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Bay Window Kitchen Ideas

WARNING: If the thought of listening to some random dude you’ve never met going on for hours and hours about sheet metal, oven elements and PIDs makes you queezy, then I suggest you brace yourself. Now on the other hand, if you DO enjoy hearing about steel studs, rock wool insulation and thermocouples, then go mix yourself a gin and tonic, or simply pour yourself a glass of water and venture in to my world of building your own powder coating oven.

Why did I do this to myself?

In the process of rebuilding my 1999 Suzuki DR350 I had a revelation. When it was time to fix all of the rusted metal on my DR350, including the frame, I would try my luck at a process called powder coating. This article is how I went about it.

Disclaimer:

First off, let me warn you now that this is by no means a tutorial, how-to, or any other kind of guide meant to be duplicated or copied. This is the first time that I have done this and honestly I’m simply not the type of guy you want to follow during a zombie apocalypse. Buuuuttt…if you are keen enough, you should be able to get it all figured out, and you might actually be able to do it without passing away. But seriously, don’t get pissed at me when you realize that I didn’t mention dimensions, or any other “important details”. I just create this junk as I go.

So what the heck is powder coating?

Powder coating is a pretty slick process that leaves a durable and long lasting (if done properly) finish on metal. I won’t bore you with all of the science behind it now, but here are a few general differences between paint and powder coating. Unlike paint, powder coating is, well… powder, not liquid. It’s normally some form or another of plastic or polymer that is electro-statically charged by a special powder coating spray gun.

The (generally) metal piece that you’re coating is grounded, which makes the electro-statically charged powder attract itself to the object the way static also tends to secretly cling a freshly dried sock inside of your pant leg when you aren’t paying attention. Once you spray the powder onto the object, the powder must be cured, or baked, to actually activate the real beauty. The process of curing is quite simple.  The part must be baked at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes give or take in order to “melt” the powder onto the part.

So, we now know the fundamentals of powder coating and can finally continue with the article without being confused. But for those who skipped all of the above text, here is one last chance to get a very basic understanding of the process of powder coating…

1) The powder is electrostatically charged and adheres to the grounded part. 2) To cure the powder, you require something to bake the part in. Generally an oven.

Step 2, my friends, is what this article is about. I invite you all to join me on this journey of sorrow, despair, triumph and prosperity. Lets begin!

Day 1: Building the frame

So, the idea here is to build the entire oven, including the frame out of metal, instead of wood or any similar materials that would cause my house to burn down while I wasn’t looking. That does neither me, or my house, any good. Seems easy enough…right?

The solution for a nonflammable frame is a simple one. I will use steel studs that can be purchased from my local big box store. The studs are fairly priced and can be purchased (at my location) in 8′ and 10′ lengths. I bought enough linear feet for my frame, and you should do the same, or not!

Shown above, for anyone who needs to read it just to be certain, are some of the steel studs that I picked up from my local ©The Home Depot. Actually, my local store didn’t carry these for some reason so I had to drive to the next nearest store. Luckily there are almost as many ©The Home Depots than there are ©Starbucks so the next nearest store was only 15 minutes away from the nearest… Anyhow.

    Each panel will consist of its frame, obviously, which will be cut and riveted together to create what is very similar to a wall in a house. All wall panels will have either the outside, or the inside sheeting riveted on. One or the other, but not both at once. We will need access.  Both the floor and ceiling will have the outside sheeting riveted on, be filled with insulation, then closed up with the inside sheeting to create two complete panels, ready for action.  The floor will be laid on the ground, proper side facing up while each wall will be sat on top of it. Notice I said wall and not door. The door isn’t involved just yet. Drink more beers Once all three walls are now standing up, on top the floor, in their proper operation position, we put the ceiling on. Note to self, be safe, these make for heavy dominoes. Square it all up. Slide shit around until it looks good enough for government work. Each wall will be riveted to the ground, ceiling and adjacent walls. This is why we

So now I have a general plan, which is always good when tackling something like this. Oh and don’t worry if you think you missed something. I haven’t mentioned anything yet about sheet metal yet, or a few other things, mainly because I haven’t gotten to those part yet. But don’t worry, I promise if you decipher this entire article, every detail will be here…somewhere.

Lets get this thing rolling, one panel at a time…

So, we know we are going to slay this beast by making one panel at a time. So what you – and I – need to decide is what the overall size of the oven will be. My decision was fairly limited due to the (affordable) sheet metal near me. This stuff generally comes in 4×8 or 4×10 or some shit like that, but don’t quote me, I’m not an expert on sheet metal. Anyhow, you can get other sizes I’m sure if you want, so figure it out, because it will be the most factoring step on what you can or can’t do/afford.

I knew that my oven was going to have an exterior dimension of 4’x4’x6′ which means that I would approach it like so:

Floor and ceiling would be a no brainer at 4’x4′ for both. The three walls would be as follows: Rear Wall:  48″ wide by 65″ high Side Walls:  41″ wide by 65″ high Door: 4′ wide by 6′ high (more on the door later)

If my calculations are correct, and I’m not too drunk, that should end up with an external dimension of 4wx4dx6h. If not, let me know and I will edit it, or tell you to screw off, depending on how you approach me.

So, The first step necessarily necessary is going to be me, figuring out how to build the frame. Lets get back to these wonderful steel studs we talked about earlier, shall we?

Cutting the studs to size

Super Pro Tip #139: How to cut steel studs

I found that the easiest way to cut steel studs was with a utility blade and a speed square. Simply snip the sides of the stud, measure across the top, hold a speed square on your measurement and use the utility blade to score a line across the stud. Now all you have to do is fold the stud over and it will break on your scored line. Do you have to use this method? No. Did it work for me? Yes. Either way, you need to cut these babies down to whatever size your panels are going to be!

Here’s a wonderful photo of some of my studs cut down to size.

 

 

You can however, completely fabricate the ceiling panel the same way you did the floor.

 

Get a pal or something or just get swole and lift these panels up and butt them together where they need to be. Once they are butted up, you can start riveting everything together. Down into the floor, and across into the neighboring panels.

Eventually you will have something that looks similar, but probably better, than the photo shown below.

 

 

Here is a test fit for fun. Suzuki DR350 Dual Sport frame. The whole reason behind this crazy ass project.

Another picture shows one more wall up.

Get some help, because the fabricated ceiling is heavy, and needs to go on the top… I didn’t have help, but then again, I am comparable to superman as far as strength goes.

 

Now we can start to insulate the walls. Follow the same directions as the floor and ceiling and you should be A-O-K.

 

 

 


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