Powder Coating

[oldmanjoe]

  Have been thinking about powder coating for a year or so .  Started watching a few U tubes And seen a few modification  for the low end guns .     I picked up a Harbor freight coating kit and drilled the two extra holes for better atomizing the powder coming out of the gun .

    My first try was a spool I had made for 440n . It went well with the matte black powder .
 Next try was a 330n model casting , also with good results .

   With such good results , I will take this more seriously and get some colors and a bigger oven .

[MACflyer]

Your work looks pretty good to me Joe. Now you got me interested.

[foakes]

Looks great, Joe!

Best, Fred

[Brewcrafter]

Good job!  Jurelometer has quite a bit of experience on powder coat as well.  I've never tried it but that looks great!!! - john

[oldmanjoe]

 For the first time doing this , I did surprise myself with the results .   For years I could not justified doing powder coating .   Paint today in rattle cans is just getting out of hand .  As of now , my first impression , powder coat may be cheaper with better durability .   I will look at how far powder will go , compared to paint .

 Some of my reels suffer hook scrapes and chips , hope this is a game changer . Time will tell.

Good job!  Jurelometer has quite a bit of experience on powder coat as well.  I've never tried it but that looks great!!! - john

Yes I will look for more information and workarounds . The faraday effect is the one to work around . Hot flocking seams to be the ticket for a work around with the cheaper guns .

[jurelometer]

Looking good Joe!

It looks like you are getting the hang of it.

Good job!  Jurelometer has quite a bit of experience on powder coat as well.  I've never tried it but that looks great!!! - john

I wouldn't say quite a bit of experience, but I have learned some stuff, mostly the hard way.



Some stuff that I have learned:

1.  If you have a way to blast or sand the part to get a uniform  rough surface, the paint will get a really good grip.  I used garnet media in a blast cabinet for reel parts. The powder does a good job of self leveling, so you don't need (or want) a smooth part.  The powder melts into all the nooks and crannies and digs in good. 

2. Follow the manufacturer's paint schedule.  Use the exact temp and bake time from the moment that that the part surface reaches the proper temp.  Many folk pull the part too early because it looks good, but the cross linking hasn't finished yet.  If you go too long, you can scald the paint.

3.  For refinishing parts, do a series of pre bakes to outgas an lubricants of other gunk that have leached into the part before you do the powder coating. Cool, clean and repeat until the part comes out of the oven clean.

4.  Powder is mostly a one shot deal.  Touchup is tricky, and if you prepped well, it is nearly impossible to blast or sand off a cured powder coat without messing up the part.  There are solvents for removing cured polyurethane powder coating, but until recently, the choices were all super toxic. Never tried removing powder coat with solvent myself. I have ruined old brass Penn parts by trying to blast off an ugly powder coat. 

5.  Hot flocking is considered a bit of a hack, but I am with you.  It can work pretty well on small parts if you have a light touch.

Keep us updated on your progress.  I want to see photos!

-J

[jgp12000]

I had a Mitchell 300 powder coated at an off road shop.They primarily do wheels it was his 1st reel & he didn't plug all the screw holes So I had to buy some small metric taps to clean those holes,not fun,it's tough stuff !

A local gun shop does Cerakote & DuraCoat,they wanted $70 to do a Cardinal 4,so that didn't happen...

Sidenote:
I tried to get Penn Greenie paint computer matched at a local auto paint supplier,their software requires a 3" sample  to match the paint.

If any of you guys find a perfect match for Penn Greenie paint, please share it?

[jurelometer]

I had a Mitchell 300 powder coated at an off road shop.They primarily do wheels it was his 1st reel & he didn't plug all the screw holes So I had to buy some small metric taps to clean those holes,not fun,it's tough stuff !

A local gun shop does Cerakote & DuraCoat,they wanted $70 to do a Cardinal 4,so that didn't happen...

Sidenote:
I tried to get Penn Greenie paint computer matched at a local auto paint supplier,their software requires a 3" sample  to match the paint.

If any of you guys find a perfect match for Penn Greenie paint, please share it?

I learned that the hard way too!  I broke a 5-40 tap trying to clean out some threaded holes.  I thought it would be easier than plugging the holes, but powder coat is much tougher than regular paint.


There are inexpensive silicone plug kits that are really useful for this purpose.  For flat surfaces, there is also high temp tape.  If you have steady hands, you can also use a q-tip dampened with water to remove the powder from specific areas before baking, but for spots like threaded holes, this is risky, as the nearby powder could flow in as it liquefies during curing.

Color matching services with powder is more expensive with larger minimum orders than normal paint, as it is not as simple as adding a few drops of colorant at the  local paint store. There are some powder suppliers that provide a large amount of colors, including RAL colors, so you could look into RAL color matching to see if there is something close to your greenie in powder form.

From what I have read, those ceramic gun coating products like cerakote are basically  the same stuff as typical baked in powder(sometimes suspended in solution for application) with ceramic powder added to increase hardness.  But there is no free lunch in material science.  You get a thinner and harder coat that is more scratch resistant than regular powder at the expense of being less elastic, so it is more prone to chipping and flaking instead.

Oh, and for others out there getting started with powder: Don't use the oven that you cook your food in to prep and bake powder coated parts. You are releasing some nasty gases and  particulates into your oven and surroundings.

Now that I no longer have access to a big commercial powder coating oven, I am doing my stuff at home with a large toaster oven with a few mods.  It works fine for small batches of small parts like reel bodies.  If you have the space and know your way around wiring, an old electric oven works even better, and gives you room for larger parts.

-J

[JasonGotaProblem]

Dave you really oughta add "there's no free lunch in materials science" as your signature line.

(I don't have anything meaningful to add this is beyond me)

[jgp12000]

You had me at "free lunch"

[oldmanjoe]

  What ,I missed out on a free lunch ,wait let me look in the toaster oven .

   I was watching a clip on powdering a wheel rim , and they vacuumed all the places that they did not want coated . Just to highlight the spokes in the rim

[Donnyboat]

Hi Joe, this is a very interesting post, can you give me more details about using the oven, I imagined, that the parts would be hung in the oven when heating, or place on a very fine mesh, thanks again, cheers Don.

[jurelometer]

Hi Joe, this is a very interesting post, can you give me more details about using the oven, I imagined, that the parts would be hung in the oven when heating, or place on a very fine mesh, thanks again, cheers Don.

I'll let Joe answer your questions, but here is a thread on powder coating reel parts that I did when I first joined this site:

https://alantani.com/index.php/topic,9622.0.html

-J

[oldmanjoe]

 The toaster oven is small , I found that i can balance the reel body on a pipe nipple . rite side up .    Rotor went upside down on a nut . the parts are grounded and a little lifted so I can powder everything.

  When I get a bigger oven ,I can have room for wire suspension .