DIY Powder Coating

FYI, bought a powder coating system with gun, electrifier and oven from Princess Auto (~$250 cnd) and stood the moser rear end crate upright to make a paint booth with garbage pail in the bottom to catch the excess powder paint, see attached pics. Powder coating all the smaller bare metal bits that came with my MK4. Cleaned parts with brake caliper cleaner, preheated for ~ 10min in oven as it was warming up, hung parts in booth, set air to ~20psi, coated with powder paint, baked in the oven at just over 400F for 15 min, very easy and really happy with the results. I did have to buy an oven thermometer just to make sure I was getting to >400F and even though I have a good work space I was pretty careful to wear goggled eye protection and a respirator when dusting and baking the parts.

Looks good. It also looks like your first post! Welcome to the forum. Maybe when you have a chance you can write a little more about your build! (we like photos, too)

Don't know much about the powder coating process, after the 15 minute bake is it completely cured/dried? I love the idea of making your own booth to do that.

Small/thin parts take less heat and less time that bigger/thicker parts. Once the powder starts to flow, turn the heat down and cook for 15-20 minutes. If you want to retain the shine, crack the door open a bit and let it cool really slowly.

Once you use an over for PC, you can't use it for food ever again.

Don't use a gas oven either, open flame and powder coat dust don't mix. Old electric kitchen stoves are usually cheap / free

Bought mine for $20 on letgo. I wanted a built-in so I don’t have to deal with the stove part. Going to build a cart (finally a good use for those old bed frames I saved for years that my wife says “why?”) so I can roll it around and be taller than a standard oven to save my back.
OH!!!!! On the line of what arrowhead said about gas oven and powder... DO NOT USE A SHOP VAC TO CLEAN UP POWDER EITHER!!! Brushes arching in electric motors and powder don’t mix either. Broom or a garden hose.

Kurt

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is it possible to power coat aluminum? I modified the trans tunnel with a trim piece on the sides. Polished them to almost mirror finish. But, they are getting beat up by the seat belt knocking against them. I assume power coating is durable enough not to get dented or chipped?

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Yes, you can definitely PC aluminum. Many people PC some or all of all the chassis sheet aluminum pieces. It is more durable than paint but not indestructible. A seat belt knocking against it would probably chip it over time.

I am planning to powder coat most if not all aluminium. It is really durable, very hard to chip. I will do some tests to decide on color and sheen, but I am expecting to go with satin clear. Will experiment with brushing the aluminium before PC as well. I have a regular oven, but also built my own PC oven out of a fireproof safe for the bigger parts. Got a bunch of free ovens for the elements, and use PID controllers and solid state relays to control it, works great.

You'll have trouble with the polished part. The surface is so smooth that the powder will have a hard time grabbing hold.

First, you'll need to get all the old wax and polishing compounds out of the metal. Clean in hot water and a good cleaning solution, like Simple Green. Bake it for a little while at about 150-200*F to bring any oils back to the surface. And then clean again. Just like paint, it can't be too clean.

Then you need to roughen the surface a little bit. Use a green scrubbie or 2000 grit sandpaper. If you're going to use a translucent or clear powder, the texture can show through. So be careful about how you apply texture.

I usually sandblast parts before PC. In this case, I don't think it will look good, but I will experiment to see what finishes I get. I agree, it is a good idea to heat parts in the oven to force oil and other impurities out for best result. This is particularly valid on cast parts, as they can be rather porous.