Van

I picked up a powder coating gun the other day. I've only been playing around with it for 2 days, but am having a blast.

I have some old engine parts kicking around, and thought they'd make good practice.

minho78

Van are you going to coat the bearings after?
Nice job by the way.

CPR

Dammit Van!!!!! MORE PICS!!!!!

Van

Umm... I made a little gauge panel for my 914 (cylinder head temp). That's all I've done!

DDP

It's great fun, right? It was entertaining until I got sick of cleaning up after myself. I've become too lazy now and it's pretty cheap to get done locally so I've thrown in the towel. Are you baking in a regular kitchen oven? Nothing industrial I assume. You seem to be getting a good finish.

MM951

Nice!

JDS968

Very cool!

Hey DDP, if you don't want to do it anymore, I could "adopt" your old gear, give it a good home

Van

Yes - baking in a household oven (free from Craigslist!). I already had a sandblast cabinet. Like regular painting, it seems prep is all the effort.

It's taken a little trial and error to figure out oven temps and pre-heating parts, but I'm very happy with the results.

Ultimately, I bought it to paint this engine... a little lower-tech than a 944 one! It does about 1 HP per liter - it's rated at 1.75 HP at 200 RPM (46 ft. lbs. torque!)

dillon410021

which powder coating gun did you get and what paint did you use?

Darwantae951

Van, I hate you and your garage!

Van

Dillon, the gun is a Columbia Coatings Hyper Smooth HS-02. I got it used for $300. The black and orange (Kubota Orange, actually) came with the gun (Columbia Coatings). The "red oxide primer" (piston) and "flat clear" (over the primer on the connecting rod) came from Powder Buy the Pound. Do you have any recommendations?

For the old-time engine, I'm having a quandary on what color to paint it. I don't want it shiny, because I don't think it came from the factory (in 1917) very shiny. I think I might go with the flat clear over that red oxide primer... I also have some "rust-colored" textured powder to try... And, I'm not sure I want to make it all one color. It might be nice to make the governor weight and some of the moving components different colors.

67King

Van, I recently got in a bind, as the stuff I ordered online was wrong, as was the replacment they sent, and by the time I found out (was out of town for a week), I didn't have time to wait again, and get my car back together before the DE.

Anyway, in desperation, I called a local shop and asked if they'd sell powder. Sure, happily, about $10/pound. That isn't far from the going rate of the less expensive stuff I see anyway. And even better, these guys are a wealth of knowledge, and enjoy BSing with guys who'll do things themselves. I personally expect to be going back to these guys for all of my power needs in the future. So that is my recommendation, go buy your supplies from guys who do it for a living, and ask for their advice.

Chris White

Hey Van - get some of the black wrinkle finish, that stuff is great!

Also – the translucent over any kind of polished or brushed finish really look nice.

Lastly – I have one of the Eastwood ‘basic’ guns, the first $40 can have it! (plus $10 for shipping)
chris@944enhancement.com

67King

FWIW, I have an el cheapo Harbor Freight one. I plan to upgrade eventually, as well. But if anyone is even thinking about doing this, grab Chris' gun. You can do small things like brackets in a toaster oven, as well. Trust me, you won't regret it.

Chris, you can paypal my commission to hlvngnr@ya, er, um......nevermind.

Chris White

I use a $25 oven I bought at a garage sale....works great! The Avacado Green color clashes a little but I got over it.