Powder Coating Basic Question

I see Princess Auto has a deal going on some powder coating systems. All I know about PC is that the part is coated with powder and then baked to melt the coating onto the metal, producing the final durable finish.

Will the PA system let an amateur produce reasonable quality finishes or is it like trying to carve oak with a butter knife?

What other equipment is needed to actually get going?

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/powder-coating-system/A-p8634230e

Going on sale for $149.99

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/bench-top-oven/A-p8657819e

Going on sale for $79.99

Interested as well

You still need to prep (sandblast) the part to be coated.Just like paint,most of the work is in the prep.And you need to mask off or plug areas that cannot have powder on them.powder in threaded holes or mating surfaces is a huge pain to remove.

I'm very wary of PA stuff. They sell a lot of cheap "tool shaped metal objects".

Wingboy said:

You still need to prep (sandblast) the part to be coated.Just like paint,most of the work is in the prep.And you need to mask off or plug areas that cannot have powder on them.powder in threaded holes or mating surfaces is a huge pain to remove.

I'm very wary of PA stuff. They sell a lot of cheap "tool shaped metal objects".

Click to expand...

Being only vaguely aware of the process I am concerned about getting an acceptable finish. A light duty tool in the hands of a competent person can produce acceptable results but a garbage tool will produce garbage results regardless of the skills of the user. If I buy a quality tool and it gets poor results I know it's my skill set that needs work. If I buy a poor quality tool and get poor results I don't know if it's me or the tool.

I have to give PA credit here...they have come along way in the last couple of years regarding the quality of what they sell.... I have purchased some of there tools and have no complaints....are they snap on quality...no but not bad for some things. And there warrantys are top notch.. they will pretty much will take anything back if your not satisfied.

The question to me would be how do you bake it afterwards?

Small parts one could use their oven I guess...but something that doesn't fit in an oven, well...hard to do.

Besides the equipment needed to strip paint, sand blast, mask, clean, and sand surfaces before powder is applied, as well as an oven, you need a good gun. Those PA guns are not going to give you good results. The one I used when I was in the game was five grand. Its all in the electronics, the software and hardware working together to give a proper charge to the powder, and the good ones also receive charge data and correct the charge accordingly.

The powder simply wont stick if you dont have a good gun. At least in all the corners. Its called a fairaday cadge and its a real ***** to avoid if you dont have proper gun.

You also need compressed air and a GOOD regulator and a GOOD air dryer, or you will be in a world of pain.

The difference is a good gun will give results just like paint, and a crap gun will make your part look like a melted blob because you had to sit there and shoot powder at it for ten min to try and make it stick.

Its day and night. better just to pay some one to do it IMO

PA is a fun choice, but if you put it in your house oven the stink takes a while to go away. You can do small parts in an industrial lab oven or toaster oven but a swing arm or something will need a large oven.
You dont need to sand blast or media blast but your parts need to be clean and clear or the powder wont flow out.

The newest modern parts are done in a UV oven so no heat really, its how they can do pieces of wood with powder coat.

For small parts the PA stuff will work ok, stuff you reall want to be nice, give to a guy that does it for a living.

nobbie48 said:

I see Princess Auto has a deal going on some powder coating systems. All I know about PC is that the part is coated with powder and then baked to melt the coating onto the metal, producing the final durable finish.

Will the PA system let an amateur produce reasonable quality finishes or is it like trying to carve oak with a butter knife?

What other equipment is needed to actually get going?

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/powder-coating-system/A-p8634230e

Going on sale for $149.99

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/bench-top-oven/A-p8657819e

Going on sale for $79.99

Click to expand...

My intuition tells me I would buy that if I wanted something to play with, but wouldn't be bothered about being out $149.99. Haven't had anything coated either in a long time, but that money would pay for some amount of professional coating, no? I don't know **** about powder coating, but that oven looks like a rebranded cheap toaster oven - would probably be better off salvaging a kitchen oven if you had a 240 hookup in your garage (and who doesn't)

Id be surprised if it worked good, considering my professional powder coating gun cost us $5000....I think you will need a lot of patience when using cheaper equipment , because even if it works they usually have problem with complex parts where the powder doesnt want to go where you need it to go with the cheaper guns. I see a lot of people having to hot flock parts because their gun doesnt work well enough to dry shoot powder. Especially when doing multiple coat colors, like candy, 2 stage clears etc

Any oven the can hold 400-450 degrees will work, but using old ovens can be a problem if they are dirty inside. Its a finishing process so cleanliness is key, an old greasy oven can cause finish imperfections. Most powder require a 400 degree PMT, the newer formulations are going to lower temp cures, so a lot of them only need 340 degrees but for a longer cure time. Generally 400 degree PMT is the max

I have a 6'x6'x12' oven so we can fit large motorcycle parts and car parts, etc, it cost us $12,000.......Every once in a while if I have to do a sample and we dont want to waste the time and money to heat up the big oven we use a old kitchen oven we have at the back of the shop. It works for samples, but I would not use it for production parts...

In the under $500 ball park you can get a much better hobby style kit then that princess auto crap, you can buy them from places that sell powder coating powders, supplies, and equipment specifically, rather then a do it all big box store like PA. The if you do have problems you can actually get technical help from the person you bought it from, unlike PA where the people that work there usually have no idea about the products they are selling

Thanks for the comments from the pros. Sounds like a problem looking for a place to happen

...With some things, it's just way better / easier to pay the pro's to do the job right.