Powder Coating Gun Settings – A Complete Guide

Knowing the settings that you can change on your powder coating gun and how they work can be critical to help you get good results powder coating.  In this guide will cover powder coating gun settings so you can ensure you get consistent quality results when powder coating or just check here .

Common Powder Coating Gun Settings you Can Adjust

Your ability to control powder coating settings will depend on the quality of your powder coating equipment.  Professional grade powder coating equipment like a Wagner Sprint unit will allow you to adjust many settings from Kilovolts, to Microamps, to air to powder ratio, to the speed at which power is automatically decreased if the powder coating gun has been placed to close to a part.  Lower cost powder coating gun’s like a Redline EZ 50 will allow adjustment of only a few settings like Kilovolts and air (most entry to light use powder coating guns allow you to adjust kilovolts and air but not the other advanced settings mentioned on the Wagner system).

What to Understand about Powder Coating Gun Settings

Powder coating involves applying an electric charge to the powder coating that then seeks the nearest grounded surface which will be your part, assuming it has been properly grounded. Kilovolts and microamps are the two main settings that you can adjust that impact the electric charge you apply to your powder coating. Voltage represents the electrical potential to do work while microamps represents the actual amount of electricity moving “the work being done”. In general for highest transfer efficiency you want to see a high kv and relatively low microamp reading. As you get in close to a products surface or a far a day cage area, microamps will tend to increase as more energy is being put to work to charge your powder coating and overcome the increased resistance that is occurring as you get closer to a ground.  The problem with an excessively high KV and microamp is that it can lead to back ionization as your powder becomes to charged. Professional level powder coating guns allow you to limit the microamps and auto adjust microamps based on the resistance occuring while powder coating. Properly controlling the electrical charge settings on your powder coating gun will help you keep powder waste down, prevent finish quality issues like back ionization, and more.

In addition to settings for electric charge, you will typically have settings to change the powder to air mix.  Now that we know common powder coating gun settings you can adjust, will cover common settings guidelines for different powder coating processes.

Powder Coating Gun Setting Recommendations for a Variety of Applications

Now that we have covered a basic understanding of electrical current and powder coating as well as powder coating gun settings we can control, we can provide common settings that are helpful for a variety of powder coating projects.  While the recommendations cover KV, microamps, and air to powder mix settings, if you have a powder coating gun that only allows control of KV and powder to air mix, you can reference just the KV and mix settings mentioned to use your powder coating gun.

Powder Coating Flat Surfaces with a single Coat

For powder coating a flat surface with a single coat of powder, you generally want to leave the Kilovolts set high in the 80 – 100 KV range and if your powder coating unit allows you to control microamps, limit microamps to 70-80. Powder to air mix will usually be set around 70%. This setting will allow the powder coating gun to try to maximize the electric charge applied and reduce powder waste.  

Powder Coating Far – A-Day Cage Areas

For far-a-day cage areas typically we need to limit the potential voltage and so KV’s will typically be set around 70, if you still are having trouble getting powder into corner areas you can further reduce the KV setting. The microamps will be limited around 40 ideally which will prevent to much charge being applied creating issues getting powder in the corners.  Powder to air mix can be set around 50%, if you find you need more powder you can try adjusting up the mix.

Powder Coating Multiple Coats

For multiple coats the first coat can generally be applied at a high KV setting of 80 or higher KV with a low microamp settings of 30 or less.  Each additional coat you will reduce the KV output below the original KV , and you can leave microamps to be set around 20 – 30. For example for a first coat you can leave the KV setting around 80 then the second coat 50 then the third would be 30 each with a microamp limit of 20 to 30, if you noticed back ionization happening you can reduce the KV’s and keep the microamp setting at the lower end of the range in the 10 – 30 microamp range. For powder to air mix, usually using about a 50% ratio will be ideal.

Applying Powders that Have Metallics

For powder coatings that have metallic in them a professional powder coating unit will generally compensate the KV and microamps to apply the metallic powder coating without a problem when the powder coating gun is set at a high KV (75 – 90) and high microamp in the 50 range.  However if you have a lower cost powder coating gun, you will typically want to reduce the kv’s to around 50 or less to prevent grounding out issues.

Final Thoughts on Powder Coating Gun Settings

While their are a lot of different scenarios for powder coating and the potential settings you will need for your powder coating gun, these starting points and the general understanding of how kilovolts and microamps interact should be able to help you properly dial in your powder coating gun to get the best results for your powder coating application. For home appliance loan check this link apply here for bad credit loans to direct you to a legit lender online.

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