My girl decided she wants to buy me a powder coating gun and such for my garage, i have an old oven i can use for curing already, but i had a few questions.

i have powder coated before, but only solid parts and the like, never something like a valve cover. I watched a DIY on the Hotcoat gun from east wood, and they didnt mask off the interior of the valve cover...

1) when i do the valve cover, i need to mask the entire interior portion to be sure no paint gets in right?

2) never clear coated anything, and ive heard its a pain, how do i approach that? just practice?

3) last question, what is the "most user friendly" gun for me? (im an old shaker can painter myself)

 

I bought a WAI Powder coating system and I love it. This one you don't need an air compressor or anything to run it, just the kit, and they are very affordable.

I have done many parts, and done a few valve covers. I would usually stuff paper towels or something into the holes of the valve cover, that way none of the threads (for the oil cap to screw onto), and the inside of any of the holes get done. I then just carefully pull them out prior to baking the part.

Also, I always use a clear coat on mine (see thread below to see pics) and it always comes out great. Some powders are even highly recommended that you use a clear to get the full affect of the powder after it is baked, just like the Black Chrome powder.

Here is my DIY Powdercoating if your interested in reading it. https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=770784&st=0

Hope that helps.

 

good stuff mate, i like that kit, i dont think it really matters what kit it is, more likely the paint itself that makes the big difference. Can't wait to get to it, did you ever do your valve cover?

 

I did the valve cover on my friends GLI, another friends Integra, my bros mr2, and my old 91 accord. I never got a chance to do my s2000 valve cover b/c the city came and took my electric oven from my backyard. I just do really small parts in a small electric toaster oven.

Yeah the kit doesn't really matter, it all does the same thing. I chose this kit b/c I didn't want to get a whole air compressor to run it. This thing is quiet, and easy to use. Just plug it in, ground your part with the supplied connector, and its ready to go.

 

i airbrush models, and i have a small steady compressor with the moisture collector and all that stuff, i can easily use it with a powder coat gun because it doesnt need much air at all. im going to get a basic one today, little 50$ kit from a local shop and ima play around with it to learn a bit till my gf buys the good one lol.

can you mix colors? like... wat happens if you put 50% red, then on top of it 50% blue, what would it do? melt and make green or something?

 

Sounds good man. Honestly I have never mixed colors before, but that would be pretty interesteing. I do know that different powders need different baking times to cure right, so you would most likely try to get 2 powders that have the same temp and time ratings to make it come out perfect. I also know that you can order metallic flake, and other cool things like that to mix with your powders to get cool effects.

 

ive seen some of the valve covers powder coated, but they have some sort of texture, like a blue and black, where it looks like blue smoke all over it, i mean its professional obviously, but i wonder HOW they do it

 

Its most likely a color base, then with a candy transparent color over that to get an effect like that. I've seen it done but have never attempted it.

 

interesting, i took some stainless steel pipe that i had left over from my GS-R's new exhaust (a blox adjustable test pipe section) and cut it in half since i wasnt using it. The first time i tried, i used red, and i noticed the paint wasnt sticking very well, i did prep the part and all, but it seemed to take a while to get a nice coat, where as in the videos i see the paint just sticks immediately, i wonder if its because i bought a pos gun for the time being while i learn? they both turned out ok, paint looks great and all, just seemed to be alot more time to actualy coat the the demos i see. or is there something i can clean with to make it stick better?

 

What kind of kit are you using? Did you properly ground the part down with the supplied cable (assuming you have a complete kit with the wire to hook to the part). It seems like you aren't getting a good connection or something. Once I forgot to put the wire on one of my parts and the powder just blew off of it and didn't stick. Then I noticed that and grounded it down, and it sticks to the part fine once connected.

You should be able to just spray for literally 10-30 seconds (depending on how big your part is) and have the part completely coated with the powder. It should stick to the part very easily.

Do you have any pics of your kit?