Powder coat curing

[stfala]

Anybody had success with a heat gun? I've heard of mixed results, apparently as it doesn't heat the metal of the enclosure up, the coat doesn't stick correctly.
I'm looking for a cheap way to cure as supposed to buying an expensive oven. Would a small 1000W electric household oven (obviously not the one you're cooking with!) do the job?

[CodeMonk]

I was looking into getting a powder coating setup a few years ago (A top of the line kit, oven, and everything else) with a neighbor.
IIRC, different paints (powders), cure at different temperatures.

I may be totally wrong on this (hey my brain isn't all the way awake yet and it was a few years ago, and I just turned 55). but clear powder coating cures at a lower temperature than colored.
Again, IIRC, colors cure at around 450F and clear cures at 350F?

We were going to use a pizza oven (that part was free so it was a no brainer).
We never did follow through though

I'm sure someone will come along and put all kinds of holes in my info.

I would still like to do it, but would have to build an extension on to my outside workshop.

You could google it I guess.
Good luck.


Edit: I just did a quick google search. A Wikipedia link was at the top of the page (C to F conversions added by me. I wasn't to far off ):

Most powder coatings have a particle size in the range of 30 to 50 μm, a softening temperature Tg around 80°C (176°F) , a melting temperature around 150°C (302°F), and are cured at around 200°C (392 °F).[1] For such powder coatings, film build-ups of greater than 50 μm may be required to obtain an acceptably smooth film. The surface texture which is considered desirable or acceptable depends on the end product. Many manufacturers actually prefer to have a certain degree of orange peel since it helps to hide metal defects that have occurred during manufacture, and the resulting coating is less prone to showing fingerprints

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_coating )

[stfala]

Hmmm .. Interesting, this small oven i'm looking at might actually do the trick then! I'd guess most household ovens would reach 200 degrees C. I'll do some more research on it and report back.

[amptramp]

A toaster oven should be the right size for most enclosures.  It should be able to do temperatures of up to 500° F.

[thelonious]

I use a toaster oven I got for $3.50 at a thrift store, and I've had good success with that.

[PRR]

> I'd guess most household ovens would reach 200 degrees C.

If it don't do 400 F, you can't make cookies. So what good is it?

200 C is 392 degrees Fahrenheit, so any cookie-useful oven should get in the zone.

Likely troubles are poor heat distribution and unsteady temperature. If cookies get 350/450 F as the thermostat cycles, it pretty much evens-out in the bulk of the dough. Some plastics which are melted at 400 F get burned at 450 F, and the thin coat doesn't average-out as well as dough.

[darron]

A heat gun won't work properly. But it can be used to melt the powder onto the enclosure. Also, they are useful to sort of reflow the powder if you want to remove a small scratch


i need to put my enclosures in the oven for about 21 minutres. The first ten minutes it takes to rise to temp around 200 degrees (not F) and then it needs the sit there for AT LEAST 10 minutes further. Anything less than that and the powder is flaky and chips off easily for me.


But hey, Maybe you could hold the heat gun there until it liquifies and then 10-15 minutes beyond that and it would work if you have the patience.



I've seen videos of people using a heat gun for automative parts etc. that were too big to fit in their over, so the idea is there.

[thelonious]

Also, they are useful to sort of reflow the powder if you want to remove a small scratch

Brilliancy!