u/ShadesJeff

Hi,

I am relatively new to powder coating, but have two Eastwood PCS-250 powder coat guns and a growing collection (25+) of compatible bottles with various powders. I am having some difficulty getting matte powders (from Prismatic Powders) to spray consistently. I can achieve a decent finish on one side of a flat panel, but almost always the back side and it does not seem to make much difference if I spray the front side first or the back side first. Inevitably, the front side usually ends up with at least a small area of cod-eyes or small wells as shown in the pictures. I originally thought these might be areas where the flattener in the powder was not mixing well, but now I am not so sure.

Questions:

1. Is there something I can change (equipment, settings, prep, technique) that would improve the surface consistency?
2. Would a different, but somewhat reasonably priced, powder coat gun significantly improve the surface consistency?
3. Is there another powder coat gun that could work (either by inserting a feed tube) or 3D printing an adapter or custom top with my existing collection of Eastwood bottles? They are convenient for small jobs and storage...
4. In researching other powder coat guns, some of them have latex hoses for the pickup; I am allergic to latex (and bananas and pineapples) so can they be replaced with an alternative hose or would that impact the performance?

Thanks!