walleye warrior Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I recently purchased a harbor freight electrostatic powder paint gun. Has anyone tried one of these yet for painting jigs in large quantities? If so please share your experience with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apdriver Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I recently purchased a harbor freight electrostatic powder paint gun. Has anyone tried one of these yet for painting jigs in large quantities? If so please share your experience with it I've wondered about this process. Can you tell us about your experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) We use a commercial electrostatic system and it is fantastic and yields excellent results. If Harbor Freights is as good, you should have no problem. The questions I would have is how do you handle the hook eyes, being all coated with powder, as the powder does go on thicker??? Finally you will have to somehow tape your hook points and then find a way to hang the jigs. Then you will have to take all the tape off before you bake the jigs. I have thought about this many times and found that it seems like a lot of work. I will tell you this, there is a lot of powder waste as overspray. So you better buy your powder in bulk. Edited November 2, 2015 by cadman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 (edited) I have the hf electrostatic pp gun. I have only done slab type casting jigs(so no hook eyes and points to worry about). First I would recommend a pp recovery system to capture all the excess paint. Make one out of a card board box. What I did after spraying is set the paint with heat gun so you can move to oven with out messing up powder.....powder will fall off if bumped or touched or blown hard with heat gun. If I did jigs with hooks I would try to make a jig that covers shank and point and then use acid brush with shortened bristles to wipe away powder prior to setting paint with heat. You could clamp the jigs in one of those painting racks that cover the shank. Then maybe have it hang upside down on a strung wire by a couple j hooks screwed into bottom of painting rack. Have not tried it but If I did I think that is what I would try first. Edited November 2, 2015 by goodtimesfishing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 I have the hf electrostatic pp gun. I have only done slab type casting jigs(so no hook eyes and points to worry about). First I would recommend a pp recovery system to capture all the excess paint. Make one out of a card board box. What I did after spraying is set the paint with heat gun so you can move to oven with out messing up powder.....powder will fall off if bumped or touched or blown hard with heat gun. If I did jigs with hooks I would try to make a jig that covers shank and point and then use acid brush with shortened bristles to wipe away powder prior to setting paint with heat. You could clamp the jigs in one of those painting racks that cover the shank. Then maybe have it hang upside down on a strung wire by a couple j hooks screwed into bottom of painting rack. Have not tried it but If I did I think that is what I would try first. We have a recovery system at work, however our area is kept meticulously clean, so we don't have to worry about other foreign particles being sucked into the recovery chamber. With that said, we use the recovery system (air suction) more to catch overspray and airborne powder dust. We never re-use overspray powder, however we do this on a larger scale than most jig makers would need. My question to you is this. Do you find when you recover any and all powder, to have other foreign particles in there along with the powder paint? I guess my biggest concern would be light colors like white, yellow chartreuse etc. which would show the most dirt and anything that doesn't look like the color it is supposed to be. Just looking for your thoughts on the Harbor Freight System. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 First I will say I have only used the harbor freight one so I have nothing to compare it too. With that said I was happy with how it worked and it did everything I expected with no disappointments(I knew there would be lots of overspray to recover. My recovery system was nothing more then a card board box that as soon as I was done I would dump the loose powder back into the bag of pp that was dedicated to the electrostatic sprayer. I was only using one color(chartreuse). I did not have or notice anyways any contamination in the bag of pp....but like I said I immediately recovered the powder paint and did only one color Would have to say it actually worked better then I had expected and the only surprise was, I thought I would be able to move to curing oven without setting paint. First batch was heading to oven but kept knocking pp off in spots, so I put the whole rack of jigs back in the box and with compressed air cleaned all the pp off and re-sprayed. This time prior to trying to move I took heat gun on low setting(low setting so you don't blow off pp before it adheres)and heat set the pp. I then could move the rack to oven without messing up pp. If you have any other questions let me know and I will see if I can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlaery Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 If the powder goes on with electrostatic properly, it does not need to be heat set before moving. If you bump it directly it will come off. but just moving the rack from painting to baking the powder will not fall off. If I would take a hammer and tap a rack full of powder coated jigs not heat set, not baked, it would not fall off. If this is the case I would say it is not grounded properly or it is not getting current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I remember