"Poor man's" Powder coating

[tjb]

For years I've been doing baked on enamel finishes on small parts, more to speed drytime than anything. I have been using Krylon Fusion for the past couple of projects. The durability is as close to powder coating as you can get for a painted part. I've had a helluva time taking it back off to add more tubes on a bumper I have done this way with Fusion. The rock guards on my Blazer scaler are done with this and have seen some good rock rubbing and there is no bare metal as of yet.


The key is a very clean part. Heat oven to 325-400 (lower the temp, longer the time). Paint the part as you normally would. You can either put the part in wet, or let the paint tack up a bit. Hang the part as high as you can get it in the oven, I normally use the broiler element or put a rack on the very top slot if the part is small. I have found that placing a piece of foil below the part keeps the direct heat from the element off the part a bit better for a more even baking. Run the part for 45min-1hr, and either pull it out and air cool it of just shut the oven down and let it slow cool. I don't think it makes too much difference, I've done both.

*If the part was brazed, make sure all of the flux residue is off, if it is not it will cause the paint to bubble/fisheye........ Also keep to the lower temps when using aluminum

As far as the smell when baking, Fushion is about the best, and has very little, to no smell to it. In the past I mostly used Rustolium and it is rather strong smelling when used.
Fushion leaves no after smell when dried this way, so you should be OK with the wife "thumbsup"

I have mainly used Gloss and satin black. The satin comes out more of a semi-gloss/gloss than a flat black

If you try a toaster oven, I can't know how it will work, I have not ever tried it with one yet..

 

[Stormin2u]

Nice write up Jay well done.

 

[gas]

ill give it a try

 

[NeXt559]

thanks for the tip

how thick should i lay the paint on?

 

[2JSC]

You probably don't want to try this with the oven you cook with...

 

[ecoli]

You probably don't want to try this with the oven you cook with...

Why not? Can't be any worse than those caustic oven cleaners everyone uses. Those have all sorts of warning labels and stink up the whole house. It's only fumes, I'm sure airing it out, and even cleaning it out afterwards would make it perfectly safe.

One question I did have, with this method do you bother laying a primer layer on the parts first (not sure if they make a primer in Krylon fusion)? Sounds like it might not be necessary. Good write-up though, have any pics of the finished products?

 

[littleskull99]

pics?

 

[Stormin2u]

Hey tjb, have you ever used high temp paint (exhaust system) products that are designed to be baked those paints are available in lots of colors these days?

 

[tjb]

You probably don't want to try this with the oven you cook with...

Nah, I've be doing this for years in the same oven, Fusion leaves no fumes or smell

thanks for the tip

how thick should i lay the paint on?

Spray as you would normally paint the part, thicker is OK, but not needed

Why not? Can't be any worse than those caustic oven cleaners everyone uses. Those have all sorts of warning labels and stink up the whole house. It's only fumes, I'm sure airing it out, and even cleaning it out afterwards would make it perfectly safe.

One question I did have, with this method do you bother laying a primer layer on the parts first (not sure if they make a primer in Krylon fusion)? Sounds like it might not be necessary. Good write-up though, have any pics of the finished products?

No shoot the paint only, have never tried primer because you are heat bonding the paint..

Hey tjb, have you ever used high temp paint (exhaust system) products that are designed to be baked those paints are available in lots of colors these days?

I have in the past, I came up with this after doing gun coating when I used to build tactical rifles. Lauer Custom weaponry has a product called Dura Coat. They are about 4 miles from my house, they have a bake and a non bake system (made the news with it about some of the brighter colors in the now Bloomberg collection) It's pricey, but am thinking of giving it a try. I am working on getting certified to do work for them soon. Brownell's also has some I have tried but also higher in cost, with the same results.

I get some pics up here soon. "thumbsup"

 

[GrapeApe]

Great info. I will have to give this a try.

 

[norcrawler]

how can i tell when i should take it out,i dont wanna over due it,just preheat to about 350? then leave in for about 40-50 mins?would it even matter?
im doing a full tube chassis by the way.

 

[bent]

Thanks! for sharing this it will come in handy a bit later when I get to the point of building me one, or rebuilding mine."thumbsup"

 

[norcrawler]

works good!

 

[Archangel]

I hate to dig up such an old thread but I feel like there is some very valuable information. I decided to try this but with regular Krylon satin black. My problem is that within 5 minutes my wife starts complaining about the smell and when I open the oven door to see what's going on a hint of smoke comes out of the oven. I have the temperature at about 275* so that shouldn't be a problem. Is the smell during the baking normal and just goes away after I'm done or is something wrong? I guess my question is should I just go ahead and keep baking it and just find a time when my wife isn't home?

 

[rangercat23]

He made mention that regular paint made more of a stink than the Krylon Fusion.


.

 

[jaloos]

Is the smell during the baking normal and just goes away after I'm done or is something wrong? I guess my question is should I just go ahead and keep baking it and just find a time when my wife isn't home?

Depending on the paint you use the amount of smell will be different. I have been doing this for years and mostly with flat black non water based paints and have not tried Krylon Fusion yet.

The amount of smell will be different with the types and finishes of paint. A flat paint left to almost completely dry before baking will give less smell than fresh wet paint thrown in and you will get more smell as well when you go to a higher glosses of paints.

The smell goes away once your done and I have not found any lingering smells in our oven. Not enough to have the wife complain, hell some times we fight for the oven, she wants to cook and I got parts to bake LOL. If its an issue wait till she is gone for a few hours and let it rip.

I have had great luck pre heating the parts before the paint as well. Be careful with this as too hot a part will make the glossier paints bubble on contact with the hot part. I like to pre heat aluminum parts and spray them with flat black. It opens up the pores in the part prior to application and gets the paint into the aluminum much better than just spraying a cool part. It also gasses off the paint faster and will leave you with less off gassing in the oven.

I have done a ton of aluminum bead lock rings this way and they hold up excellent, even the screws rubbing from tightening do not seem to damage the coating. I started doing this 20 years ago with tunned pipes for my nitro trucks, I would use high heat paint and bake them in the BBq.