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Powdercoating?

MJ5150

MJ5150

Moderator
Staff member
Gold Supporting Member
Apr 12, 2001
17,407
35,732
Edinburg, Texas
#1
I currently have chrome bumpers on my Dodge Ram, but I am not a fan of chrome. Instead of the plastic color matched bumpers, I'm looking at other options including sandblasting the chrome off and painting them. The thought of powdercoating came up.

Anyone here do powdercoating work? Had any items powdercoated? I called a couple shops in my area for a quote. One was $240 for both, another was $400 for both. I'll pay more for the better quality products and workmanship. Hopefully someone out there in the vast expanse of TBOT has direct experience with this possible venture of mine.

-Mike
 
#5
As with all finishing jobs the the quality of the job depends mostly on how well the surface is prepared. I think sandblasting will give you a bit of a different more textured finish over sanding. You wanna make sure it's a smooth even surface with no sanding scratches or they will show up in the finished product.

I'm sure bake times and temps play a big role in the end result as well.

If you can, try to find examples of finished work by the two shops that quoted you.

I'm going with powdercoating the enclosures of the my effects pedals when I start building regularly.
 
#9
powder coating is how they paint the red shelves and cart bumpers at target, i used to do it at a factory in PA as a youngster, check these out before you get too interested in that, because it can scratch kind of easily and it is orange peely too
 
#12
Yeah, I was curious about Blender's refin....I was just researching...apparently there is a way to powdercoat MDF board, in a similar process to applying chrome to wood (like what we've seen Warwick do).... now I am curious about that process... interesting! I think powdercoated bumpers would look KILLER. Especially in a moderately darker shade of the current body color (you said grey?)
 
#13
hover said:
Don't you have to electrically charge the parts to be powdercoated, and then bake the parts afterwards? Coulda sworn that was the process
Click to expand...

That's the process. Don't quote me but I think you ground the piece to be powedercoated and the gun you use to spray the powder puts a static charge on the particles (not sure if it is + or - or both),...that sticks to the the piece (could be that you put a pos charge on the piece and the gun negatively charges the particles causing them to stick,...I'm just not clear on that). Then you bake it on.

I don't know about rattlecan powder coating.

@Mike. Yes DIY. I have access to an Eastwood Sprayer,...which is around $100. The enclosures I'll be working with will fit in a toaster oven which is all you really need to bake the powder on. For something as large as truck bumpers,...I'd just have a shop do it. You'll need to bake the powder on and unfortunately,...finding an oven big enough to accommodate bumpers will not be easy,...nor cheap.
 
#14
hover said:
I think powdercoated bumpers would look KILLER. Especially in a moderately darker shade of the current body color (you said grey?)
Click to expand...

Exactly. I could almost pull off black for the bumpers. Here is my Ram...

th_DSC01592.gif


-Mike
 
#16
MJ5150 said:
th_DSC01592.gif


-Mike
Click to expand...

Oh man, that would look incredible with darker powder.

mpdd said:
powder coating is how they paint the red shelves and cart bumpers at target, i used to do it at a factory in PA as a youngster, check these out before you get too interested in that, because it can scratch kind of easily and it is orange peely too
Click to expand...

Did you do the bake-on process? If it looks orange-peely and scratches easily, it's because powdercoat does not do well in thin coat applications. I'm sure Target is not spec'-ing a full on durable coat. That's almost a "why bother" situation....
 
#17
hover said:
Oh man, that would look incredible with darker powder.



Did you do the bake-on process? If it looks orange-peely and scratches easily, it's because powdercoat does not do well in thin coat applications. I'm sure Target is not spec'-ing a full on durable coat. That's almost a "why bother" situation....
Click to expand...

Done properly,...powdercoating should result in a pretty durable finish.

One thing you could also consider Mike is Line X. Not sure how popular or effective it would be,...but it's a pretty thick and tough finish. I know Avatar has a Line X option in lieu of tolex or carpet for their speaker cabs.
 
#19
warwick.hoy said:
One thing you could also consider Mike is Line X. Not sure how popular or effective it would be,...but it's a pretty thick and tough finish. I know Avatar has a Line X option in lieu of tolex or carpet for their speaker cabs.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea too that I have been thinking about. I know a few guys who did Line-X or similar product on their Rams. It looks great on black trucks and I like the matte finish.

-Mike
 

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