Which gun to buy

[Harleydad]

Do you mean this one?

[SCOTTRODS]

It definitely makes sense guys. Though there's gotta be a simpler, less expensive solution. I'm coating eyeglass frames with a 50 kv caswell gun. The solution your giving me sounds like overkill. I'm not doubting you but I need to find a simpler, less expensive way.

I see your apprehension on costs, but I have to say,..... Grounding rods are only 15 bucks or so for an 8' section at HD. The rest is wire and terminals.

Giving some weird advice here, but go to the local Scrap metal recycler place and you can find almost everything you need aside from the grounding rods,.... maybe even those. I highly recommend the new one though, unless you can find a "new" one at the recycler. Knowing what you're looking for is a huge bonus, so go check into what a grounding rod is, at the HD or Lowes.... It's a copper clad piece of round stock with a "point" ground on one end,.... basically.

The wire and terminals would be the costly part, but you won't need that much stuff. Especially if you just go buy a pair of long, heavy gage jumper cables for the car,.... and use them for your cabling. Not all that expensive once you figure out what kinds of headaches you will be eliminating....

[visiontailors]

I wasn't concerned about the material as much as the work itself. From what you guys are describing (In my case)I would be running cables(exposed) from outside(ground rods) to (my booth)inside. If I was to conceal the cables I would be looking at major $$$$. The caswell guns (except for the 2nd coat) have seemed to work well. Out of curiosity i decided to test the voltage coming out of the 50kv gun since I was getting the same results from the 16kv gun and the results weren't very promising. The readings I got were 20kv at it's weakest setting which is supposed to be 35kv and between 35-40kv at it's strongest which is supposed to be 50kv. Caswell said they would send me another unit(still waiting). The funny thing was when I confronted them with the issue at hand they responded by insisting the problem was the gun, at that time 16kv, immediately suggesting I needed the 50kv. We'll see what happens. Thanks guys, Chris

[SCOTTRODS]

I wasn't concerned about the material as much as the work itself. From what you guys are describing (In my case)I would be running cables(exposed) from outside(ground rods) to (my booth)inside. If I was to conceal the cables I would be looking at major $$$$.

I only have a short run of "exposed" wire on my set-up. Some guys hammer the whole deal into the ground and cover it up completely, running only the wire up the foundation and into a wall (even through brick is no big deal). Inside make a terminal block out of copper, steel, lead or aluminum. Just needs to be inside the wall. That should be a relatively short term project for real. Are you not coating in a garage or something similar?

Once you have a terminal block mounted to the wall inside, it's just jumper cable time (or something similar,... can be permanent or semi permanent also). The block could be mounted at any level, waist high, at the base of the wall,.... any height.

Time spent should be in the planning, not the project on this one.

Easy cheesy. Need more details or ideas, just chime in. W'ell certainly have opinions!... LOL

[visiontailors]

Thanks Scott. Before I do that, Doug from Columbia suggested because the objects I'm shooting are basically thin eyewire clip-on sunglasses, that the mass being coated will only generate enough magnetic attraction to coat once(just a theory). He suggested I take a larger piece of metal and try a second coat on that before trying anything else. He said if it works with that than the problem is not proper grounding just not enough material to shoot twice. To get a better idea of what I'm shooting please take a look at my product (www.visiontailors.com) and give me your feedback on Doug's comments. Thanks again, Chris

[o1racing03]

I personally dont think the H/S gun is all its cracked up to be. The mass doesnt generate enough magnetic attraction? how does he explain coating the 2x4, which shouldnt have any magnetic attraction. A groung rod in the ground could be as simple as a 4' piece of rebar pounded into the ground and a clamp and wire going straight to your shooting rack with an alligator clip on it. No high dollar stuff is require(the wire being the most expensive part) Grounding your part rack this way will eliminate the need to hook up the units ground clip at all. I have done it this way and have not had any grounding issues since. your frames really dont have any less mass than the bicycle spokes I do , so that shouldnt be the issue

