DIY Powder Coating Oven

notlob

notlob

Made in England
DTT BOTM WINNER
Money is tight on my current CB900 build and I already have a powder coating gun and a domestic oven I used for smaller parts, largest I have got in there are fork sliders and a fender.

So I want to PC my shortened frame and wheels so decided to build an oven out of bits I had lying around. It all a bit heath robinson but I'll sort everything out properly once its prove workable.

9352518373_a22111516a.jpg


9355293302_9dbf057813.jpg


9355293068_93333b59b3.jpg


My initial plan was to use the domestic oven on its back and let the heat radiate up through the oven

9352517691_d28a9035cd.jpg


That concept failed as the top of the oven only got to 60 deg C.

The insulation is also a bit lacking, thats welding blanket I used, could do with some proper insulation.

Next was to try some gas power, so I stripped a propane heater and fitted the working parts to the oven.

9352517835_138c7af611.jpg


An improvement getting hotter at the bottom but only just over 100deg C at the top and the heat is probably to locallised so if I did get it up to temp it would be to hot at the bottom of the oven.

I've got a 2500W oven element and a 900W halogen element I going to try and fit next.

I'll get there in the end but think I'm going to need better insulation and maybe a fan to circulate the heat.


Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
 
Amazing! I'm on a tight budget so this is interesting to me.

I think insulation is very important, when you don't have to worry about loosing heat you can focus on getting more heat.

A fan sounds like a good idea too, but I don't know how complex that would be?
 
Yeah you're going to need more insulation. And try putting the element on the back wall midway up with some sort of heat shield so you don't fry the part of the frame close to the element.
 
Oh and if you want to do wheels, you can built a pregnant oven for about 20 bucks to get the job done:




I cant get a frame in it though.
I am debating building one, or just taking the frame to a shop.
 
Bert Jan said:
You'll also need a fire extinguiser.
Click to expand...

Haha

Got that covered

9355909707_c10e014f1f.jpg



I'm going to invest £15 or so in 3 more 2500w elements I think that will be adequate with insulation as well.

Sonicjk,
Whats that box made from to extend your oven?
 
If done correctly you don't need more than 2 regular oven elements to do the job. My professional 4'x4'x6' powder oven only has 2 elements and works fine. I considered putting in 2 more put have learned through experience that more elements will heat everything up faster and this seldom is a good thing. Get good Rockwool insulation covered by sheet metal and you should be on your way to an efficient oven build.
I just noticed the Prego oven below and realized it is a gas oven. It is highly not recommended to use an oven that the parts or powder are exposed to an open flame. The commercial gas fired ovens heat the air by gas remotely and then a fan is used to circulate it into the baking cavity.
 
The only danger with a gas oven is that powder when it's in a cloud is flammable,(like any dust cloud) and seeing as I don't spray parts in the oven, much less with it on, it's not a concern.
 
o1marc said:
If done correctly you don't need more than 2 regular oven elements to do the job. My professional 4'x4'x6' powder oven only has 2 elements and works fine. I considered putting in 2 more put have learned through experience that more elements will heat everything up faster and this seldom is a good thing. Get good Rockwool insulation covered by sheet metal and you should be on your way to an efficient oven build.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that 01marc.

I have ordered 3 more elements to go with the one I already had. I going to use some switches of an oven so will be able to control them somewhat. Going to get some insulation but I might use some more welding blanket to hold it in -place as I dont have much sheet steel lying around.

o1marc what do you think to heating the frame before applying powder? Heard some say they do and some dont, I tried it on a fender I did once and found is difficult to get an even coat. It didn't work as well for me as doing it cold the heating to cure.

I have some zinc rich primer powder is that the best for rust protection on the frame?
 
notlob said:
Thanks for that 01marc.

I have ordered 3 more elements to go with the one I already had. I going to use some switches of an oven so will be able to control them somewhat. Going to get some insulation but I might use some more welding blanket to hold it in -place as I dont have much sheet steel lying around.

o1marc what do you think to heating the frame before applying powder? Heard some say they do and some dont, I tried it on a fender I did once and found is difficult to get an even coat. It didn't work as well for me as doing it cold the heating to cure.

I have some zinc rich primer powder is that the best for rust protection on the frame?
Click to expand...
What gun are you using? I assume it is a low end hobby gun which have issues with good powder attraction is some cases. There is a difference between heating the frame and what we call hot flocking. Heating the frame to 110-125 will help dissipate any static charge which is good and will help the attraction of powder. Hot flocking is when you heat the part to 250-300 and you almost don't need any charge at all because the powder will hit and start to flow on contact. This takes some experience getting right because it is hard to judge how much powder you are actually getting on the part and it is easy to put too much on, and that's not good. If your gun will allow you to I always try and shoot everything at room temp (cold) and will only resort to heating and hit hard to reach nooks and crannies (Faraday cage areas). You should always use an IR temp gun to monitor part temps (not oven temps) and after the powder starts to flow pull it out of the oven and check for light spots, hit them and then a nice even light coat over the whole item, then back to the oven for full cure.
I would use zinc primer if I was in an area that sees a lot of salt water or heavy moisture all the time. If your part is properly blasted and coated properly moisture shouldn't get under it. Never use zinc on any aluminum parts.
 
I didn't know that heating to 100-125 will dissipate static charge so thanks for that. When I tried pre heating I took it up to 200 and had the problem you described of getting too much powder on there.

I originaly had an eastwood gun but had problem getting into the nooks and cranies. I now have one of these below which is dual voltage, cant remember the voltages though. I do use an IR temp gun as well.

190263_189467654424394_3727878_n.jpg
 
Is that a Caswell unit? Just remember first coats on the higher setting and subsequent coatings on the lower KV setting
 
o1marc said:
Is that a Caswell unit? Just remember first coats on the higher setting and subsequent coatings on the lower KV setting
Click to expand...

I would of thought that would be the other way around, needing a higher charge to attract the powder though the first coating.
 
notlob said:
I would of thought that would be the other way around, needing a higher charge to attract the powder though the first coating.
Click to expand...

Once you have a layer of powder on there it creates an insulation blanket if you will that needs longer time to dissipate the incoming charge. By lowering the incoming charge you are not saturating the part with KV's so the powder will attract. If you use too high of a KV setting it will over charge and repel the powder attraction causing back ionization where you can see the powder being repelled from the part as it makes contact and will create craters in your finish when cured.

This another one of the MANY issues you will run into when learning to powder coat. People think " I don't know why powder coating costs so much, you just shoot powder on a part and put it in the oven." There is so much to learn to put out a quality finish on a consistent basis without pulling out your hair/breaking shit/throwing tools trying to figure out what went wrong when it does and how to correct it. :D
 
Here's the same unit from Caswell for $200. I went through 3-4 of these due to poor quality build before switching to a higher end system. The Eastwood dual voltage system is a better gun than this for less money.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DTT Light or Dark

  • DTT Light
    • www.jadusmotorcycleparts.com
    www.lostapostle.ca/
    www.sparckmoto.com

    Spread the Love

    Back
    Top Bottom