Powder paint for model engines

[danallen]

I have a homemade booth for powder coating. It is.just a bottom and three sides. Made from 3/4 MDF. About half the cost of plywood. No top or front and no fan either. Just a means of keeping what little over spray there is from making a mess. It also lets me collect and reuse the over sprayed powder. Don't overthink it.

 

[Sparky_SC]

Sparky--I'm not arguing because I don't know, but there are a hundred posts about people building or buying powder paint booths on the internet.---Brian

No problem. Try it sometimes that is the best way to learn what works or not.

 

[Gordon]

I have not had a lot of experience with my powder coating system but I have just put down newspapers on the floor to catch the overspray and that has been sufficient. My shop is in a separate "shop" building so if I were in a shop inside of the house I might have been more concerned about the overspray. It is not a messy operation like regular painting.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Yipes!! I just went up to the hardware store and a sheet of 5/8" x 4 foot x 8 foot plywood good one side costs $76.

 

[Gordon]

Yipes!! I just went up to the hardware store and a sheet of 5/8" x 4 foot x 8 foot plywood good one side costs $76.

All the more reason to try it before you continue. Try it outside on the driveway out of the wind to see what happens before investing in more stuff that you may not need.

Perhaps go to the local appliance store and get a carboard box from an appliance to use for the booth. Free and fold it up when not in use.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Gordon---the cardboard box option is sounding better and better.---Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I could do without a powder paint booth, but if I do I might have to do without a wife. Mrs. Rupnow gets on my arse for tracking metal filings from the lathe and mill thru the house. If I added powder paint to that I would be in a world of hurt. Today I picked up a 20" square box fan and a 20" square furnace filter and various pneumatic fittings, which are all unwrapped and setting around in my office. Tomorrow I will pick up a sheet of 3/4" mdf wood and start on the "body" of my powder paint booth-----if I have enough energy. I find that although I am healing very well from my knee operation, that I don't have a lot of stamina. Research tells me that 8 weeks in from my knee operation I'm still burning a lot of energy in the healing process, so I don't have a lot of energy left over. I have designed the booth, so I will have dimensions to work from. Space is getting tight in my main garage, so this spray booth is going to set on top of my table saw, (which I very seldom use), directly below a window that I can open to let the overspray fly away into the great outdoors.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

And at the going down of the sun--The powder paint booth is assembled using woodscrews only. In the picture you can see the box fan and the furnace filter. Tomorrow I will undo the woodscrews and apply Elmer's wood glue to all the contact surfaces, then reinsert the woodscrews, pull everything square, and re-tighten the screws. And, did it tire me out?--you bet your bippy it did. By the time the last pieces were cut and assembled, I was VERY aware that I had knee surgery 8 weeks ago. I hobbled upstairs to my favourite chair and collapsed. Not sore---just very shaky. Tomorrow, after the gluing, I have lawn to cut. The glue has to set up 24 hours before I can do any more.

 

[Gordon]

Drill q couple of holes in the side of the box to put a steel rod through so that you can hang parts from the rod and attach the ground to. The pieces that you are "painting" have to be grounded. Basically you have and electrostatic paint system. That is why there is very little overspray.

 

[TonySteamHobby]

Brian,
When powder coating, you are expelling a cloud a paint dust around the part and the charge pulls it onto the part. That fan may disrupt that operation. The gun air pressure is less than 10 psi. (I use about 5psi.) I hate to be negative about such a nice job, but I’m guessing that will be way overkill.
The other thing is, you need to be able to get around the part, and under it to get good coverage. Shooting just from the front will leave one side thicker than the other.

I use my wife’s old cooling racks so I can spin them around and they will fit in the toaster oven or my big oven without disturbing the part. Every so often, I have to scrape off the paint so it keeps good contact to the part, anything charged will attract the paint!

I powder coat whenever I can, especially if I want a very durable finish. It is so nice when you can install a part just after it cools.

 

[GreenTwin]

If you have to use the fan, put a wall dimmer/speed control on it, and slow it way down.
Don't run it for long periods of time at a very slow speed.
I run mine slowed down a lot, and it does work, and has worked for years.
If you run it too slow for too long, it may overheat.
.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Yesterday I glued and screwed the mdf particle board together, and installed a new water trap and regulator on my main air supply. The fan has three speeds, and I will experiment to see what speed works best for me. I do plan on some cross rods to hang parts on and to ground as well.

 

[GreenTwin]

If the fan is running too fast, you will draw the powder onto the filter, and it will not go to the part.
The fan would have to be very slow.
.

 

[ChazzC]

Yesterday I glued and screwed the mdf particle board together, and installed a new water trap and regulator on my main air supply. The fan has three speeds, and I will experiment to see what speed works best for me. I do plan on some cross rods to hang parts on and to ground as well.

If you find that the fan is not necessary, all is not lost: you can use the fan when using regular spray paint.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Well, other than a bit of caulking, painting, and grinding of some really, really ugly welds, it's finished. It looks like I thought it would. I actually did have a 20" box fan, but found out from number 2 son that "While he had the fan borrowed from me, it quit working, so he thru it out!!!"

 

[olf20]

Down here in the states, I'm putting a plywood ceiling
in my garage out back so I can work on some stuff when
it gets cold. Got my furnace in. I went and picked up 5 sheets of
5/8 plywood sanded one side. $38.
Not as bad as your, but much too high.
olf20 / Bob

 

[ChazzC]

Down here in the states, I'm putting a plywood ceiling
in my garage out back so I can work on some stuff when
it gets cold. Got my furnace in. I went and picked up 5 sheets of
5/8 plywood sanded one side. $38.
Not as bad as your, but much too high.
olf20 / Bob

May want to check local codes: in many locales you need to use non combustible materials in a garage unless it’s detached or there is a common firewall with a residence. Probably won’t get in difficulty now, but possibly when you try to sell.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

This morning I picked up a quart of semi gloss white enamel and a tube of paintable caulking. I should have this thing caulked and painted either this afternoon or tomorrow. Right now we have a visiting grandson, and my better half has informed me that we are going for lunch in the nearby park. I'm feeling lazy today, so will do whatever grandfatherly duties my good wife comes up with.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Normally, I would post a shot of the finished spray booth in place----but---I'm sick. Sick as a friggin dog, with a chest cold. I only catch a cold every five or six years but when I do it's a doozy. Hopefully I will get the paint booth finished and in place over the coming weekend.---Brian

 

[Ghosty]

Brian,
Take care of yourself
Cheers
Andrew