DIY oven vs. turn-key

[adbuch]

I am interested to hear from those of you who have either built a diy powder coat oven or purchased one of the commercially available units. I would like to see what you have, and any pros or cons for your particular oven. Gas fired or electric.
Thanks,
David

[robertspark]

how big internal volume are you looking for?

I think I've seen people use an old domestic cooking oven for small stuff or they have bought really cheap desktop {student} ovens in the UK for powder coating really small stuff.

{don't own one, not done powder coating (hate the stuff as the bought stuff I'd had in the past always peeled in certain areas {poor surface prep / uneven heating}), but thought that you may need to elaborate on what exactly your requirements / expectations of of what you want to put through it size wise}

I think that a uniform heating profile is the most important thing from previous discussions I've seen over the years

If i did have a desire for one, I'd probably build one like this which I looked at a few years ago with a number of electric element heaters to provide an even distribution of heat (I'd probably increase the overall kW rating / number of elements too to improve the initial heat up time of the oven, and put a PID temperature controller on it (via an arduino and some relays to sequence the heating elements) with a number of cheap K-type thermocouples back into the arduino to control the heat evenly and provide a reasonable uniform temperature...... probably overkill..... but I've never knowingly under designed anything + the controls are cheap and simple as would be the rest of the bits to make one imo
https://www.powdercoatguide.com/2014/09 ... -oven.html

[acourtjester]

I have a DIY type and it does a very nice job for me, very simple and straightforward design. I used elements from a stove top with a PID controller. I started with 4 elements two large and two small, I ended up disconnecting the two smaller ones. It can get up to over 400 easily, some coatings have slightly different temps for curing. I used a drum for the inside size and covered it with normal 4" pink insulation. The PID controls a SSR for the temp regulation, these can be had from eBay. I have a trolly for hanging parts and moving in and out of the oven. I powder coated two 2'X72" belt grinders I made as shown in some of the images

DSCN4631.JPG

DSCN4951.JPG

oven inside A.jpg

oven trolly (1).JPG

powder coat cart (1).JPG

powder coat oven controller (1).jpg

powder coat oven (3).JPG

[robertspark]

I like that idea for an oil drum and a dolly to hang stuff off with stove elements.

+ it stands up vertical when not in use and can keep it in a corner.

nice

[acourtjester]

yes sir sure do

powder coat oven (6).JPG

oven cnstruction (2) A.jpg

oven cnstruction (5) a.JPG

oven cnstruction (13) A.jpg

[plasmanewbie]

AC! WOW! Blown away...what an ingenious design! I lucked out and obtained a small commercial oven from a local magnesium plant who threw it in the garbage over a bad temp controller. $100 on ebay and this 10K+ oven works like a charm again but that is some ingenious engineering. Well done!

[acourtjester]

Thanks I think sometimes I have more fun then the law allows, DIY forever

[adbuch]

Tom - that's a really nice looking setup! I knew you had built your own oven and you sent me photos a while back. What gun are you using?
Thanks,
David

[acourtjester]

Thanks David here is the gun I use works very well, I did do some small mods to the gun per You/tube videos, nothing really drastic.
https://caswellplating.com/caswell-powd ... -plug.html

[adbuch]

I'm thinking about building this one. I want it large enough to do motorcycle frames.
David

https://www.powdercoatguide.com/2014/09 ... BmS-OW6PxU

How to build a powder coating oven.jpg

[adbuch]

Thanks David here is the gun I use works very well, I did do some small mods to the gun per You/tube videos, nothing really drastic.
https://caswellplating.com/caswell-powd ... -plug.html

Tom- what sort of modifications did you do to this system?
Thanks,
David

caswell powder coating gun.jpg

[acourtjester]

on the silver tube in the supply container I drilled another small hole to increase the turbulence (more fluidize of the powder). And removed the mushroom plastic end where the flow exits the tube, for more directional flow. I am not sure that is good, maybe a reduction of the diameter would be better. It seems a softer cloud coming from the tube is better then a stream. The whole purpose is to have light smooth coating of powder not piling it up. The electrostatic charge is how the powder attaches itself.
That posting of the DIY enclosure is great I bought larger elements as I planned to build a larger one like that, just did not yet. eBay has good prices on the parts needed. I bought 40 amp SSR, heat sinks, and PIDs there. Be sure to buy the PID with the thermistor included.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/403483248779?h ... SwuehbOTsk
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284655763804?h ... Sw559h~24K
package deal
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153668727573?e ... SwEUVZYKWy
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202422845134?e ... SwWwBbismV

[adbuch]

on the silver tube in the supply container I drilled another small hole to increase the turbulence (more fluidize of the powder). And removed the mushroom plastic end where the flow exits the tube, for more directional flow. I am not sure that is good, maybe a reduction of the diameter would be better. It seems a softer cloud coming from the tube is better then a stream. The whole purpose is to have light smooth coating of powder not piling it up. The electrostatic charge is how the powder attaches itself.
That posting of the DIY enclosure is great I bought larger elements as I planned to build a larger one like that, just did not yet. eBay has good prices on the parts needed. I bought 40 amp SSR, heat sinks, and PIDs there. Be sure to buy the PID with the thermistor included.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/403483248779?h ... SwuehbOTsk
https://www.ebay.com/itm/284655763804?h ... Sw559h~24K
package deal
https://www.ebay.com/itm/153668727573?e ... SwEUVZYKWy
https://www.ebay.com/itm/202422845134?e ... SwWwBbismV

Tom - thanks for the info. I will check it out.
David

[WyoGreen]

My oven is an old Assayers oven that was converted from gas to electric. It's about 3 feet wide by 4 feet tall by 18 inches deep on the inside. Works for most things I powder coat. It has 2 sets of oven elements and pulls about 50 amps when both elements are on. My powder booth is 3 sided and on wheels, so it rolls over and nests on top of my powder storage cabinet. My gun came from Powder365, but they don't seem to be around any-more.
I picked all this stuff up from the estate of Another Dano, who was a long time member on here years ago.
So you may be able to pick up something and repurpose it to your use.

Steve