Last night I powder coated the pitot tube mast.
Having not done any powder coating, I had to buy the tools, and then practice by experimenting on some other parts. I bought the tools from Amazon, and the powder from Harbor Freight. Powder coating is actually quite a simple process, it involves coating a part in a powder, then heating it to 400 degrees (F) for 20 minutes to melt the powder. The trick is getting the powder to evenly coat the part, and for this a special air gun is needed. The air gun uses air from the compressor, to gently blow the fine powder onto the part. Then, an electrical field draws the powder onto the part and causes it to stick. The gun plugs into an electrical generator, and charges up the powder particles, while the part itself is grounded.
To heat the part, I bough a cheap toaster oven ($30), which is just big enough for what I need.
Steeling one of the kids stainless steel mugs, I set up an initial test. I didn’t use enough powder, but it was enough to get familiar with the equipment and go through the process.
Then I moved onto the pitot tube mast. The powder seemed to stick a little better, perhaps being steel vs stainless steel, of just getting more used to the process. Unfortunately I accidentally dumped some powder onto the mast just as I was finishing up. But it was easy to just wipe the powder off and start again. Eventually I was happy with the coating, and I carefully lifted it into the oven and left for 20 minutes. I let it cool slowly, and checked on it this morning.
I’m happy with how it turned out. I could have cleaned it up a little better; some of the blue marker rose to the top of the paint. And I could have perhaps gone slightly thicker, but it looks good to me and I’m happy with how even the coating was and how it turned out.