Powder coating problem...Advice needed

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#1
#1
I just got my Skat Kitty back from the powder coater. Everything looks great, even the parts that he chrome powder coated. Problem is the frame. There are little pin holes all over it. He said because of impurities in the cast aluminum. When he bakes it the impurities pop out. You can see and feel them. I could probly live with it...but would like to know if there's anything I can do to smooth out the bumps. It really sucks because all other parts look stunning...any ideas?:shrug:

I'll be posting pics in Build off section.
 
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#8
#8
Mine are similar to the eliminating pinholes info, except you don't need a microscope to see them. Powder coater said it was from outgassing. I guess I know what that is now.
 
YOOP

YOOP

#12
#12
Just curious how the chrome looks compared to real chrome.
Thinking of having some parts done but never seen anything that was done in person.
 
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#14
#14
A guy I went to school with lives a couple miles away. He does paint work. I just left him a message about my problem. He does Auto-rama type work, hopefully he can help.
 
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Joe51

#16
#16
Hello, Have worked with powder coatings along time. Started in 1984 there abouts. Prep is key. If you work with rusty/blasted metal you surely need to pre-bake the part in question to prevent outgassing. Has your powder coater applied an iron or zinc phosphate pretreatment to your parts prior to powder and after blasting?
Regards
 
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#17
#17
Yooper...the powder chrome looks good, not as good as polished chrome, but looks good for the foot pegs, rims, kick stand, brake rods etc. I'll have the handlebars, neck and exhaust pipe re-chrome polished. My paint guy said to bring the frame by tomorrow and he'd look at it. It's a beautiful job just suffering from some outgassing that looks like acne.

Joe51...I don't know if he did a zinc or iron treatment before coating. I'm sure he pre-baked it though.

KustomKart...thanks for helping and I'll try to get pics of the powder chrome up tonight at some point. The rims look good, they're powder chromed and the hubs are coated red and they look great together.
 
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notmeofficer

New Member
#18
#18
Joe is right on

Prep IS the key.. especially when shooting "near chrome".. which is a base coat then clear coat... (the powder manufacturer's are working on a one shot but at this time Im not sure if its perfected) BTW if you touch near chrome before the clear you will get a fingerprint in the final product because of oils on the hands.

Outgassing can be an issue on any metal.. but as stated pre treat.. hi pressure wash.. acid etching...careful bake-off for 45 minutes in a hot oven 400 degrees, clean fresh powder.. clean guns, excellent ground to work, etc can all obviate this... Skip or be sloppy in any of these and you will get application problems

A professional shop is super clean so there is never any cross contamination or potential dirt that could show up in a finished product

You can sometimes shoot a second application of powder.. but not on near chrome...its already got two coats...

Based on what you have stated I dont think there is anything that your coater could have done differently if he followed the tried and true steps... even when we were as careful as possible we still saw outgassing on some metals ( especially cheap import metals from china made from poorly formulated recycled steel) and a resulting poor finish on the final product... I would also say that if we ever got rushed or didnt have attention to good prep and shop/booth cleanliness we would see an issue

I sold the company several years ago.. we had a 30 foot oven and a 30 foot blast booth driven by a 75 hp ingersol rand compressor.. We coated everything from metal.. plastic.. even wood.. triple fades on frames.. entire cars..many track cars... lots of motorcycle stuff for people like arlen ness
Powder-coating is a hugely profitable business run correctly.. a pound of powder can net hundreds of dollars of profit


Media blast it and start over.
 
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