EASTWOOD POWDER COATING
Can you turn $300 worth of Eastwood powder coating gear into $3,000? We’re going to powder coat as many parts as we can in one day to find out…
When we bought our first project car, we started powder coating to add a bit of flair to our parts. As we searched for more replacement parts we came across completed eBay powder-coated part listings.
We were shocked to find powder-coated parts sold 3 times higher than non-powder-coated parts.
Then I thought, what if we reused our powder coating equipment to make a few extra bucks???
INITIAL POWDER COATING COSTS
For those who’ve never powder coated, you won’t need much. You can go with options from Harbor Freight or Vevor which we’ve used before, but we ended up going with the following items from Eastwood in the long run:
SAVE 10% w/code THEBUILD10 on www.eastwood.com
You’ll also need an air compressor. Powder coating only requires requires around 10 PSI, so you could go with a small pancake compressor if you don’t already have one. Don’t forget a safety mask too. Review 3M for options based on how large your powder coating setup will be.
You can also use an ultrasonic cleaner to clean all your parts or vapor blast them before you start powder coating. Next up is curing or heating your powder-coated part. For that, you’ll need around 400 degrees of heat.
The Eastwood benchtop powder coating oven is ideal for smaller parts and doesn't require much space. It has internal dimensions of 15” x 12” x 10” and comes with a removable rack you can place in one of three positions.
If you want to cure larger powder coated parts, we put together a full breakdown of a repurposed grill for powder coat curing too.
Powder coating larger parts with a grill
If you don’t want powder everywhere, you can contain your mess with a small paint tent with a mesh screen as well.
Portable paint or powder coating tent
All the items can be had for less than $300 minus the air compressor which isn’t too bad for starting a side hustle.
POWDER COATING PARTS
Once you have all your power coating tools and oven you’ll need to collect a few metal or aluminum parts to powder coat.
Here’s a few easy automotive parts that don’t take too much effort to powder coat.
Smaller parts suitable for bench top oven:
Timing Covers
Thermostat housings
Engine Pulleys
Engine accessory brackets (alternator/AC/etc.)
Tools like wrenches
Larger Parts which require a bigger enclosure like the DIY powder coating grill:
Valve Covers
Intake Manifolds
Rims
Suspension Parts
How to Start Powder Coating:
1. Prep the parts. Start with a good cleaning solution like Simple Green Pro or dump your part into an ultrasonic cleaner with your preferred aluminum safe cleaner. You can use a light sand of 400 grit or use glass bead media too.
2. Toss the part in your oven to bake off any remaining oils by off gassing your parts then let them cool down.
3. Clean up the part with denatured alcohol right before you start to powder coat and mask off any areas that you don’t want powder coated.
You can use high temp silicone plugs and/or high temp PET powder coating tape.
4. Fill your powder coating gun with the desired color powder.
5. Hook your powder coating gun up to a source of no more than 10 PSI of compressed air. It’s also recommended that you run a water/oil separator too.
6. Attach the ground cable from your powder coating system to your part. We usually attach it to the tray that our part hangs from.
7. Activate the electric component of the powder coating system and start spraying nice even coats.
If you mess up, blow the powder off with compressed air and start over.
8. Place the part in the oven and be careful not to touch the powder. Leave the part in the oven based on the powder directions. Remove and let cool off.
Usually the temp settings are around 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
After our first part, we recommend removing the silicone plugs after heating the part for 5 minutes in order to reduce buildup on the inside of the plug covers.
WATCH THE FULL PROCESS HERE:
HOW MUCH PROFIT?
Now for the fun part, how much can we make by selling our powder coated parts?The best way to determine profit and price setting is by looking at completed eBay listings for similar items within the last 30 days.
Powder Coating Timing Cover Profit:
A used Datsun 510 timing cover for an L16 engine eBay completed listing goes for around $100. We powder coated two we had laying around and can list them for $400 each.
We also had a spare timing cover from a BMW M10 e30 motor that usually sells for $50 and we’ll list it for $200 after it gets a fresh powder coating.
Powder Coating Thermostat housings:
To go along with the timing covers, we also had a few extra thermostat housings from the Datsun and e30 too. The regular price isn’t much, but we can still make around $50.
Powder Coating Engine Pulley Sets:
Powder coated engine pulleys give a nice touch because usually they’re just black. Sometimes you’ll see more expensive chrome pulley’s, but powder coated is even better. We should be able to double our money on these.
Engine Accessory Brackets:
The bracket prices just depend on how many you have. Around 3 brackets can usually be twice the cost of non powder coated brackets. Selling as a set of the same powder coated color is even better.
Powder Coating Valve Covers:
Valve covers are the highest value and can bring in 3x profits. They are bigger and will require the use of our DIY powder coating oven.
So was it worth the investment? Let’s break it all down:
| POWDER COATING PROFIT BREAKDOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Original Price | Selling Price | Profit |
| BMW Timing Cover | $50 | $200 | $150 |
| Datsun Timing Cover | 2x$100 | 2x$400 | $600 |
| Therm. Housings | 2x$25 | 2x$75 | $100 |
| Engine Pulleys | 2x$50 | 2x$100 | $100 |
| Valve Covers | 3x$100 | 3x$400 | $900 |
| Engine Brackets | 6x$25 | 6x$50 | $150 |
| Total Income | $1850 | ||
If you take the total income of $1850 and subtract $300 for your startup costs this brings us to $1550. Not quite $3,000, but we’re already at a 5x profit. A few more parts and you can easily scale to $3,000.
And if you need to cure larger parts, watch this video too:
