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I'll drop it round!
I'll drop it round!
Blasting and powder coating a fillet brazed frame
- Thread starter widowmaker
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using powdercoat people who don't understand the needs of a bike frame will end in tears. But then so will using anybody who's unskilled to do a skilled job.
A good powdercoating will be a initial coat of rust killing primer, then a colour coat, then a clear coat. If they understand it won't be massively thick....yes thicker than paint, but harder too.
As for blowing through metal...that's choice of media and experience. The only items I've ever seen fail had already rusted through and were basically held together with paint (i have a lovely orange prestige windchime as a result). Water got in tje frame, collected at the junction of the down/ bb and ate it from the inside out. Seen the same on chainstays. You can hardly blame a powdercoater for a good looking, but ultimately rotten frame.
I always believed that the media might remove metal, so i took a prestige frame section (paint stripped) in and had it blasted with a frame power job....it measured exactly the same to within a thou'....thats 1/27 of even a prestige micro wafer tube. Im sure the same or more would come off wet sanding.
But i do agree that you need to put your frames into the hands of somebody who knows what they are doing and not a garden furniture blaster!
A good powdercoating will be a initial coat of rust killing primer, then a colour coat, then a clear coat. If they understand it won't be massively thick....yes thicker than paint, but harder too.
As for blowing through metal...that's choice of media and experience. The only items I've ever seen fail had already rusted through and were basically held together with paint (i have a lovely orange prestige windchime as a result). Water got in tje frame, collected at the junction of the down/ bb and ate it from the inside out. Seen the same on chainstays. You can hardly blame a powdercoater for a good looking, but ultimately rotten frame.
I always believed that the media might remove metal, so i took a prestige frame section (paint stripped) in and had it blasted with a frame power job....it measured exactly the same to within a thou'....thats 1/27 of even a prestige micro wafer tube. Im sure the same or more would come off wet sanding.
But i do agree that you need to put your frames into the hands of somebody who knows what they are doing and not a garden furniture blaster!
I actually work in the powder coating industry manufacturing the powder.
- Powder coating moves on with new formulation day by day.
- We have at least 20 - 30 basic systems each based on what the product is required to do, use the wrong one get the wrong results.
- Cheap coatings are cheap for a reason be that wet or dry systems. (they do have a place in the market though)
- When people talk about wet painting they understand household paint is different to 2k yet most people think there is one kind of powder to be used for powder coating.
- Coaters like painters come in all shapes and sizes from the good to the bad but in my experience, look in the "to do" area if its full of everything under the sun they can probably deal with everything under the sun. If its full of garden gates and street furniture possibly give it a swerve.
- Various powders do have corrosion inhibiting properties and have done for may years, if you have a dish washer that's what you have.
- If dry systems ( Powder) are crap why are they used everywhere ?
