Let's see, what can I powdercoat today?

[Turdle]

Just out of curiosity, how much $$ do you figure you have spent on powder/other powder coating expenses so far? Besides the initial cost of buying it, I mean. How much does it cost to powder coat something?

Tools?
supplies?
I don't quite understand. If you are asking about what it takes as an investment-
At least 3k to get into at a hobby level. Starting from ground up.

Air compressor--800 up. Needs to be good for blasting
Parts washer to keep grease out of your blasting media--100 up (I use the neighbors-he uses my blast cabinet)
blast cabinet--300 up
media-75 up per 50 lbs
powder gun-150 up. (the eastwood pro gun sucks balls. I had one and put it away. I recommend and now use their hobby gun) so far i have seen no need to upgrade.
lines-filters-regulators-400 up
booth-200 up
dust evac--150 up

ovens can be found free, and it is amazing what you can do by connecting 2 of them

but you do need a good infra-red thermometer-50 up

Now you need storage bottles, and extra gun cups

strippers and cleaning solvents

Powders themselves range from 5-6 bux per lb to over 50 per lb-depending on added effects-(pearl, candy, prismatic-etc)

usually, powder will cover 10-15 square feet per 1/2 lb

Not to mention-

an oven, dust collector and air compressor running use up a bit of electricity.

 

[Charlie]

Well, thats exactly what I was talking about. I just didn't have any idea how much any of that stuff cost.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

And you guys said she was hot. Maybe pink knives aren't a bad idea--

Eric better hope she never sees my wheels, then she'll be mine. Chicks dig my wheels

 

[techieman33]

Eric better hope she never sees my wheels, then she'll be mine. Chicks dig my wheels

She's seen them, she thought they were ugly:. We were sitting in the break room, and someone had left a catalog back there, and I was looking through it and happened to see them. I told her that those are what I really wanted, but she thought they were ugly, and that the wheels I'm going to have powder coated would look a lot better on my baby. Yes I even have her calling it my baby now

 

[Turdle]

Next batter-

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I knew she had poor taste but damn she has no taste at all Of course I'm probably old enough to be here father.

Has she seen "Harvey"?

 

[techieman33]

I knew she had poor taste but damn she has no taste at all Of course I'm probably old enough to be here father.

Has she seen "Harvey"?

She's only 19, so yeah you could probably be her father, and no she' hasn't seen harvey.

 

[Charlie]

I knew she had poor taste but damn she has no taste at all Of course I'm probably old enough to be here father.

Has she seen "Harvey"?

I think you need to update your avatar with your new wheels. And show her Harvey.

 

[techieman33]

I think you need to update your avatar with your new wheels. And show her Harvey.

She's already seen his wheels, but not on a mounty. I survived her seeing the wheels but I'm not sure I could compare to:bsnicker:harvey

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Jon posted some pics of me and my Mounty after the Mounty party at his house in Sep.

What a way to hijack a thread

 

[BrooklynBay]

Jon, is this something you could use: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95520
DIGITAL COATING THICKNESS GAUGE:

Measures coatings between 0 and 40 mil.
LED backlight for easy viewing in all conditions.
Maintenance free.
Auto power-off to preserve battery life.
Comes with calibration plate and test foil.
Runs on 9V battery( sold separately). Overall dimensions: 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 6" L.

ITEM 95520-1VGA
$99.99

Sale price
$69.99

 

[Turdle]

Jon, is this something you could use: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95520
DIGITAL COATING THICKNESS GAUGE:

Measures coatings between 0 and 40 mil.
LED backlight for easy viewing in all conditions.
Maintenance free.
Auto power-off to preserve battery life.
Comes with calibration plate and test foil.
Runs on 9V battery( sold separately). Overall dimensions: 1-1/2" x 2-1/2" x 6" L.

ITEM 95520-1VGA
$99.99

Sale price
$69.99

That is a very cool tool, and yes it is needed for accurate thickness measurements. I don't have one yet. The only real need is for quality control,

I tend to use quite a bit of powder anyway--this would be used to get more efficient powder coating in a mechanized environment, on repeated parts. In other words, it does you no good on this part until it is too late to do anything about it.
Large production powder facilities have a mechanized chain drive drawing the parts through a washer-dryer-preheater, then straight into the paint booth, then into the oven. The parts aren't touched by any hands. Inside the booth are robots -spraying in a predetermined pattern, while the excess powder is reclaimed. At the end of the process they will spot check parts with that thickness gauge, and make adjustments to the KV charge on the guns as necessary.
Now for my small, one at a time operation, I could use this to verify the thickness, I guess. But if the part looks good I don't really need to. I use maybe 3lbs of powder total on a good week. A large operation could save 50lbs in a single shift by limiting the thickness of the coating.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Do you know how it works? Is it some sort of infrared scanner? Could it work on ordinary paint after it has already dried up? I'm wondering if this could tell you how many coats of paint are on a car. Body shops advertise 2 coat, and 5 coat paint jobs at different prices. Maybe this could tell if a car had been in an accident, and was repainted?

 

[Turdle]

Do you know how it works? Is it some sort of infrared scanner? Could it work on ordinary paint after it has already dried up? I'm wondering if this could tell you how many coats of paint are on a car. Body shops advertise 2 coat, and 5 coat paint jobs at different prices. Maybe this could tell if a car had been in an accident, and was repainted?

I don't know. It's a good question though--

 

[BrooklynBay]

I wonder if Kevin (Monmix) has any experience with them? This link has a PDF on it: http://www.harborfreight.com/manuals/95000-95999/95520.pdf

 

[Dan Whitaker]

Use your radar gun and see if it can tell you how fast it cures :

I'm really bored at work today

 

[Burns]

This is a crappy pic but it will have to do for now. Sorry Jon i will have better tomm. Dont work and feel like taking some new pic of the explorer as long as its good weather.

I used the old fill plug i had. Painted it black and put it in.

I almost didnt have a allen to get that diff plug out.....

 

[Turdle]

Now that is pretty cool--

 

[Burns]

I just realized that my under body needs another coat of flat black very bad

 

[Turdle]

I think you need to send me those springs and panhard bars-or whatever they are called-