DIY powdercoating. Anybody here do it?

How does it turn out? It looks like a diy gun kit is about $100 and used ovens can be had anywhere. Is it worth messing with or no?

In reply to gearheadmb:

I do it occasionally. I like the finish and the durability, and the process is quite manageable for small items. I have a cheapo system and a garage sale oven. For that level of investment, it has been very worthwhile. I don't use it for anything that really requires a very nice finish, but that's more from lack of experience than because it's impossible to do (I think).

I've powdercoated quite a bit and like it. The TR6 I restored over 20 years ago has powdercoat on most of the suspension and underhood/dash brackets, and it's held up very well. Bigger parts are hard to do. I managed to fit the front crossmember brace into a regular oven, and that spans the inside of the spring towers. A friend of mine home-built a powdercoat gun from scratch that I used back then, but nowadays I use the Eastwood kit.

Preparing the piece is the hardest part. The cleaner you can get parts, the better. You also need to keep powder out of threads and some surfaces (e.g., tapered holes for ball joints), so it's somewhat more fiddly than spray painting. It works great for mounting brackets and small clips. There is no drying time; once the part has cooled you can use it. Curing parts produces mildly toxic fumes and smells worse than paint IMO. There are different powder types for various needs, polyester being the most common.

DrBoost does it, and I think he had a thread about it a couple years ago. I'll ping him tomorrow and have him chime in.

I've never had to think about it....local guy does great professional work for fair prices.

Perhaps I'll suggest Tim powder coat his LeMons Miata. It couldn't look any worse than it does now!

I've powdercoated some boolits. It's the latest thing.

I just got back from my powdercoater. This has been my fifth trip. He is having a hell of a time powdercoating the rims for my 1951 MGTD restoration project. I don't understand what's wrong, but from what he says there are impurities in the metal that are expanding up from the surface. It looks like grit in the powdercoat to me, but he insists it is the rims. He is doing lots of sanding and recoating to try and make them look right. I should have painted them. I might just sand them down and paint them, anyway, leaving the powdercoat as a protective primer, depending on how they look on trip #6.

I had the frame done on this car many years ago by another firm and it came out great, although it looks thick and there are places where the thickness causes fitting problems. It has held up very well for being knocked around as much as it has as the project was put on hold for many years.

So there's good and bad and it ain't no panacea. I haven't tried to do any on my own. I don't think I will based on how frustrating this rim thing has been.

In reply to Basil Exposition:

I've had the pitting/bump thing happen on some cast metals such as the bullet mirrors they put on Triumphs and MGs. Impurities outgas causing the bumps. I've heard prebaking the part can sometimes help. The thing that scares me about powder coating rims is that any contact while mounting a tire can break the coating, so make sure they use a touchless machine. It tends to peal off much easier than paint when crushed. OTOH, it takes decent force to do so.

I used a small oven and ended up giving up on the process. Depending upon the heat flow inside the oven, the temperature at the top can be higher than at the bottom, enough that the paint ends up looking different top-to-bottom. That, and my local powdercoater doesn't charge me any more if I bring some extra parts to do as part of a larger batch, so effectively it's free to have them do it.

I've done quite a bit, from little brackets to wheels and an LS oil pan. I have the Eastwood kit and a free kitchen oven. It's worth it for sure. Get decent powder, get the part clean, and all will be great. I don't even bother painting anymore. Better finish, VERY forgiving, more durable, overspray wipes off with ease.

DrBoost wrote: wheels

Sure you have...