Quite a few folks were interested when I posted that I got a powdercoating kit for Christmas, so I thought I'd post up a basic intro as to what you might need if you wanted to do it yourself. I'm no expert since I've not powdercoated a single thing yet, but I read through the manual and I'll post some of the stuff they recommended you'd need to get started. This will give you an idea of what kind of investment you'd be making and the scalability of your tools.
To start, here's a bunch of stuff from the kit and some other stuff that I bought to go with it:
My family bought a kit off of eBay to get me started - it costs $154.95 + 18.99 shipping. (Total $173.94)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Deluxe-Powder-C...ryZ92150QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
THIS POWDER GUN KIT COMES WITH THE FOLLOWING:
1 - ROLL OF HANGING WIRE
1 - 1/2" HIGH TEMPERATURE MASKING TAPE
1 - 1" HIGH TEMPERATURE MASKING TAPE
1 - 30 HIGH TEMPERATURE ASSORTED PLUG SET FOR THREADED HOLES
1 - 30 HIGH TEMPERATURE ASSORTED CAPS SET FOR THREADED BOLTS
1 - 8 oz IRON PHOSPHATE METAL PRETREATMENT
25 - S-HOOKS FOR HANGING TO HELP PREVENT HANGING MARKS
2 - REPLACEMENT CUPS
1 - MOISTURE SEPARATOR
1 - PICK ANY FOUR 1/2 LB CONTAINERS OR TWO 1 POUND CONTAINERS OR ONE 2 POUND CONTAINERS OF YOUR CHOICE OF POWDER.
The other stuff you see in the picture is:
Infrared Thermometer - $30 from Harbor Freight
Goggles - $5 from Harbor Freight
Respirator - $25 from Harbor Freight
Dust Masks - $9 for six from Harbor Freight
Long Reach Pliers (for getting stuff out of the oven) - $10 for the pair from Harbor Freight
Flour Sifter - (to un-pack the powder before you spray it) $6 from the Grocery Store
Total for this stuff was $85. Not too bad.
Then of course you're going to need an oven. I picked up a good used one from a Mustang buddy of mine for $75 and it works great. You need to have a dedicated oven, so you can't use the one you cook in.
One thing lots of folks don't add in to the equation is the cost to wire the oven up. If you already have an extra 220v outlet laying around, this is no big deal. But if you're like most folks, you'll need to run a new breaker off of the circuit box and buy all the wiring, conduit, bends, fittings, breaker, and receptacles. I did all the work with a friend of mine who know electrical work but just the parts added up to more than $250. That was a bargain since I already had wiring running to the back of the house since there used to be a spa there. It would have cost $600+ without that - and more if I had to pay an electrician to do it.
So for wiring, we'll estimate $200-$1000+ depending on your application.
I used to have a smaller (60 gallon) single-stage compressor from Sears. It sucked. The damn thing wouldn't even come close to keeping up with the air volume demands of a blast cabinet. (which we'll get into later) Then I bought this one:
It is a two-stage 80 gallon unit from Harbor Freight. It flows 26 cfm @ 90 psi with 175 psi max. It has a Baldor electric motor and a good pump. As for as most compressors you'll find in someone's house - this is a monster. However, having one this size is NOT NECESSARY for powdercoating or very light blast cabinet use. It was $1349.99 from Harbor Freight and again, about $250 worth of electrical stuff to wire it up. If you're not doing much bead blasting, you can certainly get by with a smaller unit. Also, this is not some super high-quality Ingersoll Rand unit that costs thousands more.
Then you will need some way to regulate the air and get the moisture out of it. If you want quality powdercoating results (or so I've read) you need dry air coming out of the gun to ensure there is no clumping or spatter. The trouble with having a 175 psi compressor is that you can't use cheap crappy regulators, so I got this one from MSC. I have it regulated down to 125 psi most of the time, or lower if I'm running air tools a lot. This is manufactured by Wilkerson and I think it cost around $100 or so when I got it. Then of course you have hose reels and fittings and such which can be another $100 or so.
I also ordered two more modular coalescing filters from Drillspot.com today that I'll install next week to help ensure I have bone dry air coming into the powder gun. They're shown in the link below.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/144360/Wilkerson_M12-03-BL00_Compressor_Air_Line_Filter
So all told I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 in my compressor setup, but that is not necessary for powdercoating. I have it because blast cabinets require a TON of air and I use mine relatively frequently because I hate dirty parts.
Lastly, if you're not going to farm out your blasting to someone, you'll need a blast cabinet. I bought one from Harbor Freight for $200, but wasn't satisfied with the performance of the gun/trigger in it. I upgraded to a Blast n' Peen professional gun and pedal which (I think) was something like $150-200 at the time. I like it much better and it is much less fatiguing to have a pedal instead of a trigger. Here's a crappy picture of the pedal. (it was dark out)
The cabinet looks like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93608
I'd like to eventually get a better cabinet, but they're pretty expensive. Don't forget you'll also need some media like glass bead, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, plastic beads, or walnut shells depending on what you're blasting. I usually use glass and you can get 50 pounds of it for about $35.
So all told, I've got about $3000 tied up into stuff I'm going to use for powdercoating, but of course some of it I already had and can use for other stuff. (like the blast cabinet and compressor) This point of this post is just to give you an idea of what kind of stuff you might need to get started so you can make a budget based on your needs and the level of scalability you need for your projects. I'll post more once I start coating some stuff!
