Well boys, I'm now in the powdercoating business...

[Tx Firefighter]

I've spent the last week working full time getting my shop set up to go.

I did my first pieces today and it looks like a go.

It wasn't cheap, with a blasting cabinet, powdercoating equipment, and a baking oven, but that first completed part made it all worth it. I had to plumb the whole shop for dry air with lots of drains, driers and regulators. That wasn't cheap either, but it has to be done.

Powdercoating is the frickin bomb. I cannot believe the difference between raw, painted, rusty part and completed powder coated part. The finish seems to be bomb proof too.

I will get pictures up tomorrow when the light is better.

I'm hoping to dramatically improve my ebay sales with this. I have been parting out motorcycles on there awhile, but now, I will be selling restored motorcycle parts instead of just used parts.

G'day,
Kevin

[gcburdic]

AWESOME Kevin....wished you were closer...I need some hood hinges and top rad brackets done.....looking forward to some pics of parts and the shop man....we gotta see the shop!!!!...so here it goes....

[CG]

Good luck with your new endeavor, Im sure you will do great with it.

[Sinister]

Looking forward to some pics.

[70cst]

Glad to hear the good news. Who knows Kevin...Maybe you might become the new Dupont of powdercoating. Hey...don't forget your friends when you make it big time.

[Bowtie468]

Awesome, Kevin !! Glad for ya ! I'm looking forward to the pics !

[thirdstreettito]

AWESOME! Can we send you stuff to powdercoat? As long as you will be cheaper than the usual guys.

[jholley]

Just how "not cheap" is it to set up?

[krue]

It's amazing how bad it looks going into the oven and how good it looks coming out.

[Spray-Bomb]

How big is your oven ????

[GOPAPA]

Thats a rare thing you have set up.. should do good and even better in about a year when this recession is supposed to be about over,, the place near me wanted $85 a side to do my BB exhaust manifolds .. In case you need some costs to look at .

[Gray Ghost]

Congrats! Can't wait to see a part you refinished.

I've been dreaming of setting up a small operation myself...you got pics comin'?

[kingsolver72]

I agree...powder coat is cool..
I don't think you are supposed to powdercoat exhaust manifolds..I heard it won't hold up.

[petey-pablo]

So where should we start sending our parts to be coated? You are one Lucky Man, I can use someone like you around my area everything is too expensive here I wanted to get a 16inch rim recoated black and I was told it would be cheaper to buy a new rim. I can live with a scratched rim...........POST THEM UP LETS SEE THEM PICTURES WE LOVE PICS.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by kingsolver72

I agree...powder coat is cool..
I don't think you are supposed to powdercoat exhaust manifolds..I heard it won't hold up.

I can get the hi temp powders to do manifolds. I will do a set of my own though, before I do anyone else's to make sure it is all it's cracked up to be.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by thirdstreettito

AWESOME! Can we send you stuff to powdercoat? As long as you will be cheaper than the usual guys.

I'm not sure how much cheaper, but I guarantee I will do faster and better work. It is a ton of labor to powdercoat something. You start with paint stripper to remove most of the finish. Next, you cook it off in the oven for half and hour to burn any remaining grease off, then degrease with a chemical degreaser, bead blast, wipe down with acetone, shoot the powder, and finally bake.

I will though, cater to guys like us. Most shops don't care to mess with little items or one part jobs. I'm happy to do that kind of stuff. Things like hood hinges and similar are a perfect job to me.

Originally Posted by jholley

Just how "not cheap" is it to set up?

I have at least 400 dollars in my air set up, not including the compressor which I already had, and the blast cabinet. The things like a good drier, a couple of good regulators, ball valves, fittings, etc, just kill you a buck at a time.
You need a healthy compressor to run a blast cabinet very much. Figure 750 and up on one.
The gun and powders aren't too expensive really.
Then, you need an oven to fit whatever size parts you want to coat. Then, oven wiring too.

Originally Posted by Spray-Bomb

How big is your oven ????

I can do wheels, suspension stuff, valve covers, manifolds, and similar. I can't do a rear end housing, driveshaft, or core support. That will come soon enough though. I just need to recoup some of my cash out first.

I will post pics tonight. I am walking a fine line though, talking about this, because a person who tries to sell his services on this board must be a paid advertiser (understandably). When I'm ready, I will pay Josh and become a legit advertiser, so I can qoute prices and rustle up work. This is currently just a techincal post I guess. I am not trying to hawk my services yet.

