Powder Coat System from Sears?!?!

[Jay H 237]

WARNING.......resurrection of a semi-dead thread!


Since there was quite a bit of interest in powder coating I decided to do a pictorial step by step of it for any of you considering it or were curious about it. Instead of creating a whole new thread I just decided to build off the one we already had, none of the previous info in here is outdated anyhow. CD is kind of slow being the summer now, I just got done doing some powder coating while photoing the whole thing for my own website, plus I'm still getting occasional PMs or emails about the info I posted earlier in this thread, so away we'll go...................

(The part in the attached pics is the dual groove water pump pulley for a 260/289/302/351w Ford with power steering.)

(I also want to say that between the powder coater from Eastwoods, a few small jars of powder and the toaster oven, I have less than $300 invested in this. Powder coating isn't as expensive as you may think. While it's more costly than paint it holds up better, and the size of the parts you can do is only limited by the size of your oven)

For powder coating to adhere properly the part MUST be clean. No paint, rust or oils can be on it. You can clean a part with a wire brush, scotchbrite, sandpaper, or sandblasting depending on what's on the part.

The part must be metal (to attract the powder) plus it must be able to withstand the heat of the oven, 450 degrees.

[PIC #1]
I used a sandblasting cabinet to clean the old paint and surface rust from the pulley. With the multiple curved surface areas of the pulley this was the easiest method. I used aluminum oxide to do this.

The pulley was blown off with compressed air after being removed from the cabinet. At no time did I touch the pulley with my bare hands once it was sandblasted, just the oils in your skin could cause adhesion problems, use gloves. Also if you're using clear or translucent powders your finger prints could show through.

[PIC #2]
The pulley was tied to the oven rack with metal wire. This is very important. The pulley must hang clear so the powder can be applied and the metal wire allows the part to be grounded so the powder could be applied and stick to the part. It would be nice to be able to do this in a booth, but I don't have one, and due to the lack of space I have to work in it was done outside. The powder coating gun is visible in the background. This is the Eastwood model. It's almost like a spray gun. The powder cup screws on underneath, you clip an air line to it, and unlike a spray gun it also has a cord for the voltage. The static charge is what will attract and hold the powder to the metal part. I wore a dust mask when powdering, there is "overspray" or stray powder that floats around. All this stray powder can be swept or vacuumed up.

[PIC #3]
This is the pulley right after the powder was applied. You can see it looks dull and course. Becarefull not to brush the part up against anything now otherwise the powder will come off and will appear uneven after baking.

[PIC #4]
The pulley was placed in my toaster oven dedicated to this work only. The oven was prewarmed to 450 degrees before the pulley was put into it. It continued baking at 450 for about 8 minutes. After the powder had visually flowed out, it was becoming shiney and lost the dull look, I turned the oven down to 400 for 20 minutes to cure the part.

I'm limited to the number of attachments per post so I'll continue this in the next post............