Powder coating alloy wheels information

[bluef24]

Hello just wondering if anyone can help me.
I am soon hopefully going to start a mobile alloy wheel refurb business, i have been searching the net for all kinds of information about powder coating the alloy rims after repairing them.

Basically i have so much info going round in my head and jotted down that i just wondered if you have any tips and exprience that may help me in any way i.e oven or uv lamp, which machines, tips, process, does and don'ts. Anything would be fantastic.

Please, please, please.

sorry if any of this is a repeat thread but please help me out if you can

Regards
Jon

[pickleboy]

biggest problem i see in this is the portable oven. i personally dont think that uv lamps would be the right approach to doing wheels. due to the mass of the wheel it will take from 30-90 minutes just to get up to cure temp and then you have a 15-30 min. cure cycle. this is in addition to approximately 60 minutes of outgassing for cast wheels. that is a good bit of energy or gas/lp needed to heat an oven for that amount of time that is portable. not to discourage you bro but mobile pc will take some serious thought. as for tips outgas thoroughly, i would recommend the caswell hobby gun to get started. also as a foot note to the concerns above, keep in mind it is best practice to media blast the wheels before powder, that said it will mean you also need to carry a compressor and blast cabinet with you. hope this helps bro.

[bluef24]

biggest problem i see in this is the portable oven. i personally dont think that uv lamps would be the right approach to doing wheels. due to the mass of the wheel it will take from 30-90 minutes just to get up to cure temp and then you have a 15-30 min. cure cycle. this is in addition to approximately 60 minutes of outgassing for cast wheels. that is a good bit of energy or gas/lp needed to heat an oven for that amount of time that is portable. not to discourage you bro but mobile pc will take some serious thought. as for tips outgas thoroughly, i would recommend the caswell hobby gun to get started. also as a foot note to the concerns above, keep in mind it is best practice to media blast the wheels before powder, that said it will mean you also need to carry a compressor and blast cabinet with you. hope this helps bro.

thanks for the info: i have been looking into media blasting before powder was looking into dry ice blasting, haven't decided yet. i realise there a lot to look at to mobile pc before starting, which is why i started this topic so i would try to get it right so as not to make to many mistakes. i'd prefer to pc rather than wet paint as it looks so much better.

[sswee]

bluef24,
There is another thread on the ins and outs of a mobile service for PC work. It has been a while since that topic was last brought up but you may do a search and find it. It covered quite a bit of information on the setup and its pros and cons. Best of luck.
SS

[didde]

Dry Ice that we use cost us $275 for a 4x4x3 carboy and only lasts about two days.

[Crimson]

you use dry ice to strip the rims?

[bluef24]

you use dry ice to strip the rims?

No, its just one of the blast media's i've been looking into, not sure how effective it is though. is more aimed at deep cleaning i think.
saw it at www.icesonic.co.uk

[bluef24]

bluef24,
There is another thread on the ins and outs of a mobile service for PC work. It has been a while since that topic was last brought up but you may do a search and find it. It covered quite a bit of information on the setup and its pros and cons. Best of luck.
SS

can't seem to find the thread, will keep looking.