New guy! Stupid questions incoming!

[Dammit]

I've spent about the last two hours digging through the archives and am suffering from information overload at the moment. LOTS of good info here. Maybe too much since I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. It would take days!

To the point, I'm going to be just doing my own stuff for the most part. I have an affinity for old three wheeled ATV's. I just enjoy fixing them up. I don't even have any powdercoating equipment yet. I'm still in the shopping and information gathering stage. I don't even have a sandblaster, air compressor or oven yet because I need advice on all of them. Hope you guys don't mind.

First thing that I'm having trouble figuring out is what route to go for an air compressor (maybe there's a better section of this site for this question but I didn't see one). I need something that I can use for sandblasting as well as powering the gun. I have ZERO clue when it comes to this stuff as I've never owned one. What kind of specs do I need from an air compressor to make sure I get something that can do an adequate job sandblasting ATV parts? Most of what I'll be doing will be small parts but I may do the occasional frame or something. CFM, PSI etc etc? Tank capacity? I just don't have any idea what to look for or what I should expect to spend and fear paying way too much for something that's just overkill for my purposes.

Next is the oven. Basically I have two realistic choices as far as I can tell. I can get an old used kitchen type oven and have an eletrician come and install a 230v outlet in my garage or I can get one of those $329 Harbor Frieght jobs that run on 110. The kitchen oven would cost less but how much would depend on how much the new outlet ends up costing. Space wise they're similar. The big advantage the harbor freight oven has is portability (it runs on 110). Anybody ever use one? Comments?

Last is the gun itself. I see that people think highly of the entry level caswell but that the harbor freight and similar guns are just as good? How about that Craftsman gun that doesn't need an air supply? From what I've been looking at so far, that one has been the most appealing to me though I don't know why.

Any advice you folks could give me would be much appreciated. I'm afraid if I didn't start asking for help I'd end up spending a fortune when I didn't even need to.

I'm in Arizona by the way. Just in case someone has some used gear for sale or something.

[Livinincolor]

The questions you ask all depend on how much you will use the system and how big the items are you will be powder coating! If you plan on just doing a couple parts for yourself, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to go all out and buy the best units available. This will be a tough decision on your part.

When it comes to an air comp., buy the biggest you can afford and that will fit your needs. That sounds ambigguous, but that's really what you need to do. We use a Sears 30 gallon that works well for us, but we may need to upgrade in the future because of our sandblast air needs. When it comes to compressors, more cfm at lower pressure is better.
As for a sand blaster, we are using a hand unit in free air at the moment that does what we need it to, but we are building a PA Blaster with a special gun from Rob that we think (and hope) will operate more efficiently. I wish we had the room for a blast cabinet
When it comes to guns, but a Caswel unit!
Ovens, build one or buy one. Building them is a big project, but not insurmountable! Plus we have a smaller home type oven that has been modified with better temp controllers and thermometers. Commercial ovens are very, very expensive and not easily affordable. Another choice would be to buy a commercial restaurant oven, they are bigger, cost more,but we were able to find a large convection oven that works very well.
Hope that answers some of your questions, keep reading the forums!!!
Mike & Johnny
Sho Me Coatings

[machone]

First welcome to the forum!
I use a 4.5 HP 26 gallon compressor that works fine for now. I will be needing an upgrade at some point in time, but only because I'm turning this into a business.
At this point, I'm using an old kitchen oven, An IR light for larger items, and am in process of building a 2x3x6 upright oven. An IR light works ok, but not very cost effective.
I use the Caswell hobby gun and it works great. But again, because of the business, I will be upgrading to the pro gun soon.
So it really depends on what you're using the equipment for, yourself or business.
Hope this helps.
mach

[coleman5]

first you are going to need that 220 plug in your garage for at least the kitchen oven.
harbour freight has a air comp that puts out 17 cfm, for about 400. bucks
the hobby gun from caswell is a little beter than harbor freights gun.
and a cheap blast cabinet well get you started.
hope this helps.

[jrow]

Dammit,

Save your self some money!! Measure the distance from you electrical panel to where you want the plug for your oven. I'd start with a used kitchen oven. Buy the plug and the pigtail for the oven.
Talk to your electrician and advise him of the length of the electrical run, he will also need the amperage of the oven (can normally be found on the plate attached to the oven).
He will advise you of what size wire, and circuit breaker you need. Tell him the make of your main electrical panel, (square D, and GE are common ones) he will need that also. Check your main panel and see if there are open slots for the new circuit breaker.
Ask him if he will make the connections if you run the wire. They may have a minimum charge so you may want to contact more that one.

John

[Livinincolor]

Like I said earlier, there is a lot involved. Ask yourself how deep you want to go. A large investment to begin with, will create a nice PC shop to start off or you can do like so many of us have and start real small with a minimum of rquipment and capital investment.
Whatever you decide, PC'ing is very rewarding so have at it, after all, it's only money.
Mike
Sho Me Coatings

[Dammit]

I'm sure the investment will be worthwhile in the long run. I have three trikes in the garage right now that need to be done and there will certainly be more to come. I also pick up junk trikes on occasion simply to part out on ebay. I imagine those junk parts will be bring in a lot more for me if I can PC them first.

[azoldbill]

I agree with buying the biggest compressor you can afford. Nothing stinks worse than having to stop every couple minutes while blasting to wait for the compressor catches up. When looking, one of the most important things is the CFM at a given PSI. Most compressor data plates give 2 sets, one at 40psi and one at 90psi. Try to compare CFM at the same PSI for a better idea of the compressor's abilities. CFM is a rough idea of how much air a compressor will crank out in a given time. The bigger the CFM, the more it can crank out. And if you only happen to be using xxx cfm while the compressor cranks out xxx+10 cfm, then you won't be waiting on the compressor, it'll be waiting on you.

And whatever you do, seriously consider avoiding the oilless type compressors. Those things put out a loud, annoying, high-pitched whine that grates on your nerves after a while....at least my old one did. YMMV.

[Dammit]

So is 17CFM good enough to do small atv parts without having to play the waiting game then? I was told on another forum I need to look for 25cfm @ 90 psi which struck me as being overkill (not to mention expensive as hell).

[Livinincolor]

17 cfm is a lot of air and would be a bgi compressor! 25 cfm I think would have to be a 2 stage compressor which is more efficient, but way higher cost!
What you need to do is figure out which sand blast unit you want and then match a compressor to it, with a little overkill.
Overkill is rarely a bad thing!!!!
Mike
Sho Me Coatings