About to take the plunge

[762frmafr]

I am about to take the plunge in to powdercoating. Looking at powder buy the pound for the gun setup. I will be building an oven. The inside dimensions will be 6 foot wide, 7 foot tall and 8 foot deep. I want a gun that will produce good results and not waste powder. Which one should I be looking at? Also, ease of color changes would be a plus.

[sodfarmer]

I have their Spectracoat ES02-C powder coating gun and like it. For what I do it does a good job. I just powder coat my own stuff and it does what I need. They have good service and turnaround, I dropped my gun and had to send it back in for some work, I had it back pretty quick. Glad I still had my original Eastwood gun as a backup.

[Gamelord]

I have an Eastwood gun but have ordered powder from PBTP and always had excellent service. Shipping time was fast and when I dealt with customer service, they were great and full of help.

[762frmafr]

Went to Menards this morning and bought all the steel studs and insulation for the oven build. It was quite the load. But my truck seemed to handle it ok.

insulation.jpg

[Dawgonhawg]

I have the same gun as sodfarmer and it works really well. You may want to check out Prismatic Powders for powder. The have a large selection of powder.

Jim

[sodfarmer]

Menards is also where I got my stuff to build my oven. Hard to beat their prices and selection. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

[762frmafr]

We got 3 walls and the roof framed up today before we stopped. Gonna build the floor and door out of tubing because the steel studs are not structural. Will get some pictures posted later today or tonight. Coming along good now.

[762frmafr]

Framed out. More to come tomorrow.

20140401_121011.jpg

20140401_121017.jpg

[762frmafr]

Got the inside all skinned and the floor framed out. PID is ordered. Trying to decide on what lights to go with. Also looking for a heat source still. Any suggestions?

[Bigrhamr]

Looking good.
What is your plan for hanging parts in it? Personally I like either a flat floor or one with wheel channels in it so I can roll
hanging racks in and out. With an oven that size you definitely wouldn't want to be shooting outside then carrying parts in to hang. You could also have an overhead trolley set up to take parts in but I like the cart idea better because it lets you have more than one so while 1 cart is in the oven you can be loading another one, or have a few around that you fill for different colors as parts are ready.
Have you been to the powder365 forums? Lots of oven building talk there. http://powder365.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=8

[762frmafr]

Some updates on the build progress.

Insulation in on 2 walls.





Double bubble going up over the insulation.



Outside skin of 18ga.



Bottom of the floor in 18ga.



Door frame started.

[762frmafr]

Haven't updated this in a while, but here is where it stands now. Oven is 99% done. Lights are wired. Just waiting on the ductwork for the heaters and the rest of the wiring. Should be coating by the end of next week if all goes smooth.

[Oldsarge]

Looking good! If you haven't chosen a gun yet, don't settle foe one unless it has a faraday wave board... If you get into multiple coats, dormants, or do parts with a lot of nooks and recesses you'll be very happy you did.... I went with PBTP gun without the wave board, and have regretted it. Looking to upgrade later this year though.... And PBTP super durable clear is like glass, I wish I had 50 pounds of it, it flows out really nice!


Oldsarge

[762frmafr]

Well, the oven is finally done. Been working to get it that way the past couple days. Yesterday I sprayed my first 4 parts. I ended up getting an ES-02WP gun. I was using Harbor Freight black powder for now. Took 5 minutes for the powder to gloss up and then a 20 minute cook time. So 25 minutes from the time I turned on the oven till the time I turned it off. I think that is pretty good for an oven this size. Some pics to come later today.

[Dawgonhawg]

I use a temp gun to check the metal tempature. When it gets to the desired temperature I start in timer then. I have a LED flashlight I use to check for places that need more powder before I put pieces in the oven. It works really well.
DAWG

[Redneck]

Nice job on the oven.

You said you were using HF powder......I've used it too for some things, works ok and is cheap, but the red and white I have used from HF are epoxy powders.....will fade/chalk if put outdoors. It is a little hard to find out whether or not it is epoxy, but I found that info online.

[762frmafr]

Nice job on the oven.

You said you were using HF powder......I've used it too for some things, works ok and is cheap, but the red and white I have used from HF are epoxy powders.....will fade/chalk if put outdoors. It is a little hard to find out whether or not it is epoxy, but I found that info online.

Thanks for the tip. I only used it because it was cheap and available local. I will definitely be ordering better powder now that I know everything works.