So.... Who sprays inside?

[Willybomb]

With the weather here usually sitting around 6^oC, it's really not ideal for spraying any sort of paint outside.  Normally, I'll take an enclosure and put it outside in a little garden type shed here at the back of my block of flats, spray it there and then put a lunchbox over it to cover it from random dust and debris.  It's also pretty open to the elements.

As a result, I've lined the bathroom floor with newspaper, run the exhaust fan continuously while spraying and letting the paint cure.  It's not idea, and it's still fairly cold in there due to the draft from the toilet window (even with the toilet door closet door closed, but it's about the only way I'm going to get anything done - this is a "paid" pedal.

What other ways are people painting.  I'd rather not do it inside - this is only for the clear coat too..

[selfdestroyer]

I spray inside a garage if that counts.. I use a toaster oven to cure everything. Works great and was a cheap investment since every thrift store has tons of the little ovens for under $10.

Cody

[Willybomb]

I'm thinking more inside the main dwelling or a shared communal area.  I'd be in the garage if I had one!

[muddyfox]

tried that once, spraying in the kitchen thats adjacent to the living room. are you familiar with that look that only a spousal unit can produce by lifting one eyebrow that shrinks your family jewels like you've just been dropped into any body of water in the polar regions?
needless to say, i wont be gettng any funny ideas any time soon. ive since taken to powdercoating in an unventilated 2x2 storage unit in my apartment building basement. its far from ideal but i dont get "the look" nearly as often as when there were rattlecans in the apartment.

[hoodoo]

Ring a local powdercoater. Ive done this and it cost me $30, their minimum charge, to do 6 boxes. That would have payed for more, except that's all i needed to do at the time. I'm fortunate to have a place to spray, outside, so i haven't bothered to do it again. Breathing that shit in, paint fumes, that is, from spraying, where you eat and sleep can't be a good thing IMO.

[muddyfox]

i dont have a luxury of a local powdercoater. theres only one powdercoating outfit here and they wont give you the time of day unless you walk in with $5000 of work for them. my own setup also cost me an arm and a leg to import but i didnt do it to stop breathing in the fumes, i did it to avoid "the look" and the "talking to" that inevitably follows, even if it makes no financial sense.

[hoodoo]

Hey muddy fox, cool that you have your own powder coating setup, wish I had my own. My advice was for the OP willybomb

[davent]

I spray with an airbrush, in the basement year 'round with waterborne artiists acrylics and clearcoat with waterborne spraying lacquer, absolutely no stench. I wear a 2 stage chemical respirator while painting, thats it. Relatively low pressure spraying and the fine paint control afforded by airbrushes doesn't put much into the air as compared to rattle can blasts. (And paint goes a long, long ways.)

Before winter sets in i prep enclosures with etching primer but for that i spray out in the garden shed as that stuff is too nasty for anywhere near the house.

[muddyfox]

Hey muddy fox, cool that you have your own powder coating setup, wish I had my own. My advice was for the OP willybomb

yeah i figured, just thought to share my pain with y'all

[GrindCustoms]

When i first started to build pedals, i did'nt had any dedicated places to spray the boxes so i was spraying on my deck in a big card board box. In winter i would pre-heat the enclosures in the Toaster Oven, keep the rattle can warm inside, then spray them and bake them right away. Having the enclosure pre-heated really helped the paint to stick on them.

[TNblueshawk]

With the weather here usually sitting around 6^oC, it's really not ideal for spraying any sort of paint outside.  Normally, I'll take an enclosure and put it outside in a little garden type shed here at the back of my block of flats, spray it there and then put a lunchbox over it to cover it from random dust and debris.  It's also pretty open to the elements.

As a result, I've lined the bathroom floor with newspaper, run the exhaust fan continuously while spraying and letting the paint cure.  It's not idea, and it's still fairly cold in there due to the draft from the toilet window (even with the toilet door closet door closed, but it's about the only way I'm going to get anything done - this is a "paid" pedal.

What other ways are people painting.  I'd rather not do it inside - this is only for the clear coat too..

If you are just clear coating then you could always switch to Envirotex, a pour on epoxy. Maybe find out if you like it or not now while it is cold.

[Willybomb]

There's always a base colour (in this case a black etching primer) that gets clearcoated.  I then apply the graphics and clearcoat over that. It gets wet/dry sanded between coats after a couple of initial coats, and then cut and polished.  This latest pedal look pretty good, but if I can get the swirl marks out it'll be even better.

[haveyouseenhim]

My cat...

[Keith_Aviles]

I think that setting up a little personal powdercoating setup is something that is more do-able than some might realize. It just typically requires a bit of creativity to come up with a setup that works within the confines of doing just a pedal here and there.

If you consider the costs in terms of health, necessary supplementary tools, cure times, having to repeat screw-ups, and outright finish durability, IMO it tips things in the favor of powdercoating yourself.

Yes, you'll need a room to do it, but it doesn't have to be huge. The biggest issue is dealing with the powdercoat dust. Again - planning and thinking about containment and cleanup are IMO where the focus should be. But this is a standard thing with almost any kind of project or hobby, right?

You'll need an air compressor, but just something that runs at low pressure. I've been using an old airbrush compressor that I've had for 30 years now. Point being that you can seek out something that isn't expensive or massive, or draws a lot of amps and will trip a circuitbreaker.

Not everyone is going to have access to a gun that is both affordable and works well, but I still suggest they look into it. I got one of the Eastwood guns - yeah, it was expensive, but I've done so much powdercoating with it that it's more than paid for itself. Since then, I've found out that Harbor Freight has their own gun & setup. The durability may not be fantastic, but the price looks low enough that if it only worked for a couple of years that it wouldn't result in someone being upset when it finally broke. The Eastwood gun has a "dead man's switch" for activating the charging of the enclosure (electrostatic principle part of the process), while the Harbor Freight product has a footswitch. Point being that someone may prefer one over the other.

You can find affordable powders at eBay and other places. While some may not be very pretty, you can even pick stuff that will hide imperfections better, and require less time in the oven - some take as little as 10 minutes. Some are so industrial-based that you don't even have to clean the enclosures much. So for anyone who isn't thrilled by this part of the process but who wants something durable (and doesn't want it done by someone else), I think it's worth the trouble to at least look into.

I end up getting little ovens either used or just with stupidly low sale prices. Compared to other tools, the cost of ovens has been almost zero.

I worked in sign shops years ago, and have done most repairs to my own cars myself. IOW, I've already sacrificed a bit of my health in terms of solvents and such that I want to keep the remaining bits to a minimum. Even some of the vapors from water-based products can be irritating, so I'd rather just skip it. Yes, a powdercoating setup will release stuff into the air, but by dialing in the PSI, you can have it where the bulk of the powder basically falls onto the box.

I guess I should add that I drill all my enclosures before powdercoating - I don't want the issue of a bit slipping or having to mask off a box that already has a finish on it. Even with center punching, drilling pilot holes, and using stepbits/uni-bits that basically de-burr as they cut, you can still end up with screw-ups at that stage. If you work with stamped steel or just something harder than aluminum, the chances of a bit grabbing is greater. So again - being able to powdercoat after doing all the drilling/milling/punching/etc. always seems to work out better.

Again - this won't be an option for everyone. That said, I think it's something worth considering, even if it seems like overkill. It's saved me so much time and trouble that it was worth setting up a rig for it.

One last thing if this hasn't been mentioned elsewhere already - make sure you have ovens with timers, and make sure they WORK.