Powder Coating
 

Anyone have experience in Powder Coating? Worth it, can money be made by doing this on small items? Is it, as we call it in the south "too much sugar for a dime"?

Tough coating, can paint rough stock and be bent afterwards,,,electrostatic application and needs an oven to cure.

There are lots of places around us that do it pretty cheap. Some do lots of volume and some do small volume but custom colors and finishes. It's so easy to set up shop that it's hard for someone to make money unless you fall into one of the above categories.
We set up a powder coat station at our shop for a couple grand because we can do a piece in an hour vs waiting days or weeks. Media blast, powder with gun, bake in oven. Part can be used in a couple minutes out of the oven.

I think that ship has sailed. 20 some years ago when I was in manufacturing, it was a boom industry. I think there are lots of competitors now.

Don't know about your area, but up here there are lots of powder coating shops. The shop I use is a few miles from the house. A buddy and I put a bunch of parts on a pallet (I had all my 911 suspension parts done, he put in a bunch of Chevelle parts) and we had the entire lot stripped, blasted, and powder coated for ~$100 in 3 days. Finish was flawless and high quality.

I had the front bumper and front splash pan powder coated white to match the car 15 years ago. After 80,000 miles+- those two items look far better (less rock chips) than all the other leading edges. Prep is everything. Bake time/temp is important also.

I had no idea it could be done so cheaply...a good reason to let someone else do the work.

Prepping the part ( sand blasting) is essential so DIY you need a good blast cabinet as well. As said above the cost of most good commercial places is petty reasonable.

Once you've tried powder coating, paint just seems so inadequate.