have stove. Now what?

While walking the dog around the neighborhood, I spotted a stove outside of a house that was being remodeled, and thought, "that would have some thick sheet metal". I was planning to strip it for sheet metal, but the owner of the home where it was said there was nothing wrong with it.

It is now sitting in my shed, and I think I know what to do with it...if the the Harbor Freight powder coating system actually works... ...I may try to coat some stuff.

What do you guys think? Have you tried their powder coating stuff? Is it rubbish? Does a household stove get hot enough to melt the powder?

I haven't done any powder coating, but one of my friends did have a set up in his shed. He used a POS Maytag range for the oven. I think his gun was from HF, but I can't confirm that, and I've lost contact with him over the years.

friend used the eastwood powdercoat kit... he would coat anything he could fit in that oven... had some very good looking stuff... I think my fav stuff he had was translucent... gave an awesome look

The HF kit works. A stove does get hot enough. You may want to get a premium powder from Eastwood or similar.

Derick Freese wrote: one of my friends did have a set up in his shed. He used a POS Maytag range for the oven.

Good. At least I know that it is possible with that stove. (...and I already have 220 V to the shed for my welder.) I know I can fit my front suspension A-arms and coil springs into the oven. Unfortunately, there's no way I can put the anti-rollbar in.

Then you need to find a second stove and weld them together.

They have instructions on the web for making a wider oven using the coils out of two ovens. Not exactly cheap but you can fit some good sized parts in it.

good to know... may eventually look for another oven.

Have the eastwood kit and an avocado green oven. Works great.

+1 for the avocado

I used to have an eastwood gun. One of the first ones they offered. It was the cheesy, flimsy crappy one, not the pro model. It laid on powder smooth and consistent. It was very hard to mess anything up. When that died I bought a harbor freight unit. I was shocked at how much better built it was. Sturdy metal case with some real heft to it. Actual transformers inside and a bold strong arc from the electrode. The gun was much nicer as well. I had to return it 3 times to get one that would actually charge the powder enough to stick (very strange considering the strong arc they had) and when I did get a good one it just doesn't lay the powder down nicely at all. It spits and pops and blows globs and lumps everywhere. There is a percolating noise from the powder canister. Very dissapointing considering how much better built it is. Kind of sad. I used to PC pretty much every part that I had off the car and now I rarely pull it out.

I need to look around to see if anyone is modding these HF guns for better spray characteristics. I need to start doing more of this.

homebuilt

http://www.powdercoatoven.4t.com/Index.html

Looks like a lot more folks than I were unhappy with the HF gun spray and have come up with better ways to fluidize the powder using DIY external hoppers.

Looks like I might get back into this.

ditchdigger wrote: Looks like a lot more folks than I were unhappy with the HF gun spray and have come up with better ways to fluidize the powder using DIY external hoppers. Looks like I might get back into this.

Links?

http://www.powder365.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1288

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/construction-tips/138313-powder-coating-cheap.html

http://forum.eastwood.com/showthread.php?5331-Fluidizing-hopper

http://www.powdercoatingforum.net/showthread.php?2256-Hopper-for-Harbor-Freight-gun-Pics-Video

thought about this for sometime - may have to try it - always have a ton of small parts i would like to coat ut don't feel like waiting for the shop to do it..

In 8th grade shop, we would put sheets of acrylic in the oven until they were pliable and lay them on forms. Making ash trays and other crap you make in 8th grade shop class. It could be usefull for making sculpted shapes.

In reply to RossD:

Headlight retrofit guys make headlight/foglight lenses like that + using a vacuum forming table. Some more successful than others.

Also useful for applying high-temp spray-on paint that has to be baked.

Someone in the powdercoat business was telling me that infra-red elements were the future. He was doing most of his powdercoating out in the open, no oven, just IR elements pointed at the moving clothesline thing they use.

I always wondered if the home guy could set up something similar easily. Like an exposure booth pretty much.

How long does it actually take to powdercoat a part, and what are the safety implications?

Given the same bare metal prep, it usually takes less time to powder coat a part and be able to use it than it does to rattle can one and wait for it to dry. I did a bicycle stem the night before last. Coating time about 3 minutes, 15 minutes in the oven at 375 deg and maybe 5 more to cool enough to be handled.

As far as safety goes it should be safer. There are no solvents or volatile compounds. Any fine powder shouldn't be inhaled so a dust mask is all you need. You are just melting ground up polyester onto metal.

Does the metal need to be prepped in the same way as for paint?

What are your options for smoothing pitted metals?

Honestly I just sandblast stuff and coat it. If I am feeling like doing an extra special job I will hose the piece off with brakeclean or wipe it down with some acetone but most of the time I just don't.

As far as pitted metal goes. The recomended material is lab metal since it can take the heat and is conductive. A lot of folks just use JB Weld and "hot flock" it. By preheating your part the powder melts and sticks instantly and you don't depend on the electrostatic charge to hold the powder in place while you transport the piece to the ooven and wait for it to melt. That is how some people are powder coating rocks, glass, fiberglass and other odd pieces that they shouldn't be able to.