Tool Eastwood powder coating gun.

[djberta]

Hi guys, does anyone have experience with the Eastwood powder coating guns. I got one of the dual voltage ones on sale from kms with my Christmas cards from the family. I also got a couple powders. Any tips, how to’s? I got it for my little Webster project and well I have always wanted one. I have a toaster oven I can use with it.

 

[skippyelwell]

I had that kit for a few years, bought a used kitchen oven and set it up in the garage, the fumes can get thick at full heat.
Spend some extra time on the grounding wire, I replaced their wire with a thicker gauge and wired it straight into the garage panel main grounding block, it helped with more powder adhering to the work piece.
When spraying, a good quality dust mask is essential, I used a 3m half mask with the round bright pink particulate filters.
My spray booth was simply a large cardboard box with one side cut open, I plumbed a 2" pipe from the central vac to the back of the box and a switch to activate it while spraying, it helped with the clean up because there is a lot of wasted powder.

Moving the work piece from the booth to the oven is when it is very easy to knock off powder from the work piece so you have to walk as if you're carrying nitroglycerin.

I'm not sure why there is 2 voltage settings, I never found a use for the lower setting.
A buddy of mine had great success using one of those infra red space heaters to cure the coating, he placed the suspended work piece in front on the heater and rotated it every couple of mins and you couldn't tell that it hadn't been cured in an oven.

 

[1018Machine]

I don't have that brand but one similar from Caswell! All the points made by skippyelwell are good. I can't stress enough how important a good ground is. I pounded a 1/2" dia copper rod into the ground for the best possible option. An encloser of some sort is best, they say not and mention just sweeping up the spent powder after but trust that it will infiltrate everything you have in that room and cover it thick LOL. Even a box with a vacuum will be better than nothing. Clean your parts well, don't touch them after with bare hands and pre bake them for 10 minutes to make sure they are absolutely free of contaminants. Follow the recommended heat temp and cure time for the powder for best adhesion. Don't trust the temp dial on your little oven, get an infrared temp gun to test the temp of the part, not the oven.

Have fun, it's very rewarding.

 

[ChazzC]

Quinn has one and has had good results both with the Eastwood powders and others:

 

[djberta]

Hi Chazz Quinn is the reason I bought this powder coat set. Her channel is awesome, she shows mistakes and tries to add a bit of humor.

 

[Tom O]

The Eastwood site has good videos and I believe the higher settings are for painting over paint as in 2 colour schemes.

 

[David]

I have the single voltage setup and it works well for my needs.
I like the infrared heater idea for curing parts as I have some things that are too large for my small oven.
I did learn a neat trick to get a matte finish. I did one coat baked it and while it was still hot I dusted on another coat of the same powder but didn’t bake it.
Worked like a charm.

 

[phaxtris]

I did powder coating on the side one summer and started out with one of those, upgraded to a much fancier deal with adjustable kv and amperage. They work ok for single coat/single stage and relatively simple parts, once you get dual stage, or parts with a lot of corners they really start to struggle

warming your parts before spraying will help immensely, not 250f, like 100-200f. It will help get rid of any moisture, and the powder will stick much better. Dual stage or multiple coats with that gun you are going to have to "hot flock", basicly pull it out of the oven, and when it cools to 250-300f, spray your next coat/stage/layer, you may need to do that even with tight corners.

Good ground as mentioned, clean, any spec of grease from your hands or otherwise will show up as a fisheye. You cannot coat over a fisheye, it will show up in successive layers. Prismatic powders is a good spot for powder, they have a huge inventory, decently priced, you may want to order a few colors to offset the shipping (although not very high).

Once you get the hang of it, check out some of the multi stage powders, some really cool effects/colors are available.