some pics of Nathan's powder paint setup taken during one of the TU gatherings a few years ago, but I cant remember when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 In my case I had slab spoons hanging by hooks close together, so getting to oven without the slabs hitting or bumping each other was something I was only willing to try once. When some bumped into each other a small amount of pp was messed up and I can be rather picky so I found it quicker in the long run to spend 30-45 seconds heat setting so I don't have to be so steady handed. Heating them real quick with the heat gun made it so it wouldn't matter if they bumped each other(let it cool before moving). Coverage was great....no problem with the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basseducer Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I wonder if heating them before applying paint would make much difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Dlaery is correct. The point of electrostatic powder painting is to clean the part, put a charge on the part and or rack and then spray. Powder paint then clings to the part. I can't comment on small parts banging against each other and paint falling off. However we do big parts and when they are sprayed, the powder stays on really well, and then the conveyor takes it to the oven for baking. I'm glad your process works. I may look into the Harbor Freight system, as I have a lot of powder to practice with. Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Cadman- as the part is going down the conveyor, reach over and run your finger down the part....I think the powder will come off. Unless your conveyor system preheats items. Also the electrostatic does not clean the part. You must clean the part prior and they even recommend heating part for ten minutes or so to be sure there is no moisture(this is not preheating but part of the cleaning process). I think you guys are misunderstanding me. All the powder did not fall off...only where the jigs banged into each other.The coverage was outstanding, there was no ground problem. If there was a ground problem the paint would not have been on the back side of the jigs(I only had to paint from one direction...yet paint was on the back side of jig....it was attracted electrostatically). Got me curious so I looked up a couple utube videos and they seem to say the same thing I do. Quote from video "be careful when transferring to oven, if you blow on it, it will just fall off". Another video states a benefit of electrostatic spraying is being able to blow off and start over if your not happy with coverage. Not trying to be argumentative but the fact is until the paint is heated it WILL wipe right off or blow off with compressed air. The ONLY thing holding the powder on your part is static electricity, until object is heated. Notice when you see them doing wheels, they hang items with lots of room to prevent the painted items from touching each other as that would disturb the powder prior to being heated. Notice the care taken when transferring to oven...this is to prevent disturbing powder prior to heating as that would effect paint job. I would have put a link up for the videos but I don't know how to, but if you goggle "diy powder coating" go to aprox.the 5:25 time of video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I just want to make sure you guys understand what my situation was. I had aprox 50 slab type spoons(do it casting spoon 1 1/2 oz) hanging from hooks on rack that fit in average size toaster oven(maxed out the capacity). My problem was if I picked up rack the jigs would swing into each other. I could have made a different rack system but decided to just heat set the powder (took less then a minute with heat gun) just enough to be able to pick up rack and carry to oven with out worry of if jigs touched each other. I was not trying to make it sound like when electrostatically powder painting that heat setting is a normal step in the process(I know it is not needed). Just wanted to show what worked for me in my situation, in hopes it might help someone else. As quoted by Dlaery- If you bump it directly it will come off. That is exactly what I was saying. And it will just come off where bumped....not like every bit of powder falls to floor. But for me if any falls off I start over as I am picky and just a little on the OCD side. Could have done less jigs at a time but heat setting saved me TONS of time and frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadman Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Cadman- as the part is going down the conveyor, reach over and run your finger down the part....I think the powder will come off. Unless your conveyor system preheats items. Also the electrostatic does not clean the part. You must clean the part prior and they even recommend heating part for ten minutes or so to be sure there is no moisture(this is not preheating but part of the cleaning process). I think you guys are misunderstanding me. All the powder did not fall off...only where the jigs banged into each other.The coverage was outstanding, there was no ground problem. If there was a ground problem the paint would not have been on the back side of the jigs(I only had to paint from one direction...yet paint was on the back side of jig....it was attracted electrostatically). Got me curious so I looked up a couple utube videos and they seem to say the same thing I do. Quote from video "be careful when transferring to oven, if you blow on it, it will just fall off". Another video states a benefit of electrostatic spraying is being able to blow off and start over if your not happy with coverage. Not trying to be argumentative but the fact is until the paint is heated it WILL wipe right off or blow off with compressed air. The ONLY thing holding the powder