.

I built mine for around $1,500. Check out www.caswellplating.com, go to their finishing forum, and they have an oven building section there. Alot of great ips there.

Playing with some powder I got at a local autobody supply - Comes out in a funky metallic hammerite like finish (and says 450 on the label). Hours probably long - but it does take a while to heat up that much steel...

Hmmm...most hammertones I use cook at 400*. Yeh it does take that long to heat up that much steel, but to the average guy that would look like baking the powder for an hour long regardless of substrate temp.