Karate shop/powder coating

[Jean-Rock]

Hi everyone ! I wanted to try something knew to have fun with. Something that's inspiring. The Karate Shop sounds good for that ! I started powder coating last week. Wow, that's too easy...It went good at first try with the cheapest gun I found. I'll save a lot of money doing this technic. With a 10$ spray can I did like 4-5 enclosures, now with 10$ of powder I'm gonna be able to paint around 30 boxes.....amazing !!

Here's the build (I didn't spend time for art work with this one. It's just to see if I like it.)




I build the etched single side version.



It didn't fire up at the first try ! Grrrr
It took me too much time before I see that I forgot to solder a cap leg !! Rookie style !! 

[jimilee]

That powder coating looks awesome!!! And don't worry about the rookie mistake I'm like build 50 and over the weekend I did the exact same thing, it's gonna happen.

[selfdestroyer]

That looks great. I love that blue. Would you mind sharing what gear you got for powder coating? I'm really interested in the gun and the oven you are using. I am looking to get in to that in the next few months.

[Jean-Rock]

Of course I don't mind sharing, there's nothing secret about my powder coating rig !! 

Here's my gun :


Here's my oven :


Here's my air compressor, a very small one (you need not more than 10psi for powder coating) :


Here's my powder :


And here's my very basic installation :

A box, the oven grill, heat sink (or anything that can hold your enclosure and is conductive), and a pair of long nose to carry the box coated to the oven carefully.


I bought my gun at Eastwood and got also my red and green powder there (which work well)
The other bags of powder have been bought at a Canadian supplyer called Powder365(work well too) They have a very good service there and they ship very quick !

I've learn how to do that by watching the nice tutorial from Paul on youtube (chromesphere)
Here's the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gxWoCGR5EY

And here you go ! I wish that can help. 

[rullywowr]

Nice job!  I have pretty much the same setup as you from Eastwood (and the small toaster oven) but mine is only the single voltage version.  The electrical trigger broke on mine so I ended up just soldering the on switch wires together.  As a side note, I got hit with the voltage of the gun a couple nights ago when I touched the tip accidentally.   BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT  YIKES!  Right through my fingernail, and yeah I screamed like a little girl.  I think I am going to wire up a footswitch in place instead.  Then you can just activate it with your foot instead of trying to work the gun, hold the enclosure, and press the switch.

I am a fan of using the drip tray solid) in my toaster oven combined with the galvanized wire looped around a screw.  Then I can hold the part upright and spray it.  Hold the part by the wire and attach the ground clip to that wire. It is important to get the underside edges so you don't have gaps in the coat between the plate and the enclosure.  Then I lay it down on the solid drip tray carefully.  The screws hold the enclosure off the drip tray and keep powder out of the holes.

I really like Columbia Coatings for my powder.  They have some great colors and I am especially fond of the "dormant" colors which "pop" when clear coated.  I have also been trying things like fluorescent colors...I spray a coat of white first and let it flow out for maybe 7-10 minutes.  While the white is still tacky, I spray the top fluorescent color over it and it really comes out nice.

I will post some pics of the latest batch I did soon.  Keep up the good work!

[Vallhagen]

That enclosure finnish looks just great to me:) ... maybe ill get stuck on powder too... some time.

Cheers

[selfdestroyer]

jonnyrockgear, Thanks so much for sharing your gear. I think I am going to jump feet first and start buying the equipment. Thanks again.

[angrykoko]

My wife bought me a powerder coating gun (same as yours, just branded different) for fathers day.
Kind of mean because we had to pack up to move...  Still haven't gotten to try it out.

Thanks for pointing out that link, it was a good tutorial.

Good job!

Koko

[Jean-Rock]

jonnyrockgear, Thanks so much for sharing your gear. I think I am going to jump feet first and start buying the equipment. Thanks again.

Go, go, go !! jump !! you'll save much money at last. And I got to tell you about time saving. It took me about 2 days to get a nice enclosure, now it takes like 30minutes ! yeah.

And Koko, unpack it now !! ... the gun is waiting for you !! 

[chromesphere]

Like all finishing processes, there are pros and cons to powder coating imo
Sorry for the essay:
Cons
I found the learning curve for powder coating to be quite steep actually.  I feel like the minority though because that is not something i read very often.  I think it was my technique + equipment.  sitting enclosures on a solid steel tray didnt work out well and caused reflection.  Also not grounding the enclosure correctly has a similar effect.  The other major problem was powder coating jobs with multiple coats. My gun has one voltage setting and really doesnt like to do an even coat on 2nd pass.  Hot flocking is an option but of course you cant apply a waterslide to a hot enclosure.  So it can get technical in some situations as you can see.
Powder coating is also geared more towards 'batch' finishing imo.  You have to set up, heat up the oven, prepare everything etc. You can do just one enclosure if you want, but your set up / clean up will take longer then spraying the enclosure
Pros
I agree that it is much cheaper then spray cans.  I bought a 1/2 pound of powder of white from pendry (an excellent dealer for international powder coaters like myself!), coated COUNTLESS enclosures, barely used 1/4 of it?  Yeah good value.  You just have to outlay a bit to get started (compressor, gun, powders, toaster oven, etc). 
Best part about powder coating in my opinion is the 'dry time'.  i say 'dry time' in inverted comma's because its so short there barely is one And the finish is vibrant for colors and usually, durable.
It's also much cheaper to diy powder coating, then to buy them from retailers.  And you dont have to wait for them to show up.  Just have B's BB's and A's on hand and spray as you need.
Paul

[pedalhealer]

Ohhh man....It's very cool...handmade painting...wow!

[Jean-Rock]

The other major problem was powder coating jobs with multiple coats. My gun has one voltage setting and really doesnt like to do an even coat on 2nd pass. 

My gun has 2 voltages, but it's not even better for 2nd coat....that's a problem . I used decal paper too, and I tried to clearcoat over the first coat and the decal....it was a mess !!

This brings me somewhere else.....this week I got the equipment I need to silk screening DIY. That will be the best way to do ever. The magnificent finish of the powder coating and a perfect print of the artwork !! (just like Earthquake device, their pedals look totally amazing).

I'll keep you posted with further details as soon as I get anything to show.

[das234]

That powder coating looks awesome!!! And don't worry about the rookie mistake I'm like build 50 and over the weekend I did the exact same thing, it's gonna happen.

Yeah, or how about when you get the board almost populated and realize you forgot to drill out a couple holes??

[Jean-Rock]

Yeah, or how about when you get the board almost populated and realize you forgot to drill out a couple holes??

One time, I did so much troubleshooting on a unit, that I could smell burned skin in my room !! hehe