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Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Complete-Portable-Powder-Coating/dp/B004YEAYCW (http://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Complete-Portable-Powder-Coating/dp/B004YEAYCW)

Has anyone try this or know a friend that had experience with this system?

Thoughts? Comments? Recommendation?

Thanks!

mods: please move if it's not in the right forum.

at 35 dollars, that looks like a no brainer - never used a powder coater, but i wouldn't hesitate to buy craftsman at full price, let alone at that discount...may have to pick it up and test it out!

I always go for craftsman tools...this system regular priced out at $100+

itll be fine for 90% of stuff. Great if you dont own a compressor.

just dont expect it to do fancy stuff. you need adjustable voltage to do multi layers, certain coatings, and to be able to get powder to stick on the inside of tight corners.

I have one and like He Man said, you get what you pay for.  I've had good luck doing various "functional" parts, but haven't had to do anything where the finish work mattered yet so i can't really say how nice it looks.  This is the bracket I built to relocate my R/R, coil, wiring, etc under the seat done in satin black.  Aside from the obvious make the beast with two backs ups in the metal where I had to relocate the mounting studs, it came out pretty good and it's DEFINITELY tough as nails.  Food for thought.

(http://bulk-share.slickpic.com/photo/share/ZjTQNuMZNcADQc/250/t/765743.jpg) (http://www.slickpic.com/s/ZjTQNuMZNcADQc/EverythingBike/photo#765743)Show more (http://www.slickpic.com/s/ZjTQNuMZNcADQc/EverythingBike)

Oh, and I know that it even says it in the instructions and all (not to mention logic would dictate....) but DON'T touch the metal charging tip.  It will definitely zap the shit out of you  ;D

...some of us have to test that.  [laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

How do you guys cure the coated product at 400 degrees afterward??

An oven?

I like that the shipping costs 2 cents more than the gun... ($18.97+18.99 shipping). But, still not expensive, so worth a try to do small parts.

Well one good thing about appliances not lasting as long as they used to is that when a toaster oven looses an otherwise superfluous knob, it gets re-purposed to the garage.  It was one of the big ones that can do frozen pizzas and such, so with the rack removed I can manage an ok sized part. 


I've been hit worse, but not by much.  Definitely stings :).

Looks like a good product for the price, but I am wondering why they discountinued this item? Was there some flaw with them? Too many people bringing them back? I imagine that is why it is so cheap, and what happens if it breaks now? They don't even make a replacement model for it to exchange?

$35 would be worth it to me to play with a new toy.  Hell, the first thing I did with mine is coat the handle of the titanium spork I got my dad for Christmas :).  It is kind of a cheapie.  Like someone else said, there are no voltage or feed adjustments, but it gets the job done. 

I bought this back in September and used it on the passenger pegs and sidestand on my R6. Using harbor freight matte black and a toaster oven, it came out flawlessly. Just make sure you really clean the parts beforehand (I didnt have a sandblaster so I used aircraft stripper, steel wool, and a steel brush followed by detergent). Finish for me was 9.5/10 with no visible imperfections on my first attempt.

Yeah... I still need to pick up a toaster oven. What did you do to support the part in the oven?

Unless you have the convenience of having a full sized oven or a custom built powder oven, you generally have to get creative with how you set the piece in the oven.  I Just did the headlight bucket and just taped the inner lip of the bucket (the part where the headlight ring interfaces with the bucket that doesn't need to be coated) and set it on a pan directly on the rack in the oven.  I let it cool all the way and when I pulled the bucket off the pan, the tape just stayed on the pan and left the clean, un-powdered part of the bucket looking pretty as ever.  Pics are on my work phone, so I'll have to pull them when I can actually find my work phone :).  It looks professional. 

There are MAJOR adhesion issues if you do not get the part metal temp up to 400 (PMT). It may look okay, but once a flake forms it will flake off easily. I pretty much always set my oven to 550 for 400 degree items.

Ill heat the item up to 400 degrees to outgas it pull it out and let it sit for about 5 minutes and hot flock it. this will help with outgassing. If you hot flock it the moment it comes out of the oven you will get orange peel since the immediate area around the item is heated up and draws moisture out.

this way you can throw it in the oven. and it will reach PMT much quicker.

Where are you getting your powder?  The stuff I got from Caswell advised 375 and flowed very nicely.  I think I preheat the oven and let the part sit in for about 25 minutes before I killed the heat, then I let them both cool down together.  No sense in shocking both the powder and metal by taking it out early.  I agree about the pre-cook though.  Just a sand blast and a wash isn't always enough, but I never seem to remember and/or have the patience at the time to reeeeeeally do a super prep.  Like I said, I just finished the headlight bucket which tends to get a lot of abuse so we'll see how she holds up. 

i either get it from powder buy the pound, or colombia coatings.

Flow will happen at half the recommended temperature. So its not a good indicator of how the part will come out.

What really matters on the final result, is the powder thickness and how much time you have it in there for. If you get the temp lower than what is recommended and let the part stay for a while longer than the phase change from powder to a film will still be achieved. If you cut the time and dont reach the temp, the powder will instantly flow, but the phase change wont occur and it comes out with orange peel, bubbling, bad adhesion. etc.

With small steel parts, its not an issue. Steel takes in heat and retains it so you reach PMT easily.
Aluminum will loose heat very quickly, so 400 degree oven (assuming you can guarentee its 400 degrees) wont keep the aluminum PMT at 400 unless you leave it in there for a long while.

Steel generally wont out gas either, so i dont bother with hot flocking it.

25 minutes on the bucket, even if you shot it cold is enough time. you should have no issues.