powder coat

Aside from the typical business venture considerations mentioned above, there are a ton of other items to cover - here's a few big ones that I can think of:
  • Do you intend to sand-blast your parts to prep them, or use some type of liquid pretreatment i.e. wash booth? Either option will work, and you will have to consider the waste/clean-up of both. One way to get shut down in a hurry is not disposing of your waste properly. Liquid pretreatment is the ultimate goal, however you have to have your ducks in a row with what chemicals to use and how to properly use them.
  • The sky is the limit with powder equipment options, but the basic considerations are 'spray to waste' or reclaiming systems. Spray to waste is probably what most job-shops do where the powder is applied and any overspray is gathered and either trashed or sifted and reused. Reclaiming systems use equipment designed to capture the overspray powder and recycle it through the application system.
  • Gas or electric heat for your curing oven? There will be measurable energy consumption ($$$) if you use anything larger than a household stove to cure the parts. If you don't have enough utilities, getting them upgraded can be a hassle.
  • Other items that will drive up the cost of purchase/utilities: product size, custom/1-off stuff or production work, permitting, pretreatment type

A properly designed (new) batch system with wash booth, powder booth & curing oven that would be able to fit a car chassis will run you in the neighborhood of $75k-$100k easy without all the peripheral stuff like permits, wiring, exhaust stack, waste water equipment, etc.
 
Do you have a real powder coat system? If it's one of those $100 systems stick with doing it as a hobby. There is a difference....
 
I do some powdercoating on the side with the little cheapie system. I just do it for my projects and for friends.

My advice, it isn't a good business to get in to. If you want to make any money at it, you'll need high dollar equipment. There are enough places out there already that do it, and do it good and affordable.
 
Hate to be a downer. You are looking to get into a saturated market. Trust me.
 
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