Maximum Parts Size

[etyrrany]

Hello,

I'm going to be new to powder coating as soon as I buy a kit. I was looking at the kits here at Caswell. The only thing stopping me from buying a kit is the concern for maximum size of the part that I can powder coat.

Example, I wish to powder coat my motorcycle frame, car wheels, big as well as small stuff.

Another concern, does any body have any ideas or links as to the construction of an oven that would accomodate a motorcycle frame?

3rd question, can you mix powders to achieve a "metallic" (speckled) finish?

Thank you.

etyrrany

[non-stick]

well....let's start off with what you can't do as that seems to be easier to solve in a powder coating application. One cannot "mix" powders as you would with a liquid pant. For example.... Yellow and blue paint mixed makes green basically,right? Yellow and blue bowder mixed will give you yellow and blue speckled powder. NOT a pretty sight. All of the mixing is done for you guys at the formulator stage. You order gree, you get green. You order yellow, you get yellow. Never the twain shall mix, so they say. There is one exception to the rule as far as most of you guys are concerened,though. There's a product out on the market that adds a prismatic effect to clear or tinted clear coats. A little advanced for you guys as of yet, but we'll touch on that in future posts,k? (I promise). It's basically a "metallic" for lack of a better term.

As far as the parts that you wish to coat. I think you'll find you are in good company here. I've seen pictures of all sorts of things here at various sizes with much success. Rims and bike frames are well within the hobbyists realm of possibility. As for the "big oven"...yes, that information on how to build one can be had around here. May I suggest something first though? Seeing as how you are new to this hobby, why not pick up a cheap (at a tag-sale,Salvation army, relative throwing one away perhaps) electric oven and experiment with that for a little while. Get the "feel" for the process as it were. Do a lot of small parts before you go putting an expensive motorcycle frame in there and don't know what you are going to get. I'll say this right off the bat....and ANYBODY here feel free to tell me I'm wrong....once you get something powder-coated, it's a royal pain in the you know what to get it off once it's baked and cured. Especially something with as many corners and tight spots as a bike frame. Ease into it before you go into the "advanced hobbyist" stage of things. Sage advice from somebody who's messed up and learned the hard way for a great many years. Once you have played with the system a bit, come back and we'll talk about the oven-expansion. You have many sources here who are quite good at the areas you will be moving into, much less more than friendly enough to help you (one couldn't ask for a better group of like-minded people in my book). Just better to crawl before you can walk is all I'm saying.

Aside from that....welcome to the world of powder coatings. Buy the system here, some powder and invest in a cheap electric oven. Take your time and come back to look at out posts for tips and tricks. But most of all.......have fun with it! Hope that helps....Russ

[1flyte]

Sometimes colors can be successfully mixed. We recently did a sample part for someone. We mixed a med. blue with a silver and ended up with a lovely silvery blue color. This won't always work; it depends on the powder.

As to the maximum part size that can be powder coated, that is limited only by your equipment size. Entire railroad cars are even coated with a graffiti-proof powder coating!

[non-stick]

grrrr...sorry for the double post guys. Something wrong with how that transferred. Anyways....yes, there are exceptions to the rule with blending powders...but those are few and far between. Usually a metallic or "silvery" powder and a pigmented tone...so yes, yer right