anyone ever build a powdercoat oven?

[Michichi Man]

Hello everyone

Im from up in Alberta, Canada.
I want to build a powdercoat oven, big enough to do a motorcyle frame maybe some cars rims.
Height 4', width 4', length 6'. inside dimensions.
I need some ideas which way to proceed with this, and I'm sure with the wealth of experiance here im sure any problem can be resolved.

I want to use electric heat. I need to keep the temperture at 450 degrees.
Construction, basically a box in a bigger box with firebrick's or cement between, with one big swing open door. would it need venting?
what gauge of steel for the inner and outer "boxes"?
I was thinking like 1/4" for the inner and 1/16 for the outter.
i seem to always make every thing beefer than it needs to be.

This thing needs to get built, but i dont want to dump a bunch off $$ hoping that i have built it right.

thanks

[aametalmaster]

I built 100's of oven's where i worked. They were 20ga alumized steel inside and out. They were bascially two formed channels ] * [ with 20 ga skin on both sides and fiberglass insulation on the inside. The panels locked together with a male-female edge. I do have some pics but they need scanned. As far as heater elements i don't have a clue as ours were gas fired and the controls were 26 grand so that put the brakes on building one for myself...Bob

[MintSScout]

You can make the oven a little bigger than you need and buy the powdercoating lights from The Eastwood Company.

[Charlie C]

M Man I used an old tool box about 8 ft. long and 24 inches square. Around this tool box I built an angle iron frame and attached the frame to the old tool box. That was a mistake, let the inerbox float. The heat will warp things if the tool box was not able to float. I had to go back and cut the frame loose from the tool box.
The space around the box was filled with fiberglass house insulation and than the frame was covered with sheet metal.

The heating element is an 8000 wat unit that I salvaged from a vacume forming machine. For the controlls I got a timer and a thermostat from Grainger. The thermostat controlls the temp and the timer controlls how long the the thermostat will bake the paint. My information sayes about 20 minutes. I also installed a small fan motor with a long shaft on the top of the oven and the fan part down in the oven. This circulates the heat in the oven.

This pic shows the hanger bracket and the fan at the top.

This is the controlls. The voltage is 220volts.

The 8000 wat heating element is located behind the sheet metal plate.

I used what material that I had laying around the home and every thing was rusty.
Although the oven is not large it has worked well for me. You could even use hard house insulation and make it as large as you want.
Hope this will be of some help to you.

[harcosparky]

What temperatures are required for Powder Coat curing ????

[Charlie C]

you preheat the oven to 450* Place the job in the oven, when the power coating flows out(gets shinney, takes about 15 minutes) turn the oven down to 400* for about 20 minutes. Turn off and let cool and you are good to go.

[JHCHOPPERS]

Check out the CasWell Plating Forum, they have a section called "Oven Building"
http://forum.caswellplating.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

ECAVE from the Hobart Forum also provided this cool link
http://powdercoatoven.4t.com/Index.html

Thanks,
Joel

[SkidSteerSteve]

Here's a quick question that I have wondered for a while about ovens. I have an old electric kitchen oven that I picked up years ago. It's still sitting in the shed and I have often wondered if it would be suitable as an oven for small parts. It has all the racks and everything else associated with a baking oven and the benefit of all the built in t-stat and timer controls...SSS

[MintSScout]

If it can go up to about 450 to 500 degrees then yes you can use it for small parts.

[JD in Socal]

I have an old electric kitchen oven that I picked up years ago. It's still sitting in the shed and I have often wondered if it would be suitable as an oven for small parts. .....SSS

It should be fine for small parts. A normal sized oven limits you to fairly small objects. Also, it will probably smell like powder-coated parts for the rest of eternity, but you shouldn't care if it is trash anyway.

JD