My First crack at DIY Powder Coating with the Eastwood Duel Voltage gun.
I have been working on some MX80 and DT100 projects, and practicing various different Methods for restoring these bikes, These are used for practicing and building some skills to be used on other projects of mine.
About a year or so ago, I bought the Eastwood Duel Voltage Powder Coating kit along with some basic supplies and a sampler powder kit and a couple different powders. I finally got to do my first parts and I think they came out excellent for the project I am working for. Right now, I have a small toaster oven, so I am limited to smaller parts for the curing process.
The first parts I did was a GT80 Kickstand and DT100 rear brake stay. I used a chemical stripper to remove most the paint followed by a steel wire wheel in a drill, followed by a brass (finer/softer) wire wheel in a drill. I had 3 different blacks to choose from (satin, semi-gloss, and gloss) ended up going with the semi- gloss as I as trying to match the VHT EPOXY paint I used on the frame. Turned out to be a pretty good Match. The little area on the kickstand that is not coated is where I put the wire hanger and attached the negative of the gun to, The kickstand spring goes on here, so the coating would likely get worn here so that is why I choose this point.
The second run I did the Triple Tree Top for the GT80 in Eastwood Extreme Chrome. It is recommended to put a clear coat powder over the chrome, but I have not did that yet. Usually the clear coat takes away some of the luster. Part of me wants to leave it like this and part of me wants to experiment and put the clear coat on it. If it dulls and gets grayish, that would be OK on this little bike as the original parts were more of a silver/grey paint. I believe the original color was called "Silver Dust". They say this color powder needs a clear for UV protection or the color will dull, but at this point, I think it looks pretty good for a beginner, LOL

Nice!, an old upright propane smoker probably should be able to get to 400deg. I  got mine up to 350 easily when curing a painted engine head and cylinder. Lot of room for bigger stuff. 

Great job for your first time. You are correct about the clear coat on the chrome powder, if you clear it, it will dull, and if you don't clear it, it will dull. It still looks okay from 10ft. If you can find someone selling an electric oven for cheap you can really control your temps better. I was lucky and found an old Harbor Freight  powder oven locally for cheap. The guy I bought it from did powder for his business and told me just buy the HF system for what I do. Works great.

I clean my parts kind of like you do but I bead blast the parts for better adherence and wipe them down with acetone before I coat them. I've found if you don't wipe the parts down good you may get fish eyes in the powder. Any pitting with rust in them also affects the finish. In that case I soak the parts in vinegar overnight which works.

Powder is messy but the finished product comes out great. My customers like it. iGre