Ok i figured this might be the right place to ask, what i wanna know is what neccessary equipment do i need for powdercoating and media blasting cuz i wanna redo my rims and also various other suspension components and such and where i can find these things. i have a pretty good idea on how to do this kind of thing but im lost as to what is really needed so im asking you guys for a shopping list of what i need to do this kind of thing at home.im pretty good at doing this by hand but with the stuff i wanna do its kinda gonna be hard to do it like that.

EDIT:sorry if it kinda seems weird reading this

 

You're looking at some good money, you'd be better off paying someone to do it. You'd need to buy a sand blaster or a shot blaster... Also as far as powder coat setups, you can get one at harbor freight for about 100 bucks but they suck complete ***. The one I used to use ran around 3-5K I believe... The powder is also expensive unless you get very bland colors. Usually the more advanced colors are around 50 bucks per pound. You're also going to need an oven big enough to fit a wheel in, a standard convection oven will usually do, but if you want to do something larger you'll need a bigger oven. The one I used was a 24W X 48L X 18H...needless to say, it was a nice sized walk in... But at 400-500 degrees going in and out was like walking into hell. If you want a decent setup you're lookin at some money. From the sound of if you're mainly just wanting to do a set of wheels, and I don't see it worth spending that much just to do it yourself...but if you wipe *** with 100's then go for it lol and ill be on my way over to do some of my stuff

 

ha i know what you mean man but i've found an ok powdercoater gun with all the hardware needed at summitracing for about 139.99 and the media is fairly priced too.idk its cuz i saw it on Project Car mag and that made me wanna do this on my own and yeah. but yeah the whole cost thing is gonna probably wreck me since im a college student but i love doing things on my own and learning, plus i figured once i get this whole thing figured out ill probably make some of the money back by chargin to do some work once i get the hang of it

as far as ovens is concerned can i use an electric one and get the same results?

 

of course...most powder coating ovens are electric. when i did powder coating, our oven was huge like i said, and it was powered by natural gas that was digitally controlled and was literally a couple flame throwers in the ceiling and blowers that circulated the heat from the flames to quickly heat the large space...and again, like hell walking in there with my shoes melting to the floor lol...definitely have to be quick in there though. Anyways, back on topic... if this is something you would like to get into, i would suggest getting mediocre supplies and trying a few small pieces and trying it out. The main thing with powder coating is prepping the metal, and im not sure if you're familiar with how powder coating works so ill explain lol. On higher quality/more expensive setups like the one I used, the powder is poured into a large(approx. 8-10 gallons) stainless steel vat/hopper, at the bottom there is a "filter" which is only designed to allow air to get through and nothing else, below that there is an air line hooked into the vat. That air line pushes air into the bottom of the vat through the filter, making the powder lift up and actually appears as if the powder is liquid like and boiling aka "Fluidization". This is done to keep a good, steady flow of powder into the supply line. After the powder enters the supply line its fed through the line to the gun, the gun is controlled by a box that has controls for amount of powder being fed to the gun, amount of electrical charge to the gun. As the powder passes through the tip of the gun, it is electrostatically charged... best example is static electricity. as the powder is charged, is it propelled by the same air pressure in which it was fed to the gun, and the charged powder sticks to the metal surface. The metal that you are coating has to be grounded, otherwise the powder will not stick. The main thing is getting your settings correct...also if the piece you are coating has tight corners the powder is is tricky as hell to get in there, this is called the "Faraday Cage Effect"
Sorry for such a long post, but I hope this helps you better understand powder coating and that theres a bit more to it than most people think...I know I had no clue that it was that complex. Powder coating is definitely the way to go and is very very strong if done properly... I wish I could afford a good setup myself! Good luck!

 

ah thats some really good info yo thanks a lot and yeah ill do what you said and start off small and work my way up as i go along