Thanks Scott. Before I do that, Doug from Columbia suggested because the objects I'm shooting are basically thin eyewire clip-on sunglasses, that the mass being coated will only generate enough magnetic attraction to coat once(just a theory). He suggested I take a larger piece of metal and try a second coat on that before trying anything else. He said if it works with that than the problem is not proper grounding just not enough material to shoot twice. To get a better idea of what I'm shooting please take a look at my product (Custom Clip-ons) and give me your feedback on Doug's comments. Thanks again, Chris

[SCOTTRODS]

Thanks Scott. Before I do that, Doug from Columbia suggested because the objects I'm shooting are basically thin eyewire clip-on sunglasses, that the mass being coated will only generate enough magnetic attraction to coat once(just a theory). He suggested I take a larger piece of metal and try a second coat on that before trying anything else. He said if it works with that than the problem is not proper grounding just not enough material to shoot twice. To get a better idea of what I'm shooting please take a look at my product (www.visiontailors.com) and give me your feedback on Doug's comments. Thanks again, Chris

Marc is onto the answer too.... simple is good. When it comes to grounding, you can take as many directions as you want, but unitl you have Earth Ground,.... You will likely have an issue from time to time. Once you have that ground, as marc mentioned, you likely won't have to use the clip from your gun to shoot the grounded part. This is true!

Now,... I took a look at the Clip-on shades you are showing. They're awesome. Another cool nich item.

Here's my opinion now that I have an idea of what you're shooting for:

If I were doing thin items, with low mass (I agree with Marc,... The low mass not attracting is bogus if you have a ground and charged parts) I would likely try the dipping method to coat the wires.... Simply heat the parts to a level that will make the powder adhere, and drag the wires through a fluidized bed of color... This would be do-able in many coats too. As long as you can handle the parts without screwing up the finish, this would be my suggestion. The parts appear small enough, that you could build your own fluidized hoppers, and not have to "share the colors" so much within them. Small, simple, shallow fluidized hoppers....

This is just a suggestion, but I think it would do wonderfully for your application.

Still need to cure fully after getting the powder on, but I believ this would make your process very quick and relatively inexpensive in the long run.

[ty1854]

Ok....Where do I start. First off there is not "magnetic attraction" magnets work on ferrous metals only not powder. The powder is charged with energy and when it is sprayed out of the gun it looks for the shortest/easiest route to a ground. Works kinda like you rubbing a balloon on your hair and sticking it to the wall no magnetism involved. Now that being said some of what the guy at Columbia said was right although for the wrong reasons ( if that makes any sense ) let me explain. In a ideal setup, when you shoot a part with powder the charge moves from the powder particles to the part and then to earth ( your ground rod ). If you don't have a proper ground then the charge will move from the powder to the part and then since it has no where to go it will build up on the part and cause back ionization or repeal the powder from the part all together. Now this is where the mass of the part comes in to play.... On your large items the part can store a lot more energy from the powder before it starts to give problems whereas a small part ( like yours) can only hold a VERY small charge before it will start to cause attraction issues. This is why it is important to have a good ground as it will drain the charge off of the part and allow more powder to stick to the part. The problem becomes more apparent when you are coating small items so while doing so it is extremely important to have a VERY good ground. As far as coating a 2x4 goes that is using a completely different tip for the gun. That tip allows you to coat materials that are non conductive and a ground while helpful is not required while using it. But that a whole different topic.

[visiontailors]

With all do respect to Doug, please understand one thing, I am less than amateur when it comes to powder coating. So if someone explains something to me once it's more than likely I would not be able to repeat it word for word. I'm sure if Doug was in the conversation he would probably agree with what you're all saying. I believe he was just making a suggestion which inturn I passed on to you which inturn helped explain why it can't be the problem. It looks like I'm headed to lowe's for ground rods. I will definitely keep you guys informed. Thanks Scott and Ty...........P.S. Scott, did I mention I was less than an amateur powder coater. Your idea about the fluidized bed of color sounds awsome but I have no clue what you're talking about....LOL..You guys seem to be far more advanced than you might think. Glad you're here.

[Harleydad]

Spot on Ty

This goes into fluidized beds a bit:
Powder Coaters Corner 20