Anyone do their own sandblasting & powder coating?

[chopthebass]

I have an old range in my garage, so I thought I'd put it to good use. Bought an Eastwood powder coating gun as it was pretty cheap. Now the unknown part for me is doing my own sandblasting. I have a small twin tank Makita compressor but I suspect it isn't big enough.

Has anyone successfully done their own sandblasting? What gear did you use?

Cheers
Ian

[michael everson]

I have a larger 30 gallon compressor and its barely adequate for sandblasting. Sand blasting uses lots of air. You will probably do ok on small parts. I have been using the Eastwood gun for many years and couldn't be happier with it.
Mike

[mjazzka]

For small scale sand blasting (think steering rack and smaller), HF portable blaster at http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-abrasive-blaster-kit-37025.html is great. Works like a charm, especially if you get the $8 coal slag abrasive they have.

I also do my own powder coating, and it's great! There might be a slight reduction in quality than in a pro's shop, but that's mostly because I just started relatively recently. Make sure you use your respirator for both the blasting AND the powder coating. I've got a 25 gallon 4 hp compressor and it has more than enough capacity for what I'm doing, no complaints whatsoever.

[Bob Cowan]

Powdercoating is pretty easy. It's labor intensive, but a lot faster than painting. There are a couple of tricks that will help you get a good result:
- surface prep is the same as for paint - meticulous and spotless.
- temperature control is important. Monitor with a good thermometer
- small thin parts will need less heat and less time.
- pre-heat bigger parts
- letting parts cool slowly gives a better shine.
- You can double coat parts. two colors, patterns, translucent over near chrome, etc.
- you can coat over chrome. Just scuff the surface so it can grab on.

[RM1SepEx]

Bob's got it nailed... surface prep and clean, we made the ov en door deeper for more area... used the drawer underneath, added 2 inches of Insulation, bent up an outer box out of aluminum. left a slot on each side for the hinges to go in.

pull door up and off, drop the extension over the hinges, square space for 17 inch wheels (so far) just did the front and back wheels for my 97 CBR600 came out great. I use powder by the pound for a variety of colors...

like my new zerodbmotorsports hood louvers: