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advice for spray-n-bake finishes

redhawk41

Plastic
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Location
Kearney MO.
Hello,
I'm new to this form but looking for imput on learning to apply spray on thermal set epoxy finishes. This would be Gun kote,and the other 20 or so products like it. I have bought a blast cabnet and air brush. I'm still building the bake oven 22x22x48. I'm looking for imput on which finishes prove to be easier to learn on what to look for. Right now it's all about finishing my oven, I'm insulating and fabing a door.Thanks for your help.
 
Gun Kote is what I use. The metal must be clean. I use degrease spray,acetone,denatured alochol, hot soapy water, etc. (Any or all).
I clean at least three times. Before blasting ,after blasting and before painting.
Heat the metal up with a heat gun before spraying. And spray all the parts.
 
for an absolute bullet proof finish, go with blast, parkerization then Norrels Moly Coat.

the park gives the finish something soild to bite onto and adds a "back-up" protection.

caspian
 
Ive had exellent results with Gunkote, I was only doing handguns so I just bought a small toaster oven :)

My Prep was similar to Claudes. Degrease, blast, degrease again. I would pre-heat in the oven to about 125 or 150. Airbrush on, then bake to cure.

Usually a couple of strategicly placed pins or hangers to keep the finished surfaces from touching anything works best
 
Has anyone tried the pretreatment K-phos or whatever Gunkote calls it. I can't seem to find much info on the product. It is sold as a pretreatment to Gunkote?? Thanks for the imput. I'll keep checking in, I have to get the oven finished it's killing me.
 
I've tried a number of the spray & bake finishes, by far the best on the market is the the Norrell Molyresin. I too will parkerize steel prior to application when possible but it isn't neccessary. A good blasted finished well cleaned with solvent is most important. I have a custom oven with a PID temp controller that holds my temp to +/- 1 deg. A powder coat oven is ideal. I have yet to find ANY solvent that attacks cured Molyresin. In addition, I accidently laid a hot suppressor on a piece of carpet which melted to the can. With nothing to lose I ran 100 rounds thru the suppressor to heat it to melting temp and then wiped the molten nylon off with a oily rag. There was no harm or discoloration to the Molyresin finish. Wish Norrell had a broader color pallet, I've pretty much sprayed all the colors he offers and have found all of them to be exceptional.
 
CS223, A question or two about your oven. Are you using a fan inside your oven? What about an inside vent? I have looked at the PID controllers on e-bay they seem to be the best option for temp control. Did you put your oven together yourself or did you find someone to build it. I don't mean to bomb you with questions I'm trying to do it right the first time LOL. I'm not sure it's possible but i'm trying. Thanks
 
CS223, A question or two about your oven. Are you using a fan inside your oven? What about an inside vent? I have looked at the PID controllers on e-bay they seem to be the best option for temp control. Did you put your oven together yourself or did you find someone to build it. I don't mean to bomb you with questions I'm trying to do it right the first time LOL. I'm not sure it's possible but i'm trying. Thanks

Yes, there is a fan behind the 5 kW heating element, you need a fan to prevent the temperature gradients from forming in a tall cabient. The Fan doesn't have to be huge, just enough to the air moving and to keep your element from overheating. Your fan motor has to be mounted on the exterior. A big heating element brings it up to temp quickly, it's not a requirement though. There is no outside vent, no need for it. Basically it's just like a convection oven. 2 inches of rigid fiberglass insulation is ideal. The J thermocouple is mounted in the top. The PID controller drives a SSAC so once it's up to temp, the PID controller just bumps the heating element to makup for the heat loss. The mechanical design is similar to the Blue-M powder coat ovens.

Be sure to get a 'Fuzzy Logic' or Auto Tune PID controller otherwise you'll go nuts trying to tune the loop yourself.

They are easy enough to build if you have above average skills, any kind of metal cabinet that meets your dimensional requirements will work. You can insulate the interior or the exterior. Exterior is better as it prevents heat degradation of the insulation along with any potential for dust contamination.
 








 
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