New Setup Recommendations

[Cameratrick]

I have an interest in putting together a powder coating setup that will allow me to PC mainly motorcycle parts for myself and my riding club. I'd like to be able to do rims, rearsets, pegs, kickstands, levers and swingarms if possible. Frames would be great too but I'm not sure if I have enough room for the required setup.

My question is: what gun should I be looking at purchasing? I see the hobby gun only goes to 16KV and some of you recommend using around 20KV for heavier finishes. I would prefer not to go overboard in buying equipment I don't need but I certainly want to do the job right.

Any input is greatly appreciated, or any links to other threads dealing with this subject will work too. Thanks.

[Popeye]

The Caswell hobby gun would work fine for what you're doing.

[pickleboy]

The Caswell hobby gun would work fine for what you're doing.

ditto on the hobby gun. my recommendation is get it to start and as you get more jobs and need more equipment let the hobby gun pay for it.

[machone]

I have the caswell hobby gun & it works great for me. I've been doing everything from a cowbell for my daughters horse stall to full exhaust systems for show cars with it. Like pickleguy said, let the hobby gun pay for the step-up.
Good luck!
mach

[sswee]

I'm with the others on this. The hobby gun will outlast the size of the home oven. The hobby gun I have has payed for itself and is now working towards a pro setup. It would get there faster if I had a larger oven.
SS

[Cameratrick]

Sounds great. Just wanted to make sure doing something like a candy coat could be pulled off with it. I wasn't sure if 16KV was enough to put a solid second layer on.

As far as letting the hobby gun pay for a bigger setup, I'm right with you. Thanks for the input. I'm sure I'll be back with lots more questions soon enough.

[sswee]

As for second coats, if I've had any problems, I did a partial cure and recoated warm. About 150* to 180*. One part I did get it thick enough to run. Ooops. LOL
SS

[Cameratrick]

That's the thing. I can't afford to screw up someone's parts. It's cheaper to spend an extra $1200 than spend the time cleaning part after part, then respraying.

Anyone else have a comment about second coats with the hobby gun?

[pickleboy]

best way to solve second coat problems for me is to shoot the base coat and fully cure. then right out of the oven i hot shoot the second coat. with candys and clear it is fairly easy to see what you are laying down since it melts as soon as it hits the part. this will also solve the voltage issues that might be a problem on some recoats. i now shoot clear on all jobs unless told not to. i only shoot clear hot since i can see the gloss level build as i am spraying. hope this help out bro.