The Powder Coating Thread

steviejr92

steviejr92

Authorized Vendor
So @temol suggested we have a thread dedicated to powder coat. Im no expert and im hoping others who do have experience can chime in but with that said i figured id start off with one of the most important things IMO in powder coating.

DIY POWDER COATING BOOTH - This a booth to capture all the powder when powder coating. This stuff gets everywhere and you dont want to be breathing it in. I highly suggest building one yourself. The ones you can buy are very expensive and you need the room. Hopefully here you can save yourself some money and make a killer spray booth. Keep in mind mine isnt finished but its pretty much there. I just need a lazy susan so i can rotate the part while powder coating. All in all this cost me only 60 bucks.

I had the night stand already and it just so happened to be 20" x 20" which the air filter and box fan are the same dimensions. So no having to prefabricate anything. I can easily slide the filter in and out when im changing colors or need to clean. The air filter has a MERV rating of 5 so its should sufficient. Im thinking of removing the wheels since im going to have this on a table to be off the floor. Like i said i still need to buy a lazy susan and fabricate a rotating platform. I bought these steel rods that have alligator clips at the end of them so i can hold the tray up while still having the part suspended from the tray.

If anyone has any other tips or useful info on powder coating im all ears! Lets start a library of info on this stuff i would love to see some people here get into powder coating!

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Its not the best but it works and i think thats what matters. Now i dont have to worry about getting powder everywhere!
 
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When I was working for a bathroom fixture manufacturer (Moen, as a programmer) we had powder coating in an enormous room, the parts were suspended from a bar hooked up to the power. They had a device that would electrostatically suspend the powder in the air and they'd turn the power on for a specified time before evacuating the air and changing out the parts. This was way back in the late 90's, I'm sure the tech has evolved since then.
 
Man that sounds like it would be great even if it’s tech from the 90s. It’s a lot better than what I have going on! 🤣
 
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I don't have the room in my current "workshop" to spray the powder inside, but this is a good idea!

I'd actually pulled the oven outside earlier today to preheat for spraying a test of a couple powders I recently got, but the wind had other plans.

I've only powder coated a few enclosures, so have very little experience. I can tell you, Acetone strips powder coat, eventually. :ROFLMAO:

Here are a few I've powder coated :
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I usually run with the following process :

1. Sand the enclosure to smooth out and blemishes
2. Wash with dish soap and water, towel off with paper towel and let air dry for a few minutes.
3. Wipe down with Acetone or isopropyl alcohol
4. De-Gas in the oven at 450 F for about 30 minutes

After that I spray the powder, put it in the oven and monitor the temperature, drop it at the appropriate time, then wait for the bell to ding.

I'm using the Eastwood Dual Voltage gun with a powder diffuser and a nose cone I got from eBay. It can do a decent job with the two coat finishes like the purple and green in my photos from the previous post. They are Ink Black base coat then the top color coat.
 
I have the same exact gun!

Ok totally using this as a guide. After degassing are you letting the part cool down completely?
 
Yeah, you have to soak the part in Acetone. It may take a little scrubbing or a few soaks to get it 100% clean, but I've had luck with recoating a enclosure stripped this way.

And I'd rather pay the small money for a gallon of acetone than for the expensive powder coat stripper!
 
steviejr92 said:
Man that sounds like it would be great even if it’s tech from the 90s. It’s a lot better than what I have going on! 🤣
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I remembered more... The powder had a negative charge and the assemblies had a positive charge. The negative ions would be drawn towards the positive assemblies in a very even fashion. I'm fairly certain the powder was cooked on contact, but I may be mistaken. It was a LONG time ago.
 
cliffs_trip said:
Yeah, you have to soak the part in Acetone. It may take a little scrubbing or a few soaks to get it 100% clean, but I've had luck with recoating a enclosure stripped this way.

And I'd rather pay the small money for a gallon of acetone than for the expensive powder coat stripper!
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All great info! Acetone is readily available to get as well! You’ve been a huge help!
 
@steviejr92

Your question from the other thread -
BTW what do you use to strip your powder coat after its been cured?
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I strip the powder coat with acetone. It takes some time and effort but it's much cheaper than dedicated chemical stripper.
 
temol said:
@steviejr92

Your question from the other thread -


I strip the powder coat with acetone. It takes some time and effort but it's much cheaper than dedicated chemical stripper.
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Thank you so much! Im getting a gallon as we speak! Im going to strip the enclosure down and re try. That transparency issue is bugging me so im going to go for a 2nd coat this time and do more prep work in terms of cleaning and whatnot.
 
Acetone smells really bad. That’s good, because it is really bad. Please make sure you use it in a well ventilated place, and wear chemical resistant gloves. Acetone gets easily absorbed through your skin too.
 
I plan on doing it outside! I have a respirator mask and some gloves that should be good to go. I’m planning on getting a tub or container and soaking the entire enclosure. Letting it sit for a bit and get to scrubbing.
 
Wow, I just strip powdercoat with my orbital sander, that will remove enough powder that I can re-coat to cover whatever mistake I made. If it takes more than a few minutes of my time I'll just throw it away. Enclosures are cheap, time is expensive.

I also don't really do any enclosure prep, I mostly do solid colors so I just go for it. If I'm doing a two-part finish I'll make sure not to touch the box without gloves between parts, but otherwise I don't really do any prep work.

I gave up on the fan/filter method of a box, I have a funnel-ish thing in the back of the box where I plug in my shopvac and just suck up the overspray. I have to clean the filter out, but it's washable, nothing to replace.

I had the Eastwood dual voltage gun for a while, but I dropped it just wrong and broke it. To its credit it still worked for a while even though it was broken, but I eventually stepped up to the Redline EZ50 and I LOVE it. Super easy to use, super consistent results, and super solid build quality.
 
Thank you for this info! I actually thought about using an orbital sander. Just never followed through.

I thought you couldnt shop vac powders?
 
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steviejr92 said:
Thank you for this info! I actually thought about using an orbital sander. Just never followed through.

I thought you couldnt shop vac powders?
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Any particular reason? Probably depends on the shop vac maybe? I've been doing it for about 2 years with my wet/dry shopvac, just need to clean the filter every couple months.
 
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