Powder coating oven setup at home

[jmanz69]

Just wanted to show my powder coating ovens I got for free. Guy down the street had it at the end of his driveway, so much to my wifes dismay, I brought it home. But she let me get away with it since it was free. It works great too. I can do two batches of small parts. Wish I had a bigger one to do large parts now.

[dinnut]

is it a regular stove? or is it special?

[jmanz69]

It's a regular double oven. Guy said it was taken out of a house during a remodel job and he bought it. I got a gas island top too, but had to toss that since I had no where to put it.

Can't ever use it for food now though. The powder fumes are very toxic. NEVER use your home oven for powder curing!!!

[72shadetree]

good score

[minibike]

I've been using a similar setup for about three years. Works great, but am also looking for a bigger oven.

[griesel72]

Can you buy the powder coating paint from a local paint store, or do you have to mix up a special mixture?

David

[c10crazy]

What gun did you buy?. I have a toaster oven but need a gun.

[mcmlxix]

www.columbiacoatings.com

Thats where I got my gun and all my powder.

[jmanz69]

I also got my gun from columbia coatings. I got the Chicago Electric gun, it works great for small general purpose items. The powder is special and has to be bought from a powder coating supplier. I get some powder from Columbia Coatings and some from Pendry, both who sell on ebay. I just won 2 lbs of chassis black powder for $10. 2 lbs of powder will go a long way since there is very little overspray. If anyone wants some small parts done, I'll do them cheap. I want to get the practice and get better at using the gun.

[JimKshortstep4x4]

How do you want the parts prepared if we decide to send some small parts to you for powder coating?

I assume that black is the only color you are doing now.

Jim

[kingparts]

A friend of mine went to a used restaurant equipment store and bought an old stand up oven. Its probably about 4-5 feet high in the oven. Works great. I believe he paid around 150-200.00 for it.

[sneakysnake]

Just curious but what temp does powder have to bake at, And could a guy take an assortment of oven heating elements and make a bigger oven?

[Zumo]

Cool, I never thought of that. I have a 220 plug in my garage that I could use for that when I start my restore. I could just go to a second-hand appliance store and get a plain jane oven.

How hot and how long for powder coating? Just curious.

[mcmlxix]

Avg. Temp is 425* ... you gould take the guts from an electric oven and build your own. I was thinking of doing the same thing. Build a box out of angle iron and sheet metal. Then build another box around that to hold the insulation. The hardest part is the door seal...

[jmanz69]

If you want me to powder coat your parts, I would like them to be sandblasted or at least completely clean of old paint, oil, and grease. Bare metal. I can blast them for you, but that will cost more. It depends on the part and the condition. I also have an electrolysis tank that I use. Ususally I put the part in the tank to loosen the rust and thick crud, then I power wash it. That makes sandblasting faster.

Right now I am only doing black, but I do have clear also. I had some chrome, but still haven't gotten it to come out how I want. So I will say I won't do that yet. If you want another color, let me know. If you have a bunch of parts to be done, it will be worth it for me to buy the color you want. I don't want to get overwehlmed with parts to do. I don't have a ton of time to put into it, only about 5 hrs /week. Lets see how many people want parts done, and I'll see if I really want to get into it. I can do a few here and there no problem.

[sneakysnake]

mcmlxix
Not sure how to do all the fancy quote remarks. (in regaurds on the door gasket) What about a muffler repair kit (like at wally mart) it has a heat resistant tape that might work?

[jmanz69]

It will be more complicated than that. If you have a big oven, you will have to keep it very hot. It's not easy for a large oven to stay at 400+ degrees. If you have even a slight leak at the door, the heat will fluctuate a lot. The door seal will have to be quite good for it to stay at 400 degrees. But, you have the right idea.

[mindhive]

I found this homemade oven on a HPV website could also work for powder coating. Just ignore the stuff that doesn't seem to make sence as the oven was intended to be used to blow fairings for aerodynamic bicycles out of lexan, ABS, etc.

