DIY Powder Coating

[99ishVR4]

I want to introduce myself, I write for a a DIY powder coating site. I have been powder coating for several years now and I just made the site to make it easier for other new powder coaters to get started.

I started powder coating parts for my car restorations and the results have been amazing.

Anyways, if anyone else here is interested in powder coating or already is into powder coating, you might want to check the site out. Powder Coating: The Complete Guide

I just finished an article on How to build your own powder coating oven.

Also, feel free to ask me any powder coating questions, I would be happy to answer them.

I have coated hundreds of parts at this point with a relatively low budget, here are a couple of them.

[Rednine11]

I bought a kit and coated some parts for my 911
the results were great

[masraum]

Years ago, at least 10, I went to a tech day at a guys house with the PCA for a guy that had done a bunch for a Ferrari restoration and some on his 911. He also did a piece or two while we were there. He'd picked up an electric oven (kitchen style) from a yard sale for $50 that he used just for that purpose.

The results were pretty impressive, even on a piece that was too large to fit completely in the oven. He did half, then flipped it around and did the other half.

[pksystems]

Nice. I see some mitsu parts.

[KevinP73]

I picked up a DIY gun on eBay a while back. Got it for less than $50 due to it being damaged in shipping. Took about an hour to repair it an its work flawlessly ever since. I converted the top shelf on my storage rack into an oven using insulation from Home Depot, a double element hot plate and a digital thermometer from the grocery store.

[99ishVR4]

Originally Posted by masraum

Years ago, at least 10, I went to a tech day at a guys house with the PCA for a guy that had done a bunch for a Ferrari restoration and some on his 911. He also did a piece or two while we were there. He'd picked up an electric oven (kitchen style) from a yard sale for $50 that he used just for that purpose.

The results were pretty impressive, even on a piece that was too large to fit completely in the oven. He did half, then flipped it around and did the other half.

What did he do about the door being open?

Back in my earlier powder coating days, I powder coated the brake lines and fuel lines that ran from the front of my car to the back. About 10 feet long. I used a propane grill and did a section at a time running the lines through the rotisserie slot in the grill hood. Definitely not ideal, but the seams blended pretty well. It was a 2 coat job so it took me all weekend to do it.

[99ishVR4]

Originally Posted by pksystems

Nice. I see some mitsu parts.

Good eye. All the parts belong to a 3000Gt VR4 except the calipers which I did for a friends base model. They are for the car I have been restoring.

[99ishVR4]

Originally Posted by KevinP73

I picked up a DIY gun on eBay a while back. Got it for less than $50 due to it being damaged in shipping. Took about an hour to repair it an its work flawlessly ever since. I converted the top shelf on my storage rack into an oven using insulation from Home Depot, a double element hot plate and a digital thermometer from the grocery store.

That is really neat, how much did the materials cost you?

[KevinP73]

Originally Posted by 99ishVR4

That is really neat, how much did the materials cost you?

Double burner hot plate was ten bucks at a thrift shop, the insulation was less than twenty for an 4X8 sheet of the good stuff. I was concerned about the heating elements sitting directly on the insulation so I went to Industrial Metal and got a piece of aluminum that measured the same as the shelf but even that was cheap. All in I didn't spend $100 on the whole set up.

[rusnak]

wtf would you do your own powder coating? I take my rusty wheels and whatever to a guy who sandblasts and powder coats my parts and has them done the next day for like $100 for each batch of parts. I couldn't come close to the quality he does, either.

[Rot 911]

Kevin, that's pretty damn ingenious!

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by rusnak

wtf would you do your own powder coating? I take my rusty wheels and whatever to a guy who sandblasts and powder coats my parts and has them done the next day for like $100 for each batch of parts. I couldn't come close to the quality he does, either.

I think the issue is a lot of people spend a ton of money for powder coating. My guy charged me $4.60 for each my of front/rear suspension components(A-Arms, sway bars, etc) for blasting and powder, but I know that is well outside of the norm.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by rusnak

wtf would you do your own powder coating? I take my rusty wheels and whatever to a guy who sandblasts and powder coats my parts and has them done the next day for like $100 for each batch of parts. I couldn't come close to
the quality he does, either.

Strange comment on an DIY site.

You can cut a check for every restoration or auto repair job. It is always easier and often a wash in terms of cost. But do you want to do a checkbook restoration? We all pick things we like to do ourselves and things we don't.

Do you brew your own beer? Bake your own bread? Grow vegetables? Cook for yourself?

G

[KevinP73]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

Kevin, that's pretty damn ingenious!

Thanks. As they say "poverty is the mother of invention ".
I'm constantly doing little pieces here and there. It would be impractical for me to run to the powder coater every time I have a little bracket to be done. Plus, it keeps the loss of little parts at zero for me. Big pieces I don't worry about but some little hard to find part getting lost at the pc shop can be a real problem.

[99ishVR4]

Originally Posted by KevinP73

Double burner hot plate was ten bucks at a thrift shop, the insulation was less than twenty for an 4X8 sheet of the good stuff. I was concerned about the heating elements sitting directly on the insulation so I went to Industrial Metal and got a piece of aluminum that measured the same as the shelf but even that was cheap. All in I didn't spend $100 on the whole set up.

That is awesome. I don't know much about those hotplates but I am surprised they can heat that box up to 400+ degrees. Thanks for sharing it.

[99ishVR4]

Originally Posted by rusnak

wtf would you do your own powder coating? I take my rusty wheels and whatever to a guy who sandblasts and powder coats my parts and has them done the next day for like $100 for each batch of parts. I couldn't come close to the quality he does, either.

When I started my restoration 6 years ago, I was spray painting parts and realized that it wasn't going to hold up for very long. I took in a bunch of parts to a powder coating shop and was quoted $1000 for the batch. I decided to go the DIY route, spending less than $600 on a powder coating gun, air compressor, blast cabinet, and household oven. I have since coated 5 times the amount of parts I originally brought in and while my quality at first wasn't that great, through tons of trial and error, it became excellent.

At this point, it isn't even about the money saved, there is just a satisfaction about doing everything myself that I enjoy. Plus I learned a new skill.

[99ishVR4]

Any other powder coaters here?

[pksystems]

I'm using Eastwood dual-voltage, and a extra large propane oven. I use an extension on the oven for extra large (sway bars) items.

[porsche4life]

Id love to DIY, but the only thing I've got that needs powder right now is the roof rack for my bug. Too big for a home oven.

[1990C4S]

I would really like to do my door handles....