on your part is static electricity, until object is heated. Notice when you see them doing wheels, they hang items with lots of room to prevent the painted items from touching each other as that would disturb the powder prior to being heated. Notice the care taken when transferring to oven...this is to prevent disturbing powder prior to heating as that would effect paint job. I would have put a link up for the videos but I don't know how to, but if you goggle "diy powder coating" go to aprox.the 5:25 time of video. Yes you are correct. I meant to say that we clean our parts and dry them before they get to the spray booth, and yes our parts have a lot of space between them as the conveyor takes it to the oven. Parts cannot bang or touch each other as they travel (in our case). Also in our spray area which is next to the oven, it is really warm in there in excess of over 90 degrees in the winter and well over a 100 degrees in the summer. I understand exactly what you are saying, Our paint line is really cool to see how a bare part starts and goes through all of the processes to end up with a finished look. I was more interested on how the Harbor Freight system works, to see if it is something that I could use at home. Thanks for all the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 Cadman- It really is a reasonable price especially with 20% off coupon. I think if you get one you will be happy with it. I would be curious what you have to say about it after trying, as you are use to using professional grade. I believe you will be satisfied....It worked better then I expected but I had never used any other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted November 3, 2015 Report Share Posted November 3, 2015 I done hundreds of slabs with a gun and never had a problem. If they are banging together it's a problem of the rack and not the painting method. You can get a real electrostatic gun for not much more than the HF gun and it will last much longer than the HF gun and do a better job. http://www.eastwood.com/original-hotcoat-powdercoating-gun.html?fee=7&fep=3139&SRCCODE=GA220010&adpos=1o2&creative=81975357540&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=Cj0KEQiA0-GxBRDWsePx0pPtp4sBEiQACuTLNhgO1eJy8H0i0x1g6EBmt5q2XFSY6e7pq3QcE9D1u3QaAlk_8P8HAQ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 4, 2015 Report Share Posted November 4, 2015 Limpnoodle- that was exactly my point......the rack was the issue. OP(and others)asked for experiences with painting jigs with electrostatic gun. For painting these type of jigs it is the best way in my opinion to PP them. Works great! Also, I am not saying you need to heat set, just that it is an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaJay Posted November 9, 2015 Report Share Posted November 9, 2015 I have a Craftsman Electrostatic gun. I think they are out of production. Never used it and I even picked up a few more powder canisters. It's been sitting in my basement for over four years. I haven't figured out a collection device for overspray. Was going to start powder coating spoons and blade baits but never got around to it. Another dust collector for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I have a Craftsman Electrostatic gun. I think they are out of production. Never used it and I even picked up a few more powder canisters. It's been sitting in my basement for over four years. I haven't figured out a collection device for overspray. Was going to start powder coating spoons and blade baits but never got around to it. Another dust collector for me. Could you just drape a sheet of visqueen around your painting area, to catch the powder, and then transfer it back to your powder jars? The one time I saw an electrostatic gun being used, it was by a steel fabricator, and they had some kind of a collection tarp system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vodkaman Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I am thinking a box with a bottom mounted extractor fan and filter. The filter does not need to be bolted/screwed in. Simply lift out and tap into a plastic bag or bin. The box needs to be easily separated from the motor. A frame holding the motor and the box attached by three slotted holes, so it twists and lifts off. The unit has to be simple to use and not require tools. These are my initial thoughts on the subject. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LimpNoodle Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Powder paint is inexpensive. I know a commercial lure maker that doesn't waste time with a collection system. He can paint more lures with a pound of powder with the gun than I can by using a fluid bed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaJay Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Wow all good suggestions! I was actually thinking about selling it, but now I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhahn427 Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Does it work on lead lures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodtimesfishing Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Yes, lead lures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walleye warrior Posted November 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 I just finished my initial run with the electrostaic gun. Results were better than expected. It seemed to be spraying a lot of powder to cover a jig but after collecting all the over sprayed powder I found not as much was wasted as I thought. I used a tooth brush to clean the powder off the hook and eye. Care needs to be taken while handling but it is possible to move your pieces around without knocking off powder. Some more fine tuning and I forsee being able to coat and cure up to 300 jigs an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
