Those of you who do your own powder coating….

[gsgeezer]

There is virtually no overspray, which causes dry coats with a paint gun, also, as mentioned, you don't need as much CFM.

I live a couple miles from Eastwood and have all sorts of coupons, so if anybody wants to get a "group buy" together, I can go over, pick it up and distribute it.
You do get bulk discounts, btw.

If you spray powder indoors you can easily set up a booth with a bathroom fan to pull air through a furnace filter at the back of the booth so you won't end up with a lot of powder on the floor to sweep up, it keeps things tidier. If spraying outdoors, you obviously have to be aware of the breeze.

I built a 4' X 4' X 2' both with corrugated plastic panels that folds up to 2'X x 4' x 4 inches for when I'm not using it.. works great for powder and other paints. I call it my Origami Booth.

You can get nice results with the Eastwood kit on the first go, and gets even better with a little more practice. As you mentioned, it's all in the prep before spraying powder.

I was told NOT to use glass to blast parts but sand and soda is OK.. but they couldn't tell me the "why" glass was bad.. Once I cleaned the glass blasted parts off properly, I couldn't see what the issue was on a test piece.. unless the problems pop up later on...

[tkent02]

Ok, planning on the Eastwood kit. You sound happy with it sounds like?

Is there special powder for things like engine cases that get hot? How hot is OK? Cylinders? Mufflers? Head Pipes?

Can I spray it outside in decent weather? I'm good for the compressor and the oven, just need to go pick the big oven up.

Anything else I need to get ahead of time?

I got the Eastwood kit. Get the complete kit with plenty of plugs and tape. I picked up an oven from Craigslist. Prep the parts right and it's pretty easy. You don't need much of a compressor, I use my pancake roofing one, as you shoot at a real low pressure.

You def want to pre bake your parts before you shoot them. The powder will stick way better. You need to figure out your set up, like how your going to hang parts, shoot them, then transfer them to the oven. Bake time is pretty quick, like 20 minutes. Powder gets everywhere, but you can just sweep it up.

[gsgeezer]

You have to do the same prep as you would for painting and if that isn't done you'll have problems, otherwise it is easier than painting with a spray gun.

[Nessism]

Rattle can paint is not very durable, even if you bake the stuff. Powder coat on the other hand is uber durable. There are various types (urethane, polyester) so you need to do some research depending on what you want. You also need to prep the material correctly. Typically a phosphate wash is done just before coating. At any rate, I think it would be a lot of fun to learn. I say get on the learning curve Tom and see where it takes you...

[tkent02]

How is the learning curve? I have an engine I'm rebuilding now, and a couple complete bikes that need to be rebeautified.

I do my own paint, I'm getting pretty good at it.

Can I just buy the Eastwood gun and go to town or will there be a lot of ugly parts made before the good ones start to happen? I know it's all in the prep like anything else, but is it tricky? Any down side to it?

I'm sitting on the fence between doing this now and continuing with spray cans of epoxy paint, engine paint, caliper paint.

It seems like with these projects lined up, now is a good time to start. I have a toaster oven to use, and there's a full sized electric kitchen oven down the street for free….

Or do I need something better?


This bike would have looked a lot better If I had powdercoated everything…



Of course it would have looked a lot better if I had painted all those parts, too.