Interested in trying PC but...

[shoe]

I have been reading about PC for sometime now. I like the idea of trying it at home. It would seem that one of the most important things would be metal preparation (cleaning). I hate to think I also need (or convince my wife) to purchase a sandblasting cabinet too. Is there a document that points to metal preparation? Is preparation different for different types of PC powders (epoxy, polyurethane, etc)? I know it is a durable coating but has anyone done bolts, nuts, socket head bolts? Not something that you would be continuingly wrenching on but just once to finish a project?

[sswee]

Re: Interested in trying PC but...

Part prep is the majority of the job and the key to a quality finish. You can build a home made blast cabinet or there are bench blasters fairly reasonably priced. Check Caswell, they offer from bench to cabinet models. Then you'll have to deal with a compressor with enough CFM to operate it. You can always sand the part by hand but they need to have all of any old coating removed. Prep is not any different for the different kinds of powders. I've done screws and bolts for restorations with no problems. One thing definitely a big no-no. Do not use the wifes oven or any oven you will want to use for food at a later time. SS

[corecoatings]

Re: Interested in trying PC but...

If there is one thing you might come away with when powder coating it is sandblasting and lot's of air for said blaster, or sub it out if possible. Like sswee said prep is the majority of the job. I can't decide if I am a sandblaster or a powder coater. Both could be lucrative markets?

[chromo]

Re: Interested in trying PC but...

Ya like said.

I have a heath problem right now, bad headaches from aluminum oxide blasting I am thinking.
Metal prep is the key, just like painting or plating. If the part looks like **** before then it will look like **** after.

I am trying electrolsys for rust removal instead of blasting right now, also will be trying some paint and coating strippers. Then some blasting may still be needed and or buffer machine.
Basically the more perfect the raw part the more perfect the final part. I'll be looking for the most perfect parts with least blasting untill I find out for sure where these headaches are from.

That said, get into PC even if you can't do the exact best jobs! It's basically the same as painting other than you have to bake it. So if PC would look like **** then so would plain paint! If the paint will look good then so should PC.
It's mostly in the prep on the part.

For some plate steel parts that don't need perfect finish I been coating rough. That is I clean the parts so they are clean, then just spray and bake. Don't care if scratches or pits show in these parts, just want something better than spray paint and more durable and rust resistant. Nice practice jobs and my parts sell for more this way. As far as looks, well it's NOT show cars parts, these are like 50' or more in the air and who's gonna see that up close anyway?? They still look better than paint also.

[donafams]

Re: Interested in trying PC but...

i started doing it at home to... turned out to be a dirty messy job.. like you said the mess i had was mainly from all the prep, blasting, stripping then cleaning,.. but also powder overspray.... gets everywhere i even do it in a 3 wall both with fans sucking the owder into air filters.... my garage is now a mess always and its frustrating to me now instead of enjpyable work which was how i thought it would be.. and even lately ive been doing parts 2 and 3 times to get them right, seems like somethings is always going wrong for me and im getting bad results, mainly doing valve covers... to the point where i have stopped taking customer jobs.. seems like its just a PITA for me right now... spent half my daytoday stripping a cover i did in white and re-spraying it again in chrome, and now thats not even good enough. im about ready to call it quits... have a 6x3x3 oven if anyone wants it

[chromo]

Re: Interested in trying PC but...

"Never give up, Never surrender" Tim Allen, Galaxy Quest

Hang in there Dona you'll get it! If not, where can I pick up the oven at :O
I'll even buy dinner.
I want to do some wheels, my kitchen stove ain't big enough.

I been working outdoors allot, but I've not noticed too much overspray, though being out doors perhaps it just bows away?
Are you grounding anything to catch the over spray? Clean rebars, wrenches, etc.. far enough away from the parts to NOT pull powder but to just catch whats drifting around loose in free air? I catch allot of my over spray this way and that of course stops it from going anywhere else. Mostly I just ground a large wrench under the part aways, but I try and do various things.
I have not been spraying enough at one time to worry about saving the collected powder and just toss it. As for sand blasting, I was building a chest freezer cabinet, it works but too large to be moved around much and still needs finished out, also I made a couple mistakes like arm hole to close and harder to work in it. With my headache problems and such and needing a smaller portable booth also I bought a HF $99 cabinet today, just got home, hope to see if it works tomorrow. I needed a transmision jack, airlines, couplers, and other stuff so I made the trip today and got it all while on sale. If it works then good, if not I can use the parts to build something else. I needed it in a rush!
300 mile or better round trip, $400 in tools, plus gas and time, So I got what I could while I could!
If you get some wire screen or fencing and make basically a grounded cage in the spray booth I think you should catch almost all the powders other than what's sucked into the air exhaust.
Be sure to keep it far enough away from the parts so it does not pull powder from the parts but only catches the free flowing over spray in the air.
Soon as I build an oven large enough for 16" truck wheels I'll be doing all 24 of my steel wheels for 5 trucks just for practice. One reason I am trying to build that chest blaster cabinet, no way to put the wheels in a $99 HF unit for sure!