This discussion has got me interested in setting up a powder coating system.
Wayne, you have explained your approach to the oven. What does is take (cost)
to acquire the rest of the system, the gun, the electronics, etc. What is a
good source. Thanks for the info.
Tom Knopp
1973 TR6, just about ready for the road after a 3 year redo.
Wayne Whippo <WayneWhippo@compuserve.com> wrote:
Hi Ron,
I bought a pair of electric ovens that are normally built into a wall
with one placed above the other. I joined them together to make an oven
big enough to PC the drive shaft and the trailing arms.
Here is how I did it:
I unscrewed the outer sheet metal from the left side of one and from the
right side of the other one. I then removed the insulation and took a saw
and cut the exposed inside walls. On one oven I cut a horizontal line in
the center of the wall and then up and down the wall along the front and
back side of the wall so that the cuts formed an "H". The two flaps that
were formed were then bent, one up and one down, to a horizontal position.
The other oven's side wall was cut with the center line running up and down
and the other two cuts running horizontally across the top and bottom of
the wall. It's flaps were then bent out to form a front and back wall.
The two ovens were then slid together and the flaps formed the walls of
a 4-5" long tunnel between the ovens. The flaps were longer than needed,
so they were cut down so that they did not extend into each oven. I then
used a MIG welder and welded the seams of the tunnel around the outside
of the ovens. I also welded some angle iron on the under side of the
ovens to provide a suitable frame for support. The welds were cleaned
up on the inside of the ovens and touched up with some high temp paint.
The tunnel was then insulated with the insulation previously removed.
The removed sheet metal was then cut and attached to cover the insulation.
The ovens were then mounted on top of an old metal cabinet that I found.
The cabinet was about the same length and depth as the ovens and measured
about 24" tall. I added some wheels to the cabinet so that I could move
it around. I use the cabinet to store the powder coating equipment and
the powder paint when not in use.
I took the two racks from the ovens and welded four, 12" long, legs to
each one. The legs were cut from the another set of stainless doner
racks. These two racks work very well for hanging small parts on prior
to spraying on the powder and baking.
I then found another set of racks to use in the bottom of the oven for
parts that are too heavy to hang.
I also cut another piece of sheet metal to place inside the oven
and block off the tunnel so that only one oven can be run when I have
only one rack of parts to paint.
I paid about $25 for the ovens and added a long 230 volt cord and plug.
I like this setup very much. PCing is definitely the way to go.
As soon as the parts cool off they are ready to go, no waiting for the
paint to dry or worrying about damaging soft paint. This paint is
durable. I accidently stepped on one of Eric Conrad's front brake rotor
dust covers, after PCing it, and slide it across the concrete floor.
Oh no, I though, but it was unharmed!
I do suggest that you get an oven with a glass door so that you can see
when the paint totally "flashs" and turns to a liquid so that you can
start timing the remaining 15 minutes of cooking time.
I usually have to close the garage door when spraying the powder to keep
it from being blown around. I place several sheets of newspaper on the
floor before spraying and then collect the over-sprayed power from the
newspapers for reuse. If I forget to open the garage door when cooking
the parts, the fumes are quite noticeable.
I sand blast all parts and then treat them with PPG DX579 Metal Cleaner,
a blue phosphoric acid conversion coating type liquid. I also use this
on bare metal before painting with POR15.
I use florist wire, from a crafts store, to hange the parts, Eastwood's
silicone plugs for holes, and masking tape to protect threaded parts.
If you use masking tape, it is very easy to remove before the parts cool
down, but if you wait too long and allow it to dry out and harden, it
gets extremely difficult to remove.
The racks are grounded with a wire from the powder coating gun when
you spray the parts. After using a rack for several batches, if you do
not brush the sprayed powder off the top of the rack before cooking the
parts, the baked on powder will build up and you will not get a good
ground any longer. I just sand blast the racks to clean the excess
paint off. It can be blasted off, but it is slow work.
I used less than a pound of paint to do the entire suspension and all
of the brake and clutch system components. It is very cost effective.
I did use POR15 on my frame and do recommend it if you are not doing
a frame off. It is tough stuff. I also painted the under side of the
body with it after sand blasting the crap off down to the primer.
I used one quart of it, but could have used just a little more.
If I did a frame off and could find a cheaper heater than the one that
Eastwood sells for large parts, I would probably PC the frame as well.
Does anyone know of such a heater?
If I can help anyone, please let me know....
and Thanks "FT" for getting me started.
Wayne Whippo
Boulder, CO
'72 TR6
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