I tried the powder coating thingy too.

[Jrgunn5150]

This is what I've been working on the past few day's. I started with an intake, but decided to step back and do something small first, learn from it and go from there.

This is also why I put you guy's on hold for valvecovers ;D

So I started with this Explorer intake plaque,

Blasted it,

Here it is on the rack ready to be shot with powder, the green wire is the ground

This is what the raw powder looks like,

Here's a shot of it curing in the oven

And, finito,

This one is a do over, i thought it would be more forgiving than paint, and it is, but not that forgiving, it's got some turds in it.

 

[Javi]

Looks pretty good JR.

First timer.huh?

 

[Dalamar]

less dust if you hang it off a wire in the oven.

But that is fun stuff.
work it!

 

[Steven]

congrats you popped your cherry

 

[Paul]

Hah, looks better than the first thing I did. LOL

If you're powdercoating outside, that might make it a bit difficult to get a nice clean finish. I had my oven on my back porch at first, then moved it into my garage because I was getting too many particulates in what I was coating.

Also, the finish on the plate after you blasted it definitely indicates to me that your bead blaster isn't doing what it should. You should have a bright, somewhat sparkly and totally even finish on cast aluminum. I struggled with the same thing for a while before I finally got mine to work reasonably well.

Paul.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

The blaster isn't working right in part because I don't have any heat in the shop and the air is freezing in the line.. I think I'll remedy that and go from there.

 

[1996mustangGT]

Nice! Looks great

 

[ram360]

nice, looks 100x better than before

 

[Matt94GT]

looks good for a 1st timer

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I just got my blaster sorted, tried it a second time, looks even worse, full of air bubbles somehow... Ugh, im going to bed.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

So my problem now is outgasing, ugh. Learn something new everyday right?

 

[ARdoller]

does any thing youre powder coating have to be electrically energized? is that why you have a ground wire?

 

[Paul]

Did you hose it down with brake cleaner, MEK, or some other brain-killing chemical before coating it? Did you pre-heat it for a while?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

does any thing youre powder coating have to be electrically energized? is that why you have a ground wire?

Yes

Did you hose it down with brake cleaner, MEK, or some other brain-killing chemical before coating it? Did you pre-heat it for a while?

Paint thinner, I didn't pre heat it, learned that trick now, lol. I found through playing around coating various crap in the garage (decided to quit coating parts and coat stuff I can throw away until Im good, lol), that even shetmetal can outgas.

 

[fixthedoor]

Nice work.

Does paint thinner leave a residue?

 

[Paul]

I'm not sure if paint thinner rinses clean or not. You might want to check on that.

Brake cleaner has been the only thing that has worked well for me. I know MEK works too, but that stuff is so poisonous that I'd just prefer not to use it.

I've never had an issue with outgassing. What does the finish look like when you're done? What's happening to it?

Paul.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

I dunno, I have brake cleaner too. At the moment, now that I have heat, I have water in the lines, so I gotta move the regulator. Haven't done that yet, but I'm not blasting anything right now.


When it outgasses, it leaves a million tiny airbubbles in the powder, after it flows out. It looks just like bubbles in paint, except it didn't make any sense, since it's powder. Then I learned about outgassing, lol.

 

[Paul]

I have three coalescing filters inline from my compressor to my air line, and I drain them regularly. I'd try that - it should keep your air dry.

I think once you're blast cabinet is working effectively, you're pre-heating, and using lots of brake cleaner - it should solve your problem.

Paul.

 

[94 DropTop]

what is outgassing?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

what is outgassing?

Cast part's have air trapped in them, when they get hot during coating, the air is released, shows up on the surface as airbubbles. Lot's of places won't coat cast parts because of it.