Need some advice on powder coating equipment...

[Maiden89]

Here's the deal. This guy on Craigslist contacted me and wants to trade his basically new powder coating equipment for some stuff I have for sale. He says he paid $5,000 for 2 of them, but he only uses one. He says he does car rims, engine parts, firearm parts and several other stuff part time for extra money. He say's auto shops pays him to powder coat engine parts and other stuff. He also says the powder is very cheap and it's very profitable to do powder coating on the side.

I talked to him on the phone and he says the brand is Spectre, but I might have misheard him because I can't find that brand online. I don't really care about the brand anyway; as long as it works. I've been doing a little research and so far I'm liking what I'm seeing. I'm a fast learner and it seems I can get the hang of this stuff quickly and it would be cool thing to do on the side.

Does anyone on here powder coat anything? Do you do it on the side? Tell me a little about it and how much basic stuff like, powder coating rims, car parts, guns, etc cost.

I'm researching it online too, but would like to hear from you guys as well.

[CowboyFromHell]

I believe he could be talking about Spectrum powder coating and equipment. They have a site you can find pretty easily. I haven't done any myself but I've had some rims done for a car I used to have. It does add a lil to the thickness of things you do it to, and any holes that will be used for bolts or screws will have to be rethreaded after a thorough cleaning out. From what I saw of the process being done it isn't real complicated but it does require a steady hand and patience to get it right. No worse than painting (easier in fact I believe).

[LouSiffer]

It is a simple process that uses electrostatic charge to hold the material on the part. Then it has to be baked. It is fairly thick. I mention this as someone who refinishes guns on the side, I can not think of a reason I would powder coat a fire arm or fire arm parts when there are other products out there like Duracoat or Ceracoat which are much thinner.

However, it seems like powder coating is becoming more and more popular....there are many things you could make $$ on-Lou

[Maiden89]

I talked to him again and I should be getting it next week sometime. I'm kind of excited! He said he did 4 rims for some guys Chevy and it almost paid for both powder coating setups. He said the guy wanted 3 different colors on the rim and he paid him $4600. He also gets paid $200 to powder coat exhaust pipes with high temp stuff for the guys that use NOS and stuff. I looked at people who powder coat firearms and I guess if your careful, it can be done, but there is the problem with the thickness. I might still powder coat free float tubes and quad rails for AR's, since their so popular right now.

I know a guy that started a mechanic shop that likes to do detailing and painting for cars; I'm sure I can talk him into powder coating rims, engine parts and whatever else. I think this is going to be a pretty cool thing on the side to do.

[Nightbat]

He also gets paid $200 to powder coat exhaust pipes with high temp stuff for the guys that use NOS and stuff.

Ceramic coating?
because afaik that's the only thing that holds at those temperatures, I thought normal and ceramic coating wasn't done with the same equipment, but never put much research behind that

[Maiden89]

It isn't ceramic coating. There's special powder coating material that can withstand temps up to 1200F. I believe it's a silicone based powder or something. I have to look into this a little more...

[Nightbat]

I didn't think Silicone could be used in high-temp applications
I know baking trays and such - up to 500-600F - are safe to use, but I believe headers exceed that by a much larger number
I do know some ceramic coatings hold Silica (Silica being a Silicon compound, siliconE being a Silicon polymer)

[CowboyFromHell]

Exhausts have been ceramic coated for years. It's a trick pro drag cars have been using for quite some time and it trickled down from there. Alot of turbocharged cars use it on the pipes on the hot side of the turbo. Perhaps it's a slightly different formula?

[DonP]

He also says the powder is very cheap

Just wanted to mention I saw the powder at Harbor Freight Tools so yes, it should be cheap, at least there.

[Maiden89]

I got the powder coating stuff yesterday. I talked to the guy for a while and he says there's a ceramic powder formula thats fairly new and not many people know about it. He says he uses this ceramic powder to coat knife blades and pistol slides and he uses a teflon or silicone powder to coat bolts for rifles and stuff. From what I've been researching and the conversation with the guy, there's lot's of different powder material depending on your applications. There's the high impact stuff, high temp, glossy, metallic, chrome, etc...

I guess I have a lot of research to do. I'm planning on doing rims and engine parts for now, it seems very profitable.