Gun safe turned into powder coating oven?

[Toeslider]

Thoughts? The idea came to me when I got a Tractor Supply ad in the mail today that had a gun safe on the front page. I've been wanting to build a powder coating oven to do bike frames in for a while now, and the idea just came to me.

I'm talking about gun safes that are fire rated. Most are rated to handle 1200 degrees for 30 minutes, so it seems like they would do a reasonable job of keeping 400 degrees on the inside for an extended period of time. Not sure how they are constructed on the inside, but it seems worth looking into. Typically the insides are carpeted, but I don't know if the carpet covers metal or something else. Regardless, it doesn't seem like it would take much to gut the insides of all the combustible parts.

It would need a vent of some sort, and burners of course. I would imagine it would be a good idea to remove whatever combination lock it has, which would likely leave a hole ideally placed for a thermometer. Everything else seems like it would stand up to the heat with little to no modification.

Walmart has one just about the right size on sale on Black Friday for $279, but on any regular day it is only $400. I'm thinking I'd have a good portion of that money into one I built myself, and it is a fraction of the cost of a similar sized real powdercoating oven.

What am I missing here? If I go ahead with this, this will become a how-to thread, so I put it in the how-to section.

 

[user 135]

How are you going to heat it? I would look on craigslist for an old oven.

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[Sinner4]

Ya get an old oven that is in working order. If you want to to do a frame, get an old safe, cut a hole in the top of the oven. Weld in the safe and cook away.


Got a question for ya, do have the powder coat gun? Sand Blaster?

 

[Sinner4]

By the way, I turned a coke machine into a Gun Safe, but Im not going to use it for powder coating. But I did buy a el-cheepo gun save at an auction for $20.

Look on C/L for the stuff to build it.

 

[Toeslider]

I've already got the burners for it, and an old stove I can raid for parts if needed. A regular oven isn't big enough to do a frame, and I've been searching for a long time for an old powder coating oven or pizza oven. They don't come up very often, and never for a reasonable price. This seems like it would work with minimal effort or fabrication, and would be the right size, not too big and take too long to heat.

I was looking at barbecue smokers too, but they aren't quite big enough unless you joined two together, and I question whether they could sustain the proper temperature.

 

[user 135]

Peat brings up a good point. Also the metal on the outside may be rated higher than the inside metal. Whatever you do, do it outside.

 

[Toeslider]

I was looking at one today. It looks like the inside surface is a carpeted "Hardibacker" type material, which I think has more resistance to heat than drywall. I think I may be back to building my own though. The side and back walls aren't really all that substantial, looks just like metal lined with the hardibacker material, not a double metal wall. The one on sale at Walmart isn't quite big enough. I could probably make it work, but it would be real tight.

 

[jerrykr]

On the BBQ forums there are a number of people who turned old refrigerators into smokers.
I'm talking the very old ones that are all metal inside, no plastic linings.
Seems like a bike frame would fit inside. Do some surfing around on the BBQ sites for some ideas.

I don't see why you could not build a custom box out of sheet metal roofing and metal studs from Home Depot.
Maybe 2 layers of metal with fiber glass insulation between them? Put on your thinking cap!

Post pictures of whatever you come up with. I'm interested in the outcome.

 

[Toeslider]

On the BBQ forums there are a number of people who turned old refrigerators into smokers.
I'm talking the very old ones that are all metal inside, no plastic linings.
Seems like a bike frame would fit inside. Do some surfing around on the BBQ sites for some ideas.

I don't see why you could not build a custom box out of sheet metal roofing and metal studs from Home Depot.
Maybe 2 layers of metal with fiber glass insulation between them? Put on your thinking cap!

Post pictures of whatever you come up with. I'm interested in the outcome.

That was the plan before this. I think I'm back to that. After looking at some safes, they don't appear to be all that beefy on the sides and top. I'm not even sure they're double-walled. Looks like they're just heavy gauge sheetmetal with whatever the sheeting is on the inside. It might still work, but it is proving to be cost prohibitive at this point, and when I look at the money I would be putting into a used safe, I think I can build something pretty substantial for the same amount of money. Biggest issue is getting the sheetmetal sized right. I am looking at either building it with off the shelf sized pieces, or seeing how much it would cost me for a sheetmetal supplier to cut a sheet or two into the pieces I need. I don't really want to get into that myself.

 

[jerrykr]

I'm thinking corregated galvanized roofing, what I call "tin roof". With one wave overlap it comes out to increments of 24 inch width. Cutting to length is easy with a metal shear. the stuff is pretty thin. put it together with the self tapping screws you use for roofs.

I hung out some at a powder coat business when my buddy worked there. I believe their oven was self built.

One thing you need for a larger enclosure is some way to make a convection system to keep the heat evenly distributed inside the box.

I am interested in your progress.

 

[cledry]

A gun safe doesn't work in reverse. They are designed to keep heat out not the other way around, although 400 degrees should be no problem. Just be sure to remove any of the bolt and lock mechanism that wouldn't be able to handle 400 degrees directly. I suspect a gun safe that can be had for $300 or less would be pretty junky. The least expensive one we have available is $895.

I would just build something out of roofing material and insulation.