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Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? #1513912
10/08/13 10:29 AM
10/08/13 10:29 AM
Joined: Dec 2003
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Bitopia
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jcc Offline OP
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jcc  Offline OP
If you can't dazzle em with diamonds..
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 22,695
Bitopia
Anybody ever tried this and how did it work? Most do not have a lot of height, but they can get pretty big otherwise, and lots of used units for sale. Most are gas, and that is likely a plus.


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Re: Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? [Re: jcc] #1513913
10/08/13 10:45 AM
10/08/13 10:45 AM
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Minnesota
peabodyracing Offline
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I've run a powder coating plant for 16 years now. Have not heard of anyone using one of those for curing the powder. Have seen guys use electric ranges and similar ovens normally seen in the home.

The down side to a gas fired unit is you may end up with color shift, or a change in gloss depending on how sensitive the powder you're using is. Gas fired powder cure ovens are designed to turn a certain volume of air over inside them while running, to avoid this. It's possible to have slightly different results on the same powder between a gas and an electric cure oven, or a convection vs an infrared oven. although you'd have to have an awfully good eye. Usually you would need a color meter to measure the difference.

In my experience, the main stream suppliers have formulated products that are pretty forgiving for the most part. Home users tend to be buying small volume off the internet, and I'm never sure where that stuff comes from. I'd be particularly concerned about neon like finishes and clear coats.

One final thought. If you look at a technical data sheet for any powder, there's a cure cycle specified, and normally the supplier wants to see their powder heated to a certain temp within so many minutes and then kept at that temp for so many minutes, so the cure cycle completes correctly. 9 times out of 10 if you have an early powder failure it's because of inadequate cure.

Hope this helps.


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Re: Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? [Re: jcc] #1513914
10/08/13 10:50 AM
10/08/13 10:50 AM
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DAYCLONA Offline
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If your looking at commercial ovens for home powdercoating....I'd suggest a glow bar element oven (newer "pizza" ovens are glow bar), rapid heat up, no gases generated/ nor used, although you will need a 3 phase power supply in the 208-480 volt range

Re: Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? [Re: DAYCLONA] #1513915
10/08/13 11:56 AM
10/08/13 11:56 AM
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Martinsville, VA
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440child Offline
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I had thought about using a used commercial warming oven (like they use in restaurants to keep cooked food up to temp). Some of them are pretty tall, 5 to 6 feet even, and will reach up to 350*. And most of them I've seen are electric. Only thing is, I don't know if that's hot enough to cure powder coat or if the thermostats can be rewired (or replaced) to do so. I found a few on the 'bay pretty reasonably priced, 'tho.

Re: Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? [Re: 440child] #1513916
10/08/13 01:24 PM
10/08/13 01:24 PM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 18,153
Mass
DAYCLONA Offline
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DAYCLONA  Offline
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Mass
Quote:

I had thought about using a used commercial warming oven (like they use in restaurants to keep cooked food up to temp). Some of them are pretty tall, 5 to 6 feet even, and will reach up to 350*. And most of them I've seen are electric. Only thing is, I don't know if that's hot enough to cure powder coat or if the thermostats can be rewired (or replaced) to do so. I found a few on the 'bay pretty reasonably priced, 'tho.






If it's a glow bar oven, which most new (within the last 20 yrs) commercial units are, glow bars can reach temps of 3400 degrees F....you just need a temp controler that allows higher temps, along with the proper thermal couple, depending on what range your looking forr...for powder coating 400 max is more than enough....

Re: Pizza Oven for Powder Coating? [Re: DAYCLONA] #1513917
10/08/13 04:46 PM
10/08/13 04:46 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 2,212
Minnesota
peabodyracing Offline
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I'm sorry I must disagree with the 400 degree statement. Some powders most notably wrinkles, which guys like to use on valve covers, air cleaner housings, etc require a high heat initial shock to start the proper reaction. Additionally a higher mass part may not get to adequate temperature soon enough, or ever get there at 400 degrees.

The cure cycle of the powder specifies the temperature of the surface powder coated, not the ambient set point of the oven. So you should plan on the possibility of running a higher temp in order to ensure the part reaches the required temp.

Light weight sheet metal parts, and smooth glossy colors would normally not be a problem in the 360-380 degree range, but heavier parts, wrinkle finishes and some textures or river textures, may require another 100 degrees.

An example: we used to paint cast aluminum valve covers for an aftermarket brand, using black wrinkle. The set point on our oven was 450 degrees in order to get a consistent surface finish appearance and thorugh cure.


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