Powder Coating Equipment

Ok, so I've touched on some of the basics of powder coating equipment up until this point. Today I'm going to break down the different models of guns that are available to people getting started with powder coating, their benefits, and drawbacks compared to their competition.

The very first powder coating gun I ever began working with was a Chicago Electric System from Harbor Freight. I was actually really pleased with this unit to start with and it definitely got the job done. Lack of adjustable voltage was it's major downfall, and I wasn't a big fan of the top loading cups, but they worked extremely well. For a beginners powder coating equipment, it's straight forward, easy to use, and cleans up fairly fast. I found the foot pedal to be slightly clunky, and the manufacturer posts no information on it's power output so I decided to try something different.

My next choice was Eastwood's HotCoat Powder Coating Gun. Again, as beginner powder coating equipment, this is a great unit, and Eastwood is a wonderful company to work with. I have never had issues with them. A major drawback of this system is again, the lack of a voltage adjustment, which will really hinder your powder coating equipment with it's ability to apply multiple coats of powder. I did however find this unit easier to work with by mounting the thumb switch to the gun itself so that it was 1-handed operation. While this unit is still in use by me today, I will be upgrading to one of the later units very shortly. Again, powder coating equipment with no voltage adjustment will really hinder your ability to do multiple coats, and will require 'hot flocking' in order to apply top coats and clear coats. This has worked very well for me before, but a few powders need extremely thin application coats. As for the cost of powder coating equipment though, both this powder coating gun and the Chicago Electric powder coating gun both start off at under $80.00

Eastwood also offers a much more expensive unit, called the HotCoat Pro system. Finally, we start getting into some of the stats on the powder coating equipment. This unit works on a 10,000-25,000 volt range, which is adjustable by the user. This means stronger application for multiple coats and larger items. Instead of $80.00 though, we're looking at $600.00 for this gun. I have many friends on powder coating forums that are using this gun and absolutely love it. Powder coating application is smooth, and color changes are just as fast as the hobby unit, but in my personal opinion I feel the next unit is far more powerful and from a company that is only concerned about finishing coats.


Finally, we're at the gun I've become extremely excited about. Looking at the picture, you can see the gun shares striking similarity with the Chicago Electric setup, and that's because it is the same exact gun. While I wasn't a HUGE fan of the top loading setup, I will give it credit in that it was very efficient at powder coating transfer, and easily one of the best low budget powder coating equipment setups. Caswell plating has taken things one step further though, with their high voltage coating system. At a whopping $230.00 (less then half the price of the Eastwood unit) this puppy packs an amazing 30,000-50,000 volts. Furthermore, when you buy this system, you also get their model of the chicago standard gun as well too for free, which will help you when you need to get below that 30,000 range for very small parts. I can't begin to express how powerful this is as far as getting even coverage on larger pieces, as you will no longer need to hot flock your items for powder coating top coats and the such. Stronger voltage also means better adhesion in it's dry form, so the powder is less likely to blow off as the piece is being manuevered for curing.

Overall, any of these 4 options are very good choice to get started with home powder coating, or if you plan on starting a business of it. Later on I will touch on industrial setups like the nord system and all, but for now I think this is enough.... and woohoo for pictures finally :) Guess I should have looked at that compose section instead of just edit html all the time.

Keep coming back for more information on powder coating equipment and full details and pics for powder coating wheels