Powder Coating

Yeah, you could do it, but it would be a massive pain in the ass and you would need a huge ass oven. And at that point it would cost a fortune and be cheaper to just do paint.

I do a lot of powdercoating and always thought it would be cool though. :lol:
 
I don't see why it would be that difficult. The truck would have to be stripped down to components that ccan handle 400 degrees so i don't think size would be an issue. Most serious powder guys have big ovens anyway, if they can hold a chassis they can hold a body. The key would be the prep cause most of the heavy blasters spray so hard they would warp the sheet metal.
 
CarolinaTruggies said:
I don't see why it would be that difficult. The truck would have to be stripped down to components that ccan handle 400 degrees so i don't think size would be an issue. Most serious powder guys have big ovens anyway, if they can hold a chassis they can hold a body. The key would be the prep cause most of the heavy blasters spray so hard they would warp the sheet metal.
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Yep. The place I use has a big enough oven to do 2 or 3 rigs.
 
I've seen kilns large enough for a truck, I figured that would work in a pinch, but I know nothing about the actual process of powder coating...

I kind of want to try it now though ... would UV rays be a problem? doesn't Powder coating break down after a while in the sun (years)?
 
Only some powders will break down with UV, and they can be coated with a clear powdercoat to protect them.

I think the main difficulty would just be the sheer volume of powder you'd have to spray. You can have the body media blasted and coated in zinc phosphate to avoid rust, then you can PC right over that.

Basically powdercoating is this:
Blast surface to be completely down to bare metal
Clean with water or alcohol based cleaner
Put in oven for 15 minutes to outgas the metal (this isn't really required, but I like to do it for the best results)
Remove from oven to cool
Spray powder on piece to be coated
Put back in oven between 350-450 degrees depending on the powder
Wait for powder to "flow out" which basically means the part looks wet because the powder has melted.
Leave in oven for between 15-30 minutes
Turn off oven and allow part to cool
Smile at your new shiny part.
 
CarolinaTruggies said:
I don't see why it would be that difficult. The truck would have to be stripped down to components that ccan handle 400 degrees so i don't think size would be an issue. Most serious powder guys have big ovens anyway, if they can hold a chassis they can hold a body. The key would be the prep cause most of the heavy blasters spray so hard they would warp the sheet metal.
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blast it w/ soda. works alot better.
 
I'm sure it work better for sheetmetal but not large commercial jobs, I'm sure they use what they use for a reason....I'm not a blasting expert by any means though. I think it would be expensive to do a whole truck body.
 
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