Anyone ever build their own powder coating oven? I've been powder coating small parts in a regular oven but have gotten the bug to do some larger parts.
I picked up a SS food warmer with roughly 50 cubic feet. Has 2" thick walls with a foam insulation and rubber magnetic gaskets on the doors. It also has 2 small heat units with blowers that will bring the temp up to 200F in about 30 min. The blowers mostly just move heated air down to the bottom of the unit where it rises for recirculation. I don't think the air movement is enough to disturb any powder. I pulled a small chunk of the foam insulation out and progressively heated to 450F. It darkened a bit but didn't smoke or create any odor. Haven't tried the gasket material yet but I can easily replace that with something else (although I notice the cheap oven I've been using also has a rubber type gasket and has held up fine).
OK, here's what I'm trying to do. Obviously I need to get temp up at least another 200F. I'm also a little concerned about foam insulation and would like to somehow buffer the heat input into that if possible.
Any thoughts on a simple adjustable additional heat source, additonal insulation material, etc? What kind of options are there for insulated wire that can handle 400F+ temps? How about wattage caluculation given volume and required temp change? Thanks, Ed
I picked up a SS food warmer with roughly 50 cubic feet. Has 2" thick walls with a foam insulation and rubber magnetic gaskets on the doors. It also has 2 small heat units with blowers that will bring the temp up to 200F in about 30 min. The blowers mostly just move heated air down to the bottom of the unit where it rises for recirculation. I don't think the air movement is enough to disturb any powder. I pulled a small chunk of the foam insulation out and progressively heated to 450F. It darkened a bit but didn't smoke or create any odor. Haven't tried the gasket material yet but I can easily replace that with something else (although I notice the cheap oven I've been using also has a rubber type gasket and has held up fine).
OK, here's what I'm trying to do. Obviously I need to get temp up at least another 200F. I'm also a little concerned about foam insulation and would like to somehow buffer the heat input into that if possible.
Any thoughts on a simple adjustable additional heat source, additonal insulation material, etc? What kind of options are there for insulated wire that can handle 400F+ temps? How about wattage caluculation given volume and required temp change? Thanks, Ed