Powder coaters

[SmartWerks]

How many people on here do powder coating?

I'm currently finishing off my workshop, insulated and boarded out. About to start the permenant air lines and make an acoustic box for the compressors. I only have a small oven - 3'×3'×4' Genlab oven and a stand mounted booth that's a bit bigger than the oven. Would have liked a bigger oven and booth but i don't have the space. I have partitioned the shop so i have a clean area with the oven, booth and large workbench for masking and such like and the dirty area is where the blast cabinet and pressure pot lives along with the compressor box come workbench, parts washer and soon my stainless chemical strip tank.

SmartWerks

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I used to do a fair bit of powder coating but since moving workshops I haven't rebuilt my oven so my kit is sitting unused.
I started off with an Eastwood DIY kit I imported from the U.S. and a domestic oven but then I built an electric 4m3 oven with a propane pre-heat.
I bought a beautiful Mindon Engineering 8005 bulk powder coating plant with stainless 25kg containers and a fluidised bed delivery system at auction for a song, perfect applications every time, a real improvement over the Eastwood hobby gun.
It's all sat in the lean-to since the move, with no where to set it up which is a pain as I do miss it.
To be honest though most of what I was powder coating was for other people rather than my own projects and I have other ways of making money now.

 

[cianh91]

we have a 4mX2.5mX2.5m gas oven and a large powder coating area but we only really do our own stuff we have a fairly good kit bar the gun fell and has a bit of a crack at the back which means as much on the operator as part

 

[SmartWerks]

I would have thought we would have had more guys on here coating with all the fabricators and custom work, even if it's just your own parts with a hobby stylle gun

i have a hobby style gun for shooting primers or small single stage samples or pieces. I also one of these with fluidising hopper and the cup gun option

http://www.columbiacoatings.com/store/p/961-Kool-Koat-3-0-DPW-Cup-Gun.aspx

 

[langy]

I would have thought we would have had more guys on here coating with all the fabricators and custom work, even if it's just your own parts with a hobby stylle gun

i have a hobby style gun for shooting primers or small single stage samples or pieces. I also one of these with fluidising hopper and the cup gun option

http://www.columbiacoatings.com/store/p/961-Kool-Koat-3-0-DPW-Cup-Gun.aspx

Not worth the bother, its so cheap I send all mine out

 

[brightspark]

Not worth the bother, its so cheap I send all mine out

that is verry true running it as a business times money. but when its a hobby and something to do time and cost doesnt enter in to it . its the satisfaction of doing it yourself

 

[SmartWerks]

Not worth the bother, its so cheap I send all mine out

I see a lot of fabricators stateside do their own coatings, they think it's best to keep it in house as it's a profitable line. But i suppose they have more space to work with. Do you send your stuff to a custom coater? I know the production run shops are cheaper but that aren't as flexible and one local 2 me has a 3 month wait for small orders like a set of wheels.

what sort of prices do you pay if you don't mind me asking?

 

[langy]

I see a lot of fabricators stateside do their own coatings, they think it's best to keep it in house as it's a profitable line. But i suppose they have more space to work with. Do you send your stuff to a custom coater? I know the production run shops are cheaper but that aren't as flexible and one local 2 me has a 3 month wait for small orders like a set of wheels.

what sort of prices do you pay if you don't mind me asking?

I use a mate who is a powder coater who I trust to do a perfect job so i guess i'm getting mates rates so wouldn't be fair to share but its worth talking to someone that knows their stuff as not all are as good as they think !!!

 

[langy]

that is verry true running it as a business times money. but when its a hobby and something to do time and cost doesnt enter in to it . its the satisfaction of doing it yourself

Very true mate, I assumed the OP was trying to save dosh

 

[SmartWerks]

Very true mate, I assumed the OP was trying to save dosh

Save dosh - spent it all mate! I'm looking at doing it for more than a hobby. Bought as big of an oven for which I had the space and money for, that set me back a grand for a second hand unit. Also bought I stand mounted booth with extractor, that was used but only cost me £400, although I did have to hire a van a go all the way to south Wales for it 2 weeks after making the same journey to get the oven. Bought 2 powder guns, they only owe me around £800. Would have liked a norsdon or gema unit but way out of my price range for the time being. I already had a small blasting set up, compressor and die grinders, sanders and so on for prep work. Just insulated and boarded the workshop out and doing other work to make it as efficient space as possible which was another reasonable investment. Already have a stainless tank which is to be converted for use as a heated strip tank so i don't have to outsource chemical stripping but the chemicals are going to be another big investment, well big for me. I'm not doing it for a hobby, looking to turn it into something worthwhile as i have got sick of working for others. Just starting out small as that's all I could afford and scale up as i can. The guy I bought my oven off outgrew it in a matter of months, he was turning a lot of work away that wouldn't fit in the oven - mostly fence and gate work. He worked out the work he had turned away in 6 months was more than the cost of a large RDM oven and booth needed to do the work so he spent £15k for used examples. Last I heard he sold his powder guns as he was getting all new stuff for a bigger unit, all that in under a year.

If anyone is looking for coating work in south wales check out Jeff at blastcoat, real nice guy.

 

[alin constantin]

Hi mate,so glad that i found someone to speak about these mindon 8005 powder guns....please tell me as i just bought one how good they are?can you find parts for them or they are really old machines?any history avout them.i live in uk and looks like even midon eng do not supply parts anymore.any info o that much appreciated

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I sold my Mindon about a year ago, it could be you've ended up with my old one?
What do you need to know.

 

[alin constantin]

I sold my Mindon about a year ago, it could be you've ended up with my old one?
What do you need to know.

Hi ,im just curios how good they are and how can i source a hopper for it as my one doesnt have a hopper.is it fluidised bed or not?looks like its nothing on google about them.how reliable they are?thanks in advance