Powder Coating, anyone done it before?

[Chris from Washington]

A few years ago we bought my dad one of those powder coating guns from Harbor Freight. Actually I think it was this one. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42802

Well he's never used it, so I thought since the Camaro is just sitting in the garage. I would give it a try. I thought I would take the air cleaner off, and attempt it on that.

Just wanted to see if anyone here has powder coated anything themselves before? Any tips?

Do you need to remove any paint on the item being coated (sand it down to bare metal), or just make sure it's free of grease and oil?

Anyone know of a good place to purchase the powder? Harbor Freight only seems to have 4 different colors.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/ItemBrowse/c-10614/s-10101/p-100000218697/mediaCode-ZX/appId-10193801/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000021869710193801

[Darthness]

don't take my word for it, but i think it needs to be sand blasted first... i'm pretty sure thats how they do it on all the custom bike/car shows on Discovery Channel.

but if you can figure it out and doo a good job, you could make some moneh! do powder coating jobs for people, and plus you have LEDs skills so you could do that too.

[Chris from Washington]

maybe I can combine them both into one project (lol)

[Chris from Washington]

been doing some reading.

Wow you can powder coat MDF?
http://www.powdercoatingonline.com/html ... er_20.html

[swimmerdude]

Powder Coating is kind of a thinner layer so usually you need to take the piece down to bare metal. If the underneath color is going to the be same as the powder coat, you could try and take a short cut and spray the powder coat over it, after taking nessecary steps to prep it, proabably either scuff paded or lighty sanded. It could be taken down to bare metal by sand blasting or sanding, but you would need an orbital sander to do that otherwise it would take a long time by hand.

[Chris from Washington]

Found some FAQ's on the topic, you do need to remove all the paint.

Gonna have to give this a try sometime this summer.

[Chris from Washington]

Powder Coating is kind of a thinner layer so usually you need to take the piece down to bare metal. If the underneath color is going to the be same as the powder coat, you could try and take a short cut and spray the powder coat over it, after taking nessecary steps to prep it, proabably either scuff paded or lighty sanded. It could be taken down to bare metal by sand blasting or sanding, but you would need an orbital sander to do that otherwise it would take a long time by hand.

My dad used to have a sand blaster, might have to see if I can find it.

Know of any good places to get powder?

[Ryan from Ohio]

Actualy I have done some powder coating. Well actualy a few of us around here have.

I powder coated numerous pieces on my motorcycle, all black:






My Uncle did the jugs (cylinders) of his 86 Harley in Gold Vein. Its a black wrinle coat like- but where the wrinkles are its gold! Pretty cool!

My Dad, well he did his 4 rims on his 69 Camaro. Just a plain grey, but they came out really good.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?item ... e=CATEGORY

All the Powders we use come from there.

Metal prep is a huge thing. We Sandblast as its available to us, its easy and it takes off everything. If your surfaces have any gouges, etc. you want to sand them smooth to hide them. Your surfaces must be dry, clean to the metal and grease/oil free.

Make sure you ground the electrode and dont touch that shit, it zaps hardcore

Its cool as you can see the fog dust attract to the metal. When you release the trigger the HF gun has a tendency to dump powder, so pull away from your part before you stop. You can spray about 2" away from the part...

Ummm...

Also when you tear it apart to clean it, clean it very very very very very good. Otherwise the powders will get mixed when spraying the next part.

Oh ya and the money saving tip. Coat over cardboard. The stuff that doesnt make it to the part can be gathered and reused.

Tip #2, if it doesnt spray on right just wipe it off and do it again :)

Cooking the item is another treat...

We have an old kitchen oven that is used in the garage. The stuff stinks a decent amount so dont do it in your house. Some people use the radiant propane heaters... They may work but dont provide the uniform heat like the oven does.

Just follow the cooking/cure time directions to a T and you should be fine.

[swimmerdude]

Yeah.... what he said^^^ I was just thinking maybe it would be like painting and maybe you could take a short cut and not have to sand blast it.

But, i guess i just shouldnt of said it cause all the things i have seen powder coated were all sand blasted prior

[Chris from Washington]

cool thanks Ryan!

We got an old oven too, that's why I've been wanting to do this.

Never even thought about doing bike parts. Maybe I should take some parts off the ol XR and see how they turn out too.