Adventures with Powdercoating

[PATMAX]

Sorry , I should have posted a pic but bolts ARE batched. Think of a 1 foot length of wire and near the hanging hook, loop your first bolt with one or two wraps and work your way down the wire adding a bolt every few inches. Once they are all tied in, then align all the heads in a row. Makes spraying both sides easier.
Simple and fast. For some reason, powder does not easily get down into hew head bolts so little powder build up hence little chip out from a wrench but still the occasional tight fit with the wrench. Sean can get stainless, polished, black for sure. Colors maybe.

 

[fmcandrew]

Or...better yet, just lay down several sheets of foil on a rack, punch holes, use silicon spacers and I can do 50 at a time. No need to worry about threads as they are on the other side.

I know my method works...proof is in the pudding...

 

[PATMAX]

I have me no silicon spacers. Maybe I need to git me sum!

 

[PATMAX]

so I'm testing this for use on brake and clutch masters. Not so much concerned about color as I am about its resiliency to brake fluid. I'll report my results here


When in doubt...Gas it !!!

 

[fmcandrew]

Pat...should work fine...if I'm not mistaken that stuff is used on firearms...those coatings are generally very tough...

 

[PATMAX]

I'll report my findings here. I borrowed this powder from a friend.

 

[srk468]

Cerikote is awesome but it's very finicky, gotta blast to bare metal and bake all the oils out then apply and bake again. End result is very very tough though!

 

[fmcandrew]

Is the bake temp anything close to PC or approx. 400 degrees?

 

[scuff]

Don't know if this has been asked before, But here it goes, Can you powder coat the color Chrome? and how good does it look?

 

[PATMAX]

The color chrome has yet to be perfected. The best I know of is from Alsa Corp and it is closer to polished aluminum, not a true chrome finish. Google Spectrachrome. It's not real chrome but probably the finish you are looking for. Perhaps someone near you does this process.

 

[scuff]

ok thanks for the ans, I have seen that spray on chrome, don't know if any one here watches Jay Leno's garage on Youtube it's pretty cool, he did a segment on spray on chrome. looked great but I assume the prep is not easy and probably not something you would want to do on a big project, I really asked because I have been very interested in trying some at home powder coating for a long time I think if I could find some really cool colors or if there was a way to powder coat chrome I would definitely try it, been reading this thread a lot might get the bug over the winter and try it myself

 

[PATMAX]

I encourage to check out PC'ing and companys like Eastwood make it cheap but even Amazon can supply you with what you need to start. Finding an electric oven cheap is key and Craigslist may be the best source for that.
Jay's chrome is the same as Spectrachrome process wise. It's all specialized chemicals and applicators so forget about that. I looked into. It ain't cheap to get started and many used systems are for sale because results were less than expected I guess.

 

[train460]

hello again. now with the questions that i promised before. Have a cheap harbor freight gun. and have shot a couple pieces with better that i expected results on some and not so on others.
On my carb brackets, i bead blasted with I believe black glass beads. (was given a bucket when i bought the used blasting cabinet), wiped with acetone, preheated abit, then shot. what i got on the brackets were a couple of tiny looking peakes. almost like theer was a small speck of dirt under the surface when i know they were not there when i put on the powder. thoughts?
also. do i need to seperate brake calipers to powder or can i just leave together?
also If i want to say powder the letters on my tokicos red and the rest black how do i do this?
mask off the letters and blast the black, then bake for how long? then mask the black and powder the letters then again bake?
the first of many questions to come.
thanks
Michael

 

[PATMAX]

Dirt is your enemy for sure. Fortunately you can sand down the imperfection smooth, heat up the part, powder it again and cure it once more.
As far as two tone. There is high temp tape you can coat the main color, tape off and use an Exacto knife for sharp edge masking and reheat part, blow on your second color, re cure, cool, peel off masking. Done.
Brake calipers I have done several pair. Make sure pistons are all the way in. Mask off the rubber seal, powder as normal. Rubber parts can take heat. Caveat: there are these things called silicon plugs you can put inside the caliper bolt holes to keep out powder. I leave an old bleeder screw loosely in place. Tape off/mask the brake line opening, you want that bare metal. Sometimes you have a slight ridge or fillet of powder around the bleeder when done. Easily cut though.

 

[train460]

thanks for the info. I bought a bag off silicone plugs. So on the calipers theni would cover the whole area then cook. I then tape off that area and then recover the letters in the second color. So there will be 2 coats of powder on the letter area?
also on the bad area i mentioned before. Do i need to sand the whole part or just the bad area and recover the whole part again and cook?
thanks
michael

 

[CaptainKyle]

The shop that does my coating now told me not to use glass bead on aluminum parts. He said its fine for steel but seems to impregnate in Aluminum sometimes & make spots. I believe he told to me to use Aluminum oxide

 

[train460]

have read a thing or 2 about using sand. are they talking about the bags of play sand from homedepot?
michael

 

[train460]

Have to fill some tiny holes in the cheap pot metal, the handle bar clamp crown piece. After blasting it shows up.
can I just fill with jb weld or should I use something else.
I powdered over already hoping it would fill but nope. Do I need to sand to bare metal again to fill or can I just sand abit? Do I need to powder the whole piece equally or can I just spray some powder on that area and cook?
Michael

 

[PATMAX]

Repairs on flaws do NOT require you to sand the whole part. Smooth out the imperfection and heat up part, puff on the powder, and reheat. It should flow out no problem. Filling metal is not tricky but there is specific fillers designed just for Powdercoating. I prefer to sand a flaw out if possible though. Sometimes it's tricky to keep the profiles and lines looking right.
Applied and worked just like body filler. I suppose you could fill in the "Yamaha" on a set of scoops for the Smoothie look. Somebody asked about 2 toning. Yes it's just a second color atop the first. There never seems to be an issue of color saturation or coverage. Colors stay vibrant and correct over one another.
Frank, I think you are making a copy of my 1990!
My wheels are Silver Vein though.

 

[train460]

when you talk about heat up the part after sanding. are you talking about 400F or just warm? am i melting the powder as soon as it touches that part of just to make it easier to stick?
Also what about using sand to blast with?
Aquired some orange peal on one of my parts.
I used stripper to get off the outer (film) then i wiped with acetone, blew with air. bead blasted. blew with air. heated at 450F for about 30 minutes. removed and when cool wiped with denatured alcohol, blew again. added powder and in the oven at 400F for 15 minutes, .
michael