Powder Coating might seem like something that is only for the professionals to use, however the at home DIYer can start powder coating for just a little investment. In this article we will be talking about how I was able to get all the essentials to start powder coating my own parts at home, and have professional results!
To start off, I’m already a grease monkey so I had a head start with having the foundation to start powder coating (an air compressor and tools). The only thing I needed to get over the edge was get a cheap air filter, powder gun, a oven, and a bead blaster! Now all these might seem like it was super expensive to get and setup, but I’m a low income college student so wherever there was a deal, you know I was there! But even if you aren’t a college student and are just looking to get started for cheap you can pick all this stuff up for less than $500.00. Now lets get to what you need to start!
#1: Get a Oven
I knew I was going to be powder coating bigger parts, so a toaster oven wasn’t going to cut it for me. Also I didn’t want to spend a crazy amount of money by getting a new oven, so what I did was I looked on Facebook marketplace and was able to score a working electric oven for $40.00! All I did to get it working was hook it up next to my dryer, using the outlet for my dryer. That simple!
#2: Bead Blaster/ Media
Now you can go and spend some serious money on some crazy abrasive blasters, however you can get a economically sized cabinet from Eastwood for a great price (not to mention it takes up just a bench top of space and is easily movable). Depending on the type of piece you are powder coating, Eastwood has a wide selection of media to also go with your blaster.
#3: Powder Gun/ Powder
Along with abrasive cabinets, there are also a good bit of powder coating guns that you can choose from. Eastwood again is a great one stop shop for all you powder coating needs. They offer their dual voltage gun that will be able to do any piece you will ever want. They also offer a variety of powders so you don’t have to shop all over trying to look for powder.
#4: Pre Painting Prep
Like painting, when powder coating its all in the prep work to get show quality results. When wiping down a piece to powder, its crucial you get any grease or contaminants off of your piece. I used Eastwood’s Pre to get my part 100% after blasting.
#5: Air Filter
If you are using a compressor with no filter and just a rubber line attached, you might not realize that your compressor starts to produce droplets of water vapor after it gets heated up. This is a no-go for air tools and powder coating. If these water droplets get into your gun, it will make your powder like mud, and trust me that is not something you want to deal with. Not to mention if you are running air tools and do not have some sort of filtration system, you’re cutting down your tools life as well! Eastwood again makes a great CFS (Complete Filtration System) to eliminate this issue.
Below is my first part that I powder coated from home, as you can see it came out great!
So as you can see it is not very hard to get started powder coating and there is no crazy expensive tools and hoops you have to jump through. If you want to try and get started powder coating you can simply visit www.eastwood.com and get everything that I have talked about on this page!
New to powder coating? Don’t look any further, just watch the video below!