"The hardest part is creating an oven that is big enough to hold a fairing, and to keep the temperature controlled properly. In the WISIL skunkworks facility, Bill, along with a host of other members of the WISIL builders contingent, built a 8' by 4' by 4' oven out of aluminum sheeting and aluminum "L" stock, and insulated it with high temperature fiberglass insulation. The oven is heated by placing 6 (surplus) electric base board heater elements on the bottom of the oven, along with two "cal-rods" (they look like big straight oven heating elements). The whole front of the oven opens (a 4'x8' door). The door had a glass windows in it, but it cracked, so now we just have a small peep hole to look in. The oven has a light bulb inside so we can view our progress. The fairing template hangs upside down from the top of the oven, so that when it is blown, gravity helps pull the bubble down.

Don Barry, of Infinity Recumbents, made his oven a little differently, and, as his method is easier to build, I will illustrate it. He used Celotex tuff-R (an insulating board with aluminum backing on both sides) to construct his 4'x8'x4' oven. It has good high temperature characteristics, and is rigid enough to create a stand alone oven with. Aluminum tape and long drywall screws will hold it together. He used a large propane camping stove as the heat source (propane tank outside the oven), with a metal hose to feed the propane into the oven. A large sheet of metal over the burners disbursed the heat to warm the plastic sheet evenly. The sides and bottom of the oven are constructed of Celotex insulation, and the template rests on the top of the oven, with a gravity seal.

HPV bubble oven


An oven thermometer is used to measure the temperature. More than one thermometer is recommended to detect hot spots in the oven. Hot spots are the most common cause of deformed bubbles.

[BLACK AND BLUE 67-72]

Anyone ever think of going to a hardware store and getting a seal for a wood stove? They also sell the adhesive to attach the seal to the door.

[Ackattack]

I would think that a small fan inside the oven would also help to eliminate hot spots. They use these in convection ovens.

[minibike]

The oven will need to breathe just a little, if you are coating large items. If you can't vent the smoke, it will affect the gloss. I use a house type oven, but when it gets smokey, you have to open the door and let it out.

[70 Jimmy]

I'm currently in the process of building an oven. It's 7' tall and has a 3'x3' foot print. I've just about wrapped up the initial wiring. I'm using 2 3000 watt elements and I might need to add one or two. I'm using an digital controller and a basic temp controller as an overtemp safety curcuit. I have 2 solid state relays for the digital controller and a mechanical one for the overtemp. I got all this stuff on ebay. I'll try and post pics next weekend if anyone is interested. Oh, and yes the wood stove insulated gasket (rope) will work. I'm not sure how I'm going to attach it yet. Also, curculating air would be a good idea. Convection keeps the temps even through-out. I'm thinking of using a squirl cage with the motor offset from the cage to prevent overheating. External ducting would be easy to fab. I've got about $150 in it.

[jmanz69]

I would like to see pics. Also, do you have a schematic of the temp controls? I would like to see how you did it.

[Gary]

I'm driving up to Columbia Coatings monday to pick up my "Deluxe Kit" ($135) and a sample pack of the mirrored powders.

Here's hoping for some success Just gonna go pick over a scrap barrel for some throw away diamond plate or something to play with until I get some semblance of decent looks out of it.

Just gonna use like a big toaster oven for now not gonna do any large parts.

On their site they have a free standing propane IR heater and pics of a bicycle frame being cured in a big shop, curious to see how that works, seems like a good propane IR heater like that can be had cheaper than $299 though?

[jmanz69]

I use a double burner propane IR heater. It works good if you control the heat. A good laser thermometer would be very helpful. If you get it too hot it will discolor, if it's not hot enough, it won't adhere well. Temp control is key. With an IR heater, it's harder to control heat. Ask the guys at Columbia Coatings if they have any tips. Good luck.