Today we’re going to be going over an increasingly popular topic it’s going to be how to powder coat your stainless steel Yeti tumbler. We want to go over some of the challenges that you’re going to face in powder coating a stainless steel tumbler.
The stand is probably going to be one of the most important parts of it. You can make something quick or more elaborate, but a stand will help you get an even coating and produce a nicer finish. Scott whipped this one together out of some scrap aluminum.
We started by wiping the whole thing down with PRE to get any grease, dirt, or residue off of the surface. We want to avoid getting any oils from our hands on it so we always suggest to wear a clean set of nitrile gloves.
We like to was up a ball of aluminum to put on the stand to help with better contact for the ground clamp which will make the powder attract to the outside of the cup better.
Start by setting your air pressure regulator on the gun to between about five to twelve psi depending on the size of what you’re doing. If you don’t have a good filter or water separator on your compressor you may want to run an inline moisture separator right out the gun. You can begin to work around the cup letting the powder attract to the cup. You want to make sure the entire cup is coated and you don’t have areas where the powder is thin. We suggest checking the surface with a LED flashlight as it will it will highlight any areas where the silver color is showing through the powder.
Once the cup is fully covered you’re ready to put it in the oven. We like to preheat the oven before we start applying the powder. Most Eastwood powders bake and flow out around 400 degrees. Once the cup is in the oven you can let the powder bake for 15-20 minutes and you will see the powder goes from a dull powder finish to a shiny “wet” finish. This means the powder has “flowed out” and you’re ready to adjust the oven temperature to what the powder needs for curing.
A cured cup will be very durable and will set yours apart from others in your home or office. Once you get comfortable with powder coating your cup you can try and blend colors or apply high temperature vinyl to mask off areas and create graphics on your cups. There is no limit to how much you can customize your Yeti cup with enough practice and patience!