ew hobbie gun vs caswell hobbie gun

[iwannapowdercoat2]

i know everyone has there fav. but which is best bottom gun cups or top load cups.. how much control over what you coat with the caswell 50k gun vs the hobbie guns..im looking into buying a pro gun but i dont really want to spend alot of money right now but i do want to get started on the right foot.. i have a few folks that want me to do some parts for them.. before i do any work for anyone i want to have the right gun with little to no trouble as possible... thanks for any advice

[ashcroft01]

Dave,

I do a little bit of Powder Coating as part of my part time business and I have gotten by with using the Hobby Gun for all of my projects.

If I were to go more "Pro", then I would look into a larger gun with the adjustable voltage settings and such.

Most of what I coat will fit into a standard 30" oven, so there is really no need for the higher KV rated equipment as of yet and I am able to achieve great results with the hobby gun. As my business picks up and I begin to do some larger pieces, I will probably upgrade to a better gun and build a larger oven.

But for just starting out, the hobby gun is the way to go.

As far as the top loading or bottom cup guns go, I think that it is mostly personal preference. I have heard good and bad points about each. I prefer the top loader myself.

Best of luck,

[bzer1]

Originally Posted by iwannapowdercoat2

i know everyone has there fav. but which is best bottom gun cups or top load cups.. how much control over what you coat with the caswell 50k gun vs the hobbie guns..im looking into buying a pro gun but i dont really want to spend alot of money right now but i do want to get started on the right foot.. i have a few folks that want me to do some parts for them.. before i do any work for anyone i want to have the right gun with little to no trouble as possible... thanks for any advice

If you don't want to spend alot of money right now then you're not ready for a pro gun. It really does make a difference. The Caswells 50K gun will give you far more control and better results than any set voltage hobby gun, and it's a really good compromise between the low end hobby guns and a more expensive pro gun. Transfer efficiency will be greater so you end up with better results and waste less powder. When you can adjust your output voltage you have a much easier time battling faraday cage effect, and can get thicker coats when you need them. As far as the cup position is concerned...Both setups I believe are fluidized cup designs so I doubt that there is a big difference between them. This means that air is injected into the cup to cause the powder to float in the cup making it easier to be sucked into the gun. I have never used the adjustable Caswells gun but I have used the other brand and saw no difference between that and the CE gun. My suggestion to you would be to spend the extra cash on the adjustable Caswells gun so when you are ready for a higher level gun you already have the feel for the adjustments and the learning curve will be reduced to learning the new equipment not relearning how to powder coat.

[Popeye]

I "believe" Caswells has more power than the other brands.. I tried an EW gun and sent it back the same day.
IMHO

[Banditperformance]

I have both guns, and am trying to adapt the EW gun to use with the adjustable caswels power supply, if that helps. Casawells gun is built better, my EW started to fall apart right away, with glue loosening. But that was nothing a little CA couldn't fix. They both have their pro's and cons. Caswels has the nice air bypas screw at the bottom of the barrel, that I like, but EW's gun cleans up a bit faster. ONe thing I did to my Caswel gun was to snip off the threads for the difuser tip. now I cna just slide the tip on and off for faster cleaning. The EW gun also isn;t plauged as much with the clumping that the caswels gune does, due to a smaller powder discharge bore. Caswells power supply is exxcellent though, EW's trigger broke before I had a pound of powder through it, had to hard wire it. Alot less waist to when covering large items, crank the voltage up and spray

[iwannapowdercoat2]

thanks for all the advice.. im going to try the caswell 50kv gun.. i like not waisting the powder and it sounds like it might be the better gun..

[bzer1]

Originally Posted by Banditperformance

I have both guns, and am trying to adapt the EW gun to use with the adjustable caswels power supply, if that helps.

Probably not a good idea. They're both useful items but hardly interchangable. To begin with the Caswells adjustable power supply is made to achieve a max output of 50KV. Is the EW gun capable of that type of voltage output(18KV) without melting down? I would be more apt to spend the money on a higher level pro gun than to attempt creating a FrankenCoater like that. I would think that the EW gun is made for a lower output power supply(it is) and would have serious problems with the higher output of the 50K supply. You might end up destroying both or worse. I hate to say this but all guns have their drawbacks. Even my pro guns have their little quirks that drive me crazy, but sometimes it's best to leave the redesigning to the engineers and deal with the problems with technique rather than experimenting with high voltage output and a potentially explosive powder cloud. JMHO

[Banditperformance]

Originally Posted by bzer1

Probably not a good idea. They're both useful items but hardly interchangable. To begin with the Caswells adjustable power supply is made to achieve a max output of 50KV. Is the EW gun capable of that type of voltage output(18KV) without melting down? I would be more apt to spend the money on a higher level pro gun than to attempt creating a FrankenCoater like that. I would think that the EW gun is made for a lower output power supply(it is) and would have serious problems with the higher output of the 50K supply. You might end up destroying both or worse. I hate to say this but all guns have their drawbacks. Even my pro guns have their little quirks that drive me crazy, but sometimes it's best to leave the redesigning to the engineers and deal with the problems with technique rather than experimenting with high voltage output and a potentially explosive powder cloud. JMHO

Yes, the EW gun will handle it, with no danger to the operator. I am an industrial electrical engineer by trade, so in a way, I am leaving it to the engineers. But, finding a cost effective connecting plug is the hard part. Most that are small enough and handle the voltage are military spec connectors, and they are like $500 each lol I want multiple guns for color changes, but 1 power supply, for cost/space prevention

[lcaswell]

You're obviously aware that modifying the gun will void the warranty and that we won't be held responsible for any damage or injury that occurs because of this modification?

[Banditperformance]

YUP. that just goes without saying