Newb with some candy questions.....

[azoldbill]

Hey Guys,

First off, I want to say this forum is very informative. There are a lot of active members helping us newbs out, and it sure is appreciated!

Anyhow, for fun this past Friday, I had a lid-less ammo can that I thought I'd try a candy color with. The end results were less than spectacular, but I at least now have something that I can use to test the durability of powdercoating with. Anyhow, I sprayed on some metallic silver and got a good, even coat going on that. I put it in the oven at 400* for about 15 minutes and pulled it out and let it cool down to 150*. I then sprayed a candy red over it. Almost immediately, I noticed that I wasn't getting a uniform adhesion with the red. Anyhow I did what I could and stuck it back in the oven. Basically, I ended up with a very non-uniform candy red. The bottom (which was facing up btw) came out best, the large side facing towards me came out so-so, but weak in color, the back side came out mostly pink with a bit of silver showing. Same on the small ends.

Anyways, the bottom came out good because gravity did most the work, the side facing me came out good because I got to shoot it first (still hot I think), and the rest didn't seem to stick that well, like there wasn't a good ground. (Yes, I checked, there was.)

My suspicions are that the part cooled too much, and I didn't get adhesion by virtue of the red melting to the old. Has anyone had this problem, and did you solve it by starting with a higher temp, say 200*? Could I have put it back in the oven, pulled it back out and then shot some more candy red?

FWIW, I used a "competitors" gun for the silver, and the Caswell gun for the candy red. Both powders are competitors. And yes, I'll be getting some Caswell powders as the need arises.

I'm having fun with this, and I'm looking forward to getting the hang of it well enough to start really bragging. Thanks in advance!

[machone]

Was the powder falling off as you shot it? It sounds like simply not enough powder. In cases like this, I would shoot the sides first, then the top (bottom). Always shoot the harder to reach areas first, it's easier to match the coverage.
mach

[azoldbill]

Yes, powder was coming off the "poor" spots pretty readily, like it didn't have a good static charge. Again, I'm thinking that the part may have cooled too much. Any thoughts on that?

THANKS!

[machone]

Sounds about right. As I said, try shooting the sides first. That way if it has cooled too much, the powder will still lay on the top & flow out when you put it in the oven.
Good luck!
mach