[68shortstep]

This may be too long, & I know it will sound crazy, but I saw it ....... No B-S.

I knew some guys about 15 years or more ago who had a pretty sizable full-time powdercoating business about a hundred miles from here, & a buddy of mine took me by to see this "cool new type of painting" that they were doing. We ended up spending almost all day there watching & learning about it.

Their business was doing the finishing of new wrought iron & bent-tubing patio furniture for a patio furniture manufacturer, & they also did ornamental security storm door frames for a storm door manufacturer. First time I'd ever seen (or even heard of) this thing called "powdercoating," & I really thought it was quite the deal.

These guys were doing it in a grungy big old tin barn garage/warehouse, & had a big (huge) home made steel oven box, big enough to hold lotsa stuff in one run, probably big enough to where you could have put a semi-trailer body into it.

They were coating freshly-welded steel 1 x 2" security door frames, not sandblasted, just ground-down corner welds & still with rust on the flat part of the 1 x 2's from what I'd describe as "raw-steel-stock-stored outside" on it, & I was amazed they weren't sandblasting them clean before coating.

I asked, & they said "Nope, we just preheat them to burn off the steel-mill & welding shop oil before we coat them, no cleaning or sandblasting necessary." Came out of the oven looking great, & (they said) held up well for many years out in the weather.

When they were re-finishing old previously-painted patio furniture, then they said they heated it to burn the old paint off, and then sandblasted it to clean the burnt paint off.

But a lot of the both new & used patio furniture & door frames I saw that they were coating had been stored outside for a few days, until they had an oven full to coat & then heat, & it all had quite a lot of surface rust left on it when it was coated. Again, the finished stuff looked great after it was coated !!!!

What REALLY amazed me was that they were sweeping up their overspary powder off the dirty-grungy shop floor when they changed colors, & they were using a cone of window screen wire & sifting the (big) chunks of dirt & crap out of it, & then they dumped it back into an open box of powder stock inventory to re-use it to spray more stuff again later !!!

No grit or dirt could be seen in the finish-coated products, as they said: "The little bits of dirt that's left in the old used powder we sweep-up off the floor just falls off when it's re-sprayed - 'cause it won't stick to the steel like the powder does.... that's the way we've always done it .... almost no wasted powder that way."

I was flabergasted to see that, but that's what they were doing.

Like I said at the start: No B-S. I saw it. Might call it "hillbilly-redneck powdercoating," but that's how they were doing it.

I thought about, & almost went into the coating business after that, but I decided at that time that there wouldn't be enough market here for it, & I went on to other things. Oh well..........

Now I see everybody sandblasting & pristine-cleaning items before they're coated, & I don't really know if that's necessary.

You might try coating some slightly surfaced-rusted stuff sometime, just to see how it turns out.

[GOPAPA]

That is well worth the read..thanks so much as I never seen how anyone powder coats so this was a real treat for me .. Just below you in Shirley Ar is a small town I lived in for a short while back a few years.. Is it still there ? Larry

[68shortstep]

Originally Posted by GOPAPA

That is well worth the read..thanks so much as I never seen how anyone powder coats so this was a real treat for me .. Just below you in Shirley Ar is a small town I lived in for a short while back a few years.. Is it still there ? Larry

Off-post, but Shirley, AR is pretty much a LOOONNNGGG ways away from me. Would be about an hour-&-a-half drive or more, to the South.

Never been there, unfamiliar with that area. Sorry.

[kingsolver72]

I actually was able to watch the process when i had my frame done.I took lots of pictures and posted some here on the boards..I love powdercoat..Its the only way to go!

[rambler]

good luck on your endevor, I look forward to seeing some pics of your products..

[Tx Firefighter]

Silver vein powder. It's meant to be textured.





Brite white :



Together, silver vein against brite white :



Mama is reading over my shoulder and she says the pics suck and don't do the finish justice.

[Gray Ghost]

Even so they look damn nice Kevin! Good luck in your new endeavor but from what I see you won't need much luck at all.

[shovelhead]

Kevin, Your first pieces look better than those I had done by a "professional". I had a set of rally wheels done a couple of months ago that cant even compare to yours. I too wanted to get into this, but during research found that humidity was a powdercoaters worst enemy. Living on the upper Texas Gulf Coast, I am SOL! Keep the pics coming and good luck to you. You may be seeing some boxes of Harley and truck parts coming your way.

shovel

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Thats awesome bud. Looks great from here. Good luck with everything. Making me want to get some of my stuff done lol.