Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

[Guest]

well i did the typical mods to my harbor freight gun, and it helped. but still surging and blowing clouds of powder out if you didn't hold the gun very steady. well, i figured before i spend a lot of money on a gun i'd try building a fluidizing hopper for it. i used the lid for the 2 qt. rubbermaid containers that i'm keeping my powder in. this way all i have to do is take the lid off of whatever powder i'm shooting and put the lid with the hoses on. very simple, no pouring powder into a different container! plus, the containers are clear so you can see how much powder you have at all times. i used 5/16 ID tubing for both hoses, blah blah blah. i'll just post pics ASAP, easier than explaining. i didn't have time to coat anything earlier, but i can tell this is gonna be sweet!!! the powder delivery is soooo smooth. i just have a single regulator mount directly to the inlet of my gun, and i just started with it turned down and turned it up to where i liked it. simple as that. it also shoots smooth at lower pressures and much higher pressures.(i had to turn the pressure way up to see!!!) i'm excited, now i'll order the adjustable caswell model when i recoup some funds and convert it and i'll be set. oh yeah, i have about $15 total in doing this!

I promised pics, and here's some video too!

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Well how does it work? I guess I have missed the main discussion on it. Can you point me in the right direction.

[redlinecustomsms]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

there you go, i edited my post

[redlinecustomsms]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

can you explain why that need will arise, i'm still learning here. the powder delivery is 100 times better than it was. i'm excited!

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Unfortunately you are creating a vacuum using that system not fluidization....there is no membrane and no feed air to the hopper.

[redlinecustomsms]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

i can take the "vacuum" hose off and the powder still gets fluffed up/fluidized whatever. besides, i thought smooth, consistent powder delivery was what we're all after. how does it matter how we attain it? i know this is primitive, but so is the membrane setup. how do you figure there is no air being fed to the hopper, actually there is slight pressure present in the hopper when you're sqeezing the trigger because the hopper swells out a little. if there was more air being pulled out than supplied, the sides would suck in.

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Membranes designed for hoppers are not primitive, the particle size is so small it is invisible to the naked eye....these same membranes are also used to filter blood. Feed air needs to enter the bottom of the hopper, pass through the membrane and fluidize the powder...the benfit of this is twofold:

THE PURPOSE OF FLUIDIZATION IS TWOFOLD. FIRST, IT ALLOWS POWDER COATINGS TO EASILY BE TRANSPORTED FROM THE HOPPER TO THE GUN WITH A HIGH DEGREE OF UNIFORMITY AND CONSISTENCY. SECOND, FLUIDIZATION SERVES TO PRECONDITION THE POWDER, BREAKING UP AGGLOMERATIONS, REMOVING ABSORED MOISTURE, AND IMPROVING THE HANDLING AND FLOWABLILTY OF THE MATERIAL

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

I just wonder if you made your point and she made hers Well I guess I have something to screw with now. My HF one is laying outside my booth along with a brand new EW hobby one that I got next to nothing in just in case my Pro gun went down. It should convert about the same way I would guess. Thanks for the info. I like having a spare gun that works for sure better than it was intended to do.

Thanks
Duke

i can take the "vacuum" hose off and the powder still gets fluffed up/fluidized whatever. besides, i thought smooth, consistent powder delivery was what we're all after. how does it matter how we attain it? i know this is primitive, but so is the membrane setup. how do you figure there is no air being fed to the hopper, actually there is slight pressure present in the hopper when you're sqeezing the trigger because the hopper swells out a little. if there was more air being pulled out than supplied, the sides would suck in.

[redlinecustomsms]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

i know, they use mambranes like that in coal burning power plants. they're used for keeping fly ash fluidized so it won't stack up in the hoppers. i've changed hundreds of them out because they don't have air going through them all the time and occasionally water contaminated ash will set up on them like concrete. pretty cool stuff. all i was saying is if i'm getting smooth powder delivery how can you say my setup isn't right? and i know i may be coming off cocky, but i am no idiot. This was only an attempt to make my gun shoot powder in a way that did not make me want to break it in half, and i accomplished that. I only posted my results to try and help others, that's why i'm here. Please don't take this any other way.

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

We all want to help one another and thinking outside of the box is the best attribute of the custom coater. My job is to share my knowledge with the custom coater to better facilitate their process and protect them....please remember I do not get paid from PBTP. I donate my time to help. We want you to have the best tools available to put out the best finish you can for the very least amount of $$'s...

[Guest]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Nice work Red!!

[51ChevyPickup]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Using the same setup and it made a world of difference.

Ray

[redlinecustomsms]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

here's some candy blue i laid down over real chrome. this hopper works amazing!!

[51ChevyPickup]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Nice job!

Ray

[Smashing]

Re: Hopper for Harbor Freight gun Pics/Video

Interesting stuff. Would this be similar to the pick up on another company's guns - at least in basic principle? Could you set something up with a space on the bottom, membrane and a separate regulated air line? The air would be in the "always on" mode but it would circulate the powder from the bottom.