Paul.
To start, here's a bunch of stuff from the kit and some other stuff that I bought to go with it:
My family bought a kit off of eBay to get me started - it costs $154.95 + 18.99 shipping. (Total $173.94)
http://cgi.ebay.com/Deluxe-Powder-C...ryZ92150QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
THIS POWDER GUN KIT COMES WITH THE FOLLOWING:
1 - ROLL OF HANGING WIRE
1 - 1/2" HIGH TEMPERATURE MASKING TAPE
1 - 1" HIGH TEMPERATURE MASKING TAPE
1 - 30 HIGH TEMPERATURE ASSORTED PLUG SET FOR THREADED HOLES
1 - 30 HIGH TEMPERATURE ASSORTED CAPS SET FOR THREADED BOLTS
1 - 8 oz IRON PHOSPHATE METAL PRETREATMENT
25 - S-HOOKS FOR HANGING TO HELP PREVENT HANGING MARKS
2 - REPLACEMENT CUPS
1 - MOISTURE SEPARATOR
1 - PICK ANY FOUR 1/2 LB CONTAINERS OR TWO 1 POUND CONTAINERS OR ONE 2 POUND CONTAINERS OF YOUR CHOICE OF POWDER.
The other stuff you see in the picture is:
Infrared Thermometer - $30 from Harbor Freight
Goggles - $5 from Harbor Freight
Respirator - $25 from Harbor Freight
Dust Masks - $9 for six from Harbor Freight
Long Reach Pliers (for getting stuff out of the oven) - $10 for the pair from Harbor Freight
Flour Sifter - (to un-pack the powder before you spray it) $6 from the Grocery Store
Total for this stuff was $85. Not too bad.
Then of course you're going to need an oven. I picked up a good used one from a Mustang buddy of mine for $75 and it works great. You need to have a dedicated oven, so you can't use the one you cook in.
One thing lots of folks don't add in to the equation is the cost to wire the oven up. If you already have an extra 220v outlet laying around, this is no big deal. But if you're like most folks, you'll need to run a new breaker off of the circuit box and buy all the wiring, conduit, bends, fittings, breaker, and receptacles. I did all the work with a friend of mine who know electrical work but just the parts added up to more than $250. That was a bargain since I already had wiring running to the back of the house since there used to be a spa there. It would have cost $600+ without that - and more if I had to pay an electrician to do it.
So for wiring, we'll estimate $200-$1000+ depending on your application.
I used to have a smaller (60 gallon) single-stage compressor from Sears. It sucked. The damn thing wouldn't even come close to keeping up with the air volume demands of a blast cabinet. (which we'll get into later) Then I bought this one:
It is a two-stage 80 gallon unit from Harbor Freight. It flows 26 cfm @ 90 psi with 175 psi max. It has a Baldor electric motor and a good pump. As for as most compressors you'll find in someone's house - this is a monster. However, having one this size is NOT NECESSARY for powdercoating or very light blast cabinet use. It was $1349.99 from Harbor Freight and again, about $250 worth of electrical stuff to wire it up. If you're not doing much bead blasting, you can certainly get by with a smaller unit. Also, this is not some super high-quality Ingersoll Rand unit that costs thousands more.
Then you will need some way to regulate the air and get the moisture out of it. If you want quality powdercoating results (or so I've read) you need dry air coming out of the gun to ensure there is no clumping or spatter. The trouble with having a 175 psi compressor is that you can't use cheap crappy regulators, so I got this one from MSC. I have it regulated down to 125 psi most of the time, or lower if I'm running air tools a lot. This is manufactured by Wilkerson and I think it cost around $100 or so when I got it. Then of course you have hose reels and fittings and such which can be another $100 or so.
I also ordered two more modular coalescing filters from Drillspot.com today that I'll install next week to help ensure I have bone dry air coming into the powder gun. They're shown in the link below.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/144360/Wilkerson_M12-03-BL00_Compressor_Air_Line_Filter
So all told I probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000 in my compressor setup, but that is not necessary for powdercoating. I have it because blast cabinets require a TON of air and I use mine relatively frequently because I hate dirty parts.
Lastly, if you're not going to farm out your blasting to someone, you'll need a blast cabinet. I bought one from Harbor Freight for $200, but wasn't satisfied with the performance of the gun/trigger in it. I upgraded to a Blast n' Peen professional gun and pedal which (I think) was something like $150-200 at the time. I like it much better and it is much less fatiguing to have a pedal instead of a trigger. Here's a crappy picture of the pedal. (it was dark out)
The cabinet looks like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93608
I'd like to eventually get a better cabinet, but they're pretty expensive. Don't forget you'll also need some media like glass bead, aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, plastic beads, or walnut shells depending on what you're blasting. I usually use glass and you can get 50 pounds of it for about $35.
So all told, I've got about $3000 tied up into stuff I'm going to use for powdercoating, but of course some of it I already had and can use for other stuff. (like the blast cabinet and compressor) This point of this post is just to give you an idea of what kind of stuff you might need to get started so you can make a budget based on your needs and the level of scalability you need for your projects. I'll post more once I start coating some stuff!
Paul.
