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Hot coat powercoating guns

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  tsm1mt 
#1 ·
has any one ever used this gun? http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/...ODUCT&iMainCat=459&iSubCat=460&iProductID=412

How did it work? did it make a mess? any thing i should know about it? and how well did your project come out?
i will be using it for painting small things suck as rims, bead lock rings, and small other projects. I just thought it might be cheaper to buy this instead of paying for powder coating on every thing.

Any help is great,
thanks
 
#3 ·
Cheaper? I dunno... you gotta buy the gun, powder, build an oven big enough to fit the items you wanna coat (or spend the $$$$ on IR lamps), deal with cleanup of waste powder, deal with cleanup of the mess the powder makes...

Believe me - I have considered that setup myself, but I will stick to good old paint that is easy to touch up.

(BTW, best bud was industrial mechanic for Ferro here in Nashville for several years, so I got to learn some about powdercoating along the way ;) )
 
#4 ·
I didn't buy a HotCoat, I bought the HF "Chicago Electric" unit.. on sale, cheap.

Bought some Eastwood Bright Red, and some HF gloss black (also another mfg satin black and red that I haven't used).

I acquired an electric oven for free - throw-away.

Waste Powder isn't a problem.. just sweep up the "overspray".. just don't use the Shopvac (fine powder in suspension can be explosive).

The powder is non-toxic, non-hazardous.. just toss it.

If you're worried, put a pan or bucket or garbage can lid under the part you're coating, and you'll catch most of the overspray.

I mounted my air compressor over the oven to save space.



I bead-blast (or thermo-clean) the part first..




Mask with high-temp tape, silicone plugs, and aluminum foil as necessary.. then "fog" on the powder.. place in oven at 400F (IIRC)



Wait a bit..



Then admire the result.








And the finished product:



Block was spray-painted, but the motor mounts, valve covers, tappet/pushrod cover, intake, thermostat housing, front cover, accessory brackets, etc. were all powder coated.

Clean-up is easy. Sweep/wipe up excess powder and round-file it (or, if you're clean, set up a recovery system and you can re-use "wasted" powder).

Gun doesn't need cleaned at all. Simply remove the powder cup and put a cap on it, and box the gun back up. If you change powders, you just need to remove a screw or two, blow the gun out, replace the screw, and put a new powder cup with the appropriate color on.

No need to run thinner through it a few times, disassemble, clean, etc.

You can see the gun in this picture, next to the finished intake and the ready-to-be-baked oil pan.



Yeah, I should've done some "body work" on the pan to get rid of the dents.. but I didn't. :D
 
#6 ·
4x4MuDmAn74 said:
so on the finished product, how strong did it come out? resists scratches and stronger than paint?

so far looks great, were did you get your gun at?
Gun was from Harbor Freight.

Seems pretty scratch resistant. I did have a spot on a valve cover peel - I suspect I didn't get that spot clean enough, and I DID have my leg soaked in solvent with the valve cover upside down on it at the time.

This oil pan was my first coated part, done a few months before the other engine parts above. This pan was installed on the engine in my race Scout, which I use for mud-bogs, sand-drags, obstacle, and short-course "dez" racing (basically, beat the sh*t out of it).



After a year in the truck, it still looks good.

The engine above had to come out of my tow rig after about 900 miles. It sat for close to a year before I finished putting it all back together after finding the problem, so it was moved around the shop, pieces and parts put here and there.. and aside from needing a little cleaning, the parts have held up well.



The alt/York bracket stayed in the truck with the spare motor for the year, and I noticed when re-installing the rebuilt tow mill that the York bracket has a spot that's peeled off, too.

Not sure if that's another poor-prep or, since it started peeling on an edge, if something caught it at some point.

Still looks good.

The powdercoat pan on the race engine is holding up a lot better than any paint I've had on the oil pan in that rig before. Some of our mud is rather caustic and likes to eat paint.. and obviously, the oil pan still looks pretty good.
 
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