Looking for a cost effective medium sized powder coat oven

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We have some pieces we're producing with the max piece being 30x30" and 1/4" thick.  We've tried painting these but the paint gets scratched a little too easily so we're going to powder coating.I'm looking for some recommendations on a powder coat oven to fit this piece.  Any good experiences?I've even looked into the infrared lights but I hear they take forever to cure.
Reply:Is it possible for you guys to build one? I would find an old used oven to gut for the heating element and thermostat and build the oven out of steel with rockwool for insulation.
Reply:Also, might it be more cost effective to outsource the powder coating? We get stuff done for a pretty reasonable price, including sandblasting and primer + topcoat.
Reply:Cost effective oven would imply running multiples of that (and other) parts, large enough to accommodate the spray rack, have enough heat output to deal with the mass of the hanging rack and multiple parts in a 'cost effective' amount of time.……Look a decent p-coating operation, the whole she-bang from handling, cleaning, blast, clean, mask, coat, bake, de-mask, protective package/handle---it's more than a $300 cobble-up to purchase, install and operate. Coaters are in competition with each other-now and it'll cost far less in time/money/hassle to job it out as Sharon sez.Blackbird
Reply:Building one will be the cheapest option. Some sheet metal, a batt or so of r13 insulation, 2 or 3 heating elements and a PID controller should get you a nice setup. This way you can make a custom oven to whatever size you want. A decent sized oven will cost $500-$1000 in parts to build. A whole lot of sheet metal will be the biggest expense.I have been thinking of making one myself for a little while but I haven't got around to it yet. Functionally they are pretty simple.1988 Big 50 Diesel CC/CV1982 Weldanpower 225/2101968 SAE 300 motor generatorMaxstar 200SD2015 AHP 200x"The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
Reply:Outsourcing isn't an option based on our manufacturing process. It would double our time for assembly.I've been looking at plans to build an oven but I wanted to check in here first.
Reply:Originally Posted by casmitOutsourcing isn't an option based on our manufacturing process. It would double our time for assembly.I've been looking at plans to build an oven but I wanted to check in here first.
Reply:Originally Posted by casmitOutsourcing isn't an option based on our manufacturing process. It would double our time for assembly.I've been looking at plans to build an oven but I wanted to check in here first.
Reply:I know the big shops can go much faster than me, but these are customized pieces for each client.  Piece 1 may be pearl white, piece 2 is chrome, piece 3 is clear coat, piece 4 is candy chrome purple.  Doesn't work well for outsourcing to these large shops and the cost adds up pretty quickly.
Reply:Electric infrared ovens are fast and hot. That being said they are not cheap or easy to build. Unless you are doing a large volume electric infrared is not the way to go. A small batch oven might be something you could find from a local machinery dealer.
Reply:I built a 8'x8'x8' oven and before I was finished I had almost $16,000 in it. About the time I got it finished I lost the lease on the building I was in. The building we moved to didn't have tall enough doors so we couldn't get it into the space we wanted to put it and the other building on the lot didn't have power to it so it sat in storage until we could figure out what we were going to do. This was just a temp location anyway because I had planned on building a new building at my home and work out of there rather than pay someone else 3 or 4 thousand dollars a month rent. Well that was about 8 years ago and I still haven't finished my building yet and it's still in storage.When I was first started looking in to getting a oven everything I looked at was over $40,000 and that was just the basic machine with nothing else and by the time I got all the rest of the stuff needed to powder coat It would be another $40,000+ just for the basic setup. I knew I could build an oven and put together the rest of the stuff needed to begin powder coating for way less than that so I started the project. Hopefully if you decide to go this route you won't end up having all the problems I ran into like having to put it in storage and then getting hit with the rotten economy that in the end forced me to close down my whole operation.One piece of advice do careful planning and if you even have the slightest idea that you will need a 4' wide 4' deep oven build it 8' X 8' because you never have enough room no matter how big you make it and you don't want your parts to be banging together while you are loading the oven. I looked at all different means of heating the oven and finally decided to go electric. Partly because of the code requirements and then at that time fuel prices had gone through the roof so I decided to add a little more, and a different kind of insulation and just go electric. To me it was a simpler design and in the long run probably cheaper to operate with far less maintenance than anything else.Another thing is don't forget that the actual curing of the part is the easiest part. It's all the prep work involved that takes up a lot of time with special equipment that you may or may not have access to in your present operation. The parts have to be clean, clean, clean.....did I say clean and the surface area needs to have the proper finish to give the powder the proper surface to stick to. Also for proper corrosion resistance the parts should be pre-treated with an iron or zink oxide solution depending on what the part is made of, then rinsed and dried completely before ever heading to the paint booth. It takes a lot of time and work before you ever get that far.
Reply:I have a couple old kitchen ovens sitting out in the scrap pile that basically got junked because they didn't look pretty enough anymore. I was thinking about cutting the left side off of one, the right side off of the other and joining them together, and linking the doors with sheet metal. They max out around 400 degrees on the oven settings but if the parts aren't too big, they will do the job for cheap. Running 2 ovens at once will take a pretty good breaker though. I might leave the 2 bottom elements in, and just run one big one in the center on top.250 amp Miller DialArc AC/DC StickF-225 amp Forney AC Stick230 amp Sears AC StickLincoln 180C MIGVictor Medalist 350 O/ACut 50 PlasmaLes
Reply:http://www.tedsfabrication.com/tedsf...ting_ovens.htm
Reply:Originally Posted by whtbaronI have a couple old kitchen ovens sitting out in the scrap pile that basically got junked because they didn't look pretty enough anymore. I was thinking about cutting the left side off of one, the right side off of the other and joining them together, and linking the doors with sheet metal. They max out around 400 degrees on the oven settings but if the parts aren't too big, they will do the job for cheap. Running 2 ovens at once will take a pretty good breaker though. I might leave the 2 bottom elements in, and just run one big one in the center on top.
Reply:I do not know where you are but there is a 4'x4'x4' powder coat oven on the GreenBay Wi. craigslist for $2400 . It runs on 220v 38 amps. By the map in the listing it looks like it is down near the Il. border.
Reply:Originally Posted by dbotoshttp://www.tedsfabrication.com/tedsf...ting_ovens.htm
Reply:If you've got the $, Grieve:http://www.grievecorp.com/catalog/Ba...net-Ovens.htmlhttp://www.grievecorp.com/catalog/Ba...TruckOven.htmlI have an NB-350 bench oven that I got secondhand, made some mods to, and have been using in a vertical orientation.