First Attempt At Home Powder Coating

[TrypWyr]

Hoping this section is okay for this...

I picked up a Craftsman Powder Coating kit last week and finally got some powder in today! The powder coating gun is a simple fan-driven plastic thing, but seems like it will work well for the little bit of coating I need for small parts. No way I can approach Tim's level of quality but I think it's better than spray paint, if I say so myself.

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I had this gear laying around and it was kind of scuffed up from its previous life. The coating is "Black Chrome II" and pretty dark. I think it turned out pretty good, being that it was coated with a cheap gun and cooked in a toaster oven!

Just wanted to share my joy at a new (for me) way of customizing my saber parts, and encourage anyone out there who though PC'ing was too expensive to do at home to give it a try. There are cheap versions of the good tools and you can actually get decent results!

Tryp

[Yoshi-Taka]

Did you PC the threaded sections as well? Or just the main part that you see? It looks pretty good; I'm impressed.

[TrypWyr]

Not on the threads. The kit I bought came with high-temp masking tape and it came in handy. I was actually worried that the powder would "leak" past the tape like paint can, but I got very clean lines, much better than expected.

Thanks for the kind words!

[Yoshi-Taka]

Right on. I might have to give this a try myself in future projects. Can you post a picture of just the MHS gear piece by itself? Or is the saber fully constructed?

[TrypWyr]

Nope, not in a build yet. It was an extra piece I had around and due to its scuff marks I wasn't sure where I would ever use it. Now though, you can barely see or feel the scuffs. A nice side effect!

Here are some better pics, the last best represents the actual look of the piece. I can't wait to try out my other powders! Although the toaster oven is a real pain... may be time to upgrade to a full size oven in the garage, for this and spray paint. My wife will love that...

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[shmoetech]

Very well done, for a cheap craftman you did a very clean job w/ it.

[Yoshi-Taka]

Yeah, that looks really good. I'm very impressed. I'll have to try this myself for sure.

[Kaide]

Here are a few tips from my personal experience.

Be carefully with that gun. It's got some cheap parts. Spesificly the lock for the powder container (the little red switch). It brakes easy. Make sure you ground whatever your spraying, other wise you will zap the crap out of yourself.
Keep you extra powder in a cool dry place when you're not using it. If it gets hot it will start clumping up (so don't leave it in the garage or storage shed)
Never powder coat MHS parts that are assembled , unless you don't mind never separating them again.
Try to avoid the inside of a blade holder part.
Powder coating adds to the ID of a tube, keep this in mind when using shroud overlays. They will still fit, but it will be tight & will most likely scratch up the coating when you slide the shroud over it.

Try to drill / tap after you powder coat to avoid messing up the hole diameters & threads. Or use the included hole plugs (although they are not perfect)

& wash the part with soap / water before coating. Oils from your hand can cause the coating to not stick correctly

Ok. Out of time on my lunch brake. If you have any questions feel free to message me

[TrypWyr]

Wow Kaide, awesome advice, thanks!

I had read that about the cup lock, so I have been very careful with it. Didn't know about the zapping thing, glad I found out here and not on my own!

[Kaide]

I found out on my own

Although it makes for a hilarious story.

And if you do brake the lock. Just take out all the screws out & romove one side of the outer shell & take the lock out. Works just fine without it