Powder Coating

[cjpacitto]

I learned how to powder coat this weekend and wanted to share. It was pretty fun. Here are some parts off my 944s motor in Gloss Black and Mirror Red.

[Rasta Monsta]

Wife says "shiney." Curious to see how that coolant pipe holds up on the hot side of the motor.

[cjpacitto]

I assume you mean the one situated directly above the exhaust headers. I am wondering the same thing. Was debating between using the standard mirror red that I ended up using or using the high temp silver that I will be using on the headers and heat shield. In the end I decided to try the red since that tube is pretty easy to get off if I do end up having to redo it.

[VII]

looks good. Are you just doing it in the oven in your house?

[Endat]

^ lol my valve cover wont fit in my oven at home

It's lookin nice.. cant wait to see how it comes along

[VII]

my neighbor does some powder coating in a spare oven in his garage; his wife was yelling at him constantly for stinking up their house and messing up their nice oven. I've been meaning to pick one up on CL cheap and give it a go as well.

[cjpacitto]

Originally Posted by VII

looks good. Are you just doing it in the oven in your house?

You are not supposed to use the same oven that you use for food. Something about contamination and death...

I picked up an oven on CL for $40 and set it up in the garage.

[flash968]

that is exactly what has held me back

[wild man]

Don't you need to use some sort of electrostatic applicator to get the powder to stay adheared until it gets cooked?

[JoshB]

Nice work!

[running_cold924]

You are not supposed to use the same oven that you use for food. Something about contamination and death...

-- now THAT'S FUNNY!

but seriously, no joke

[ernie9944]

Originally Posted by Endat

^ lol my valve cover wont fit in my oven at home

It's lookin nice.. cant wait to see how it comes along

LOL maybe your neighbour BBQ will do the job,no stink in the house & a happy wife.

[alxdgr8]

I too started coating about two months ago. Some stuff I've done so far:







And some non-Porsche stuff too for friends:

[VII]

The neighbor is a bit strange so I can see how it might have affected him over the years. I've been meaning to give it a shot. I could pretty much powder coat everything on my bikes except for the forks and frame. Time to start searching for a run down oven.

[luftpirate]

Planning on doing my Fuchs this way. Turned out nice.

[wild man]

Is an "oven" the only specialized equipment required to this. Or aren't you at liberty to say (trade secret or something)? In seeing the results, it's very tempting to want to to get into it.

[alxdgr8]

Originally Posted by wild man

Is an "oven" the only specialized equipment required to this. Or aren't you at liberty to say (trade secret or something)? In seeing the results, it's very tempting to want to to get into it.

Oven and powdercoating gun are needed (I have the eastwood hotcoat gun).
You also need an air source (compressor or tank).
And if you are going to be prepping your own parts you'll need a mediablaster, which itself generally requires a decent sized air compressor to run effectively.

I've spent the following
$60 for Laboratory Oven (really nice stainless interior; convection; digital controls)
$75 for Eastwood Hotcoat Gun
$120 for 90lb pressurized sandblaster
already had a compressor, but to buy one new would be ~$300 for the size to run my blaster

[cjpacitto]

Originally Posted by wild man

Don't you need to use some sort of electrostatic applicator to get the powder to stay adheared until it gets cooked?

You do use a special gun to apply the powder. The gun uses an electrical charge to help the powder stick to the part. You can buy a gun for as little as $69 at Eastwood.com.

The powder is about as fine as flour and will actually stick to things even without the electrical charge, though I don't think you could get a uniform coat with the charge. The electrical charge actually helps the powder get into all the crevises and helps you to get it around corners. Several times I turned a part around to spray the back only to find that most of the back was already coated. Even after you disconnect the ground wire from the part the powder still adheres very well. I never saw any falling off.

I used a large cardboard box for a spray booth and the powder stuck to the walls and ceiling of it. It came right off though with a shop vac or blast of compressed air.

[cjpacitto]

Originally Posted by wild man

Is an "oven" the only specialized equipment required to this. Or aren't you at liberty to say (trade secret or something)? In seeing the results, it's very tempting to want to to get into it.

I agree with what Alxdgr8 said (sounds like he got a great deal on that oven too).

The media blaster is really key because you have to get the parts down to bare metal before coating. I got a small used blasting cabinet off CL for $40.

I built a powder coating cabinet out of a large cardboard box in order to protect the part from wind and dust and to keep the powder in one place for cleanup. I made a frame inside the box out of $8 worth of PVC and all thread that I can hang the parts from.

Other supplies you need include powder, silicone plugs and caps for covering parts you don't want coated (i.e., threads), high temp masking tape, steel wire to hang parts, acetone for final cleaning, rags, etc.

[wild man]

One of my compressors does 27cfm, but it needs a new motor. My other one only does like 17. I have both set to kick out at 200psi. Is that enough?