Sending a frame off to the powder coaters - what prep is needed?

[montair]

t'other side for W & G

 

[Tsundere]

I'm toying with the idea of sending some bits off to be stripped by a professional, although I'd like to sand, mask off, prime and paint them myself.
Can anyone with experience doing this tell me a ballpark figure for stripping the paint from this lot?

2 frames
2 forks
3 stems
2 handlebars
1 seatpost

It's not that I'm lazy, I just don't have the time required to strip these items properly and would be happy to pay a reasonable price to get that part of the process done well before putting all my energy into the finish.

 

[Tootyred]

The biggest issue i have encountered with powder coaters is them understanding how thin some tubes are!

This effects blast medium choice. If they are doing the stripping make sure they dont " eat" the frame in the process.....especially if they have never done a bike before.

Ive see a broken frame that failed due to ham fisted stripping....but you could not read the frame number after, so im really not suprised it broke.

The guy i use tends to use either beads or shell, depending on how fragile i feel it my be.

Powder is all in the prep imho.

 

[montair]

@Tsundere It is area and employment dependent ( Or if they have enough work and cant be bothered to do it). The only cost is labour as garnet can be reused a fair bit before it get too contaminated.
Key bits from my experience:
Make sure its cleaned of any dirt, oil and stickers these are a pain to remove by blasting and clog the blaster.
Give them a date it needs doing by don't say when ever as you then end up chasing every 2 weeks.
Give them a packet of biscuits in with the bits everyone loves biscuits
Cash for the Christmas party goes a long way.


£30 - £60 for the lot

 

[Tsundere]

@Tsundere It is area and employment dependent ( Or if they have enough work and cant be bothered to do it). The only cost is labour as garnet can be reused a fair bit before it get too contaminated.
Key bits from my experience:
Make sure its cleaned of any dirt, oil and stickers these are a pain to remove by blasting and clog the blaster.
Give them a date it needs doing by don't say when ever as you then end up chasing every 2 weeks.
Give them a packet of biscuits in with the bits everyone loves biscuits
Cash for the Christmas party goes a long way.


£30 - £60 for the lot

Thanks for the advice, I like the biscuit bribery

 

[hamster]

Agreed with all the above - visiting a powder coater and seeing a row of bike frames ready for collection is always reassuring.