For you powdercoaters.....

Had opportunity to do a little experiment, and wanted to post the results.

I had powder-coated a couple of motorcycle parts for my dad, and the results were less than spectacular. No biggie, I'm still climbing up the learning curve on this stuff. Anyhow, I ended up stripping them by dunking them in a gallon bucket of used solvent. (Powdercoating IS tough, but will succumb to chemicals given enough time.) Anyhow, the bigger, thicker part had it's coating basically dissolve in a very short time, while the smaller, thinner part took nearly 3~4 times longer.

The reason for this is that the smaller, thinner part reached it's cure temperature faster than the bigger, thicker part and thus cured more thoroughly. This resulted in a tougher finish that was much more resistant to chemicals than the undercured part.

The lesson here? When powder coating, be SURE that the part itself is up to the cure temp BEFORE starting the clock on the cure time. It makes a BIG difference in the end result.

 

This is another one of the reasons that I am glad to have friends. A good buddy of mine owns the powder coating shop here in town so I am taked care of on anything I need. I was going to try to learn how to do it but these days, I just take it to him and let him take care of it since he knows what he is doing.