Hey Nuttyman! This forum is a great place to cut your teeth in powdercoating. It's pretty basic:
1). practice on a couple pieces of scrap metal first
2). sand blast your part(s)
3). hang from a wire and "dust" with powder (getting the right amount of powder on the part takes a little practice)
4). carefully move the part and hang in pre-heated oven to cure. Most Caswell powder cures at 400 degrees for 14-15 minutes. Other powders may vary.
5). open the oven door part way, and allow the part to cool slowly, maybe 10-15 minutes.
Put one color on at a time. Put a color on the part first, cure, then cool, apply the clear, and cure again. The first coat of color will not re-melt. If you missed a spot when coating the first color, just re-coat and cure again. Mixing powder is not like mixing paint (thanks Dale!
) you'll end up with speckles of both colors, but they won't melt together into a new color.
It's pretty easy, and has thousands of practical uses. The cost is so low, it's hard to find a reason *not* to powdercoat. You can figure ~ $90 for your powder gun, ~ $130 for a sand blast cabinet (Harbor Freight), a cast-off electric kitchen oven (free or dirt cheap), and a couple pounds of powder ~ $25. Don't use your wife's oven to cure powder, or your pizza will never taste the same again. Ask questions here. Good luck!
Hemi-T