Powder paint for model engines

[wce4]

Gordon--To a large degree I am overthinking it. I haven't felt like doing much machining since I had my knee replaced in May.--and that is very unusual for me. I have almost worked my way thru this whole powder paint thing, and then I really hope that I soon feel like getting back into the machining side of things.---Brian

Brian unfortunately I know how you feel, been in and out of the hospital a few times this last few months
but finally I drag myself back to the workshop this week and started to enjoy it again.
I have been following your post on powder coating and you have me thinking about building a bench top powder coating oven. (24" length x 24" wide x 24" high) I have been using a modified toaster oven it works but does not have the height to hang parts. By the way, I like your paint booth idea with the box fan.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Thank you wce4 This has been a "learn from experience" thing for me to.----Brian

 

[Brian Rupnow]

I did not get any instruction manual with the toaster oven I bought. To properly cure powder paint, an object placed inside the oven must be heated to 400 degrees f and then held at that temperature for 15 minutes. My toaster oven gets up to the 400 degrees okay, but then it shuts off. I can't see any way to make the oven stay on for 15 minutes after it has reached the 400 degrees I have it set for. Am I misunderstanding something?

 

[Gordon]

Mine has a dial set to "bake" then a temp setting and a time setting so I set it to Bake/400°/15 minutes. It also has an option to stay on so you could just time it yourself.

 

[Ghosty]

My toaster oven gets up to the 400 degrees okay, but then it shuts off.

Brian, It could be a timer, or a thermal overload(temp control) switch.
Cheers
Andrew

 

[trlvn]

My toaster oven gets up to the 400 degrees okay, but then it shuts off.

It sounds like the toaster oven is working as designed. The heating elements will be on until the internal temp hits the target (eg 400F) and then shuts off. In fact, it probably overshoots the target by some amount. When the temp comes down to below some minimum (maybe 380F?), the element will turn back on. These cycles continue for as long as the time programmed on the front panel (on many/most ovens). Some will use the elements on both top and bottom to get up to temperature and then only the bottom elements to maintain temp. I believe all such heating elements are either "on" at maximum heat output or "off". IOW they don't have variable output.

HTH

Craig

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Now it's time to give this toaster oven some more attention. First off, I don't think I should use the timer (bottom dial) at all. The timer has a maximum of about 10 to 15 minutes and then it turns everything off. The second dial/button down from the top has 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 increments and a "stay on " position. The button at the top has temperature increments and can be adjusted to 400 degrees, which is what I want. 5 minutes ago I set the top dial/button to 400 degrees and turned the second button/dial down from the top at "stay on". Now, If I've done things right, it should heat the oven up to 400 degrees, shut off, then come back on when the temperature has dropped a bit.----I think.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

After half an hour, my toaster oven finally got up to 320 degrees, but I don't think it's going to go up any higher. I may have bought a "pig in a poke" here.

 

[L98fiero]

After half an hour, my toaster oven finally got up to 320 degrees, but I don't think it's going to go up any higher. I may have bought a "pig in a poke" here.

Toaster ovens have no insulation, if you can wrap the larger flat surfaces with some fiberglass insulation, that might get you there though you'll have to watch the controls and such so they aren't overheated.

 

[aka9950202]

After half an hour, my toaster oven finally got up to 320 degrees, but I don't think it's going to go up any higher. I may have bought a "pig in a poke" here.

I used high temperature insulation wool used in smelting furnaces. I ntook the oven apart. Used the insulation on all sides except the door. It is held in place with kapton tape. I add3d a thermalcopel and PID controller. It gets to 450deg C. Warms up in 10 to 15 minutes.

Cheers,

Andrew in Melbourne

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Today I sucked it up and ordered a powder paint curing oven from Eastwood. I have tried one used toaster oven and it doesn't consistently go up to 400 degrees. There are many used full size electric kitchen stoves with large ovens for sale in the buy and sell newspapers, but they are all comparatively large and they are all 220 volt. I am actually running out of room in my main garage and can't free up any more space---which would be a requirement with a full size 30" electric range. The used kitchen stoves which used to sell for $50 are now selling for $150 to $300, and now with gasoline costing more than $6 a gallon you can quite easily spend $50 on gas driving to another city to pick up a used stove. The Eastwood oven is 110 volt and is a tabletop unit--and is larger inside than the toaster oven I bought.