Eastwood Powder Coating System

Bartman

Bartman

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Just curious to know if anyone is powder coating at home with the Eastwood budget powder coating gun/system

www.eastwood.com

Eastwood HotCoat® PCS-250 Dual Voltage Powder Coating Gun Starter Kit

Eastwood PCS-250 Dual Voltage Powder Coating Gun The Eastwood PCS-250 Dual-Voltage HotCoat™ Powder Coating Gun gives you complete coverage from tight areas to large surfaces while operating on standard 120v household current. This innovative system will a
www.eastwood.com www.eastwood.com

Its starting to look like I should have done this from the beginning but I'm wondering what the coating quality is like doing it at home and if the smells from the oven are a deal breaker.

Thanks!
Bart
 
right now I've got the new panel all cut and ready for finishing. was going to powdercoat it but the guy out here doesn't etch or prime, he just media blasts it and then coats it which leaves it susceptible to peeling. a panel that is in a hangared airplane probably won't peel anytime soon but i've been back and forth between powder and paint. a friend of mine that i ran into last week recommended paint just because it won't chip or flake off as easily if future needs make reworking the panel necessary.

as it stands now, i cleaned, etched, and primed the panel yesterday during my one full day at home this week and i'm either going to drop it off at the body shop for professional painting or i'm going to use the rustoleum i bought yesterday to finish it. it seems like it deserves better than that though! lol i never get good results with rustoleum cans, they look good at first but as they dry they look like hell.
 
Dropped it off at the body shop for paint this morning. I'd still like to hear about using the Eastwood powder coating system but my check ride is Saturday and I really want to get this thing moving towards fabric now that the weather is breaking here in the Northeast. Hopefully it'll be done middle of next week and I'll be doing wiring and hanging instruments/avionics a few days later.
 
This is opinion - smart move! As I understand it, powder coat goes on freshly blasted surfaces, not pre-primed. The jury is still out, but I have powder-coated rocker box covers, and I think I see rust peeking through.
I personally would never powder coat a structural part - maybe rudder pedals or control sticks.
 
While we are on Eastwood, anybody try their inexpensive plating setups? I need to do some nickel plating.
 
Ordered a can of Eastwood 2k two-part spray paint Wednesday night, paid $20 for shipping thinking it was going to be here by today, no tracking number yet and customer service keeps changing their story. From what I can tell, this is a horrible company. :mad:

edit: finally got a customer service manager on the phone and he canceled my order after four different CSR's over two days told me it couldn't be canceled.
 
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I'd opt for a 2 part epoxy for your panel. Not flexible like a 2 part polyurethane but you don't need that for your panel.
Epoxy maintains color and gloss for ages, can be touched up should the need arise and it's hard as nails...it won't scuff, chip or scratch.
And I don't consider the rattle can "epoxies" as alternatives. Not even close in terms of performance.
Chris
 
Chris,
I'm not set up to spray epoxies with a gun so the final decision seems to be Eastwood's rattle can two-part epoxy primer followed by their rattle can two part ceramic chassis black. The chassis black is slightly more glossy than their rat rod satin black which is what I would have used had they actually sent it to me when their website said they would. I'm driving to their retail location this morning and am hoping it'll all be done and drying by this afternoon and in the plane by Monday. If it doesn't work then it's going to the powder coating guy. :mad:
 
Well, the chance of me spraying anything in my dusty old shed and having it come out perfect was small and it's proven to actually be impossible. The primer had dust in it before the first coat was on so it's off to the powder coating shop first thing Monday morning.


The spray pattern on the Eastwood 2K epoxy primer was very wide and there was a ton of overspray, fwiw.
 
Hiperbiper said:
I'd opt for a 2 part epoxy for your panel. Not flexible like a 2 part polyurethane but you don't need that for your panel.
Epoxy maintains color and gloss for ages, can be touched up should the need arise and it's hard as nails...it won't scuff, chip or scratch.
And I don't consider the rattle can "epoxies" as alternatives. Not even close in terms of performance.
Chris
Click to expand...

Chris,

If I end up powder coating the panel, do you think a two part epoxy would work for silk screening the labels on? I wouldn't be able to scuff the powder coat so the epoxy would have to just stick on its own to the powder coat.
 
Bartman said:
Chris,

If I end up powder coating the panel, do you think a two part epoxy would work for silk screening the labels on? I wouldn't be able to scuff the powder coat so the epoxy would have to just stick on its own to the powder coat.
Click to expand...
I have no idea how that would work...
I've never had any luck with powder coated parts...

Chris
 
Stopped by the powder coating shop today to drop off the panel. As I started to explain that it has to be perfect, he showed me another instrument panel from a local avionics shop that he said also has to be perfect! He reassured me it'll be perfect and will be done by Thursday so we'll see!
 
Patience. ;)

So far, that panel has been cut & drilled twice, primed, painted, primed again, stripped to bare metal, and now it's being powder coated. But I learned something interesting that I didn't know before; using 120 grit sandpaper to put a nice crosshatch surface on the aluminum greatly helps the powder to stay stuck to the aluminum. When I went to the powder coat shop early yesterday morning they explained they couldn't media blast the primer/paint/primer off the aluminum because it was too thin (.050") which was when they showed me the other panel they had in the shop (and the whole perfection conversation happened). It was all clean and scuffed which they went on to explain was from 120 grit sandpaper. So off I went to strip my panel bare followed by what felt like a very disrespectful experience scuffing the crap out of it (without removing a lot of material). I hit it with etching wash again to make sure it was as clean as possible and brought it back to the shop which is where it now sits. 😬😬😬
 
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