I had a custom powder made for me for a project, and had two different places powder coat a panel one local, one states away. Both did underwhelming work.. The first company was local and even though they got the best reviews in town, the finish was very uneven looking lots of bubble like dips in the finish. I found a company out of state that said no worries we can do it right, and they did do a better job, but still a slightly bubbly looking finish. I know theres a way to get smooth finishes! I see it all the time on gear, but I'm striking out! Anyone have suggestions for a place to powder coat some panels for me? I'm in Nashville btw...
Sourcing Powder Coaters
- Thread starter kidb
- Start date
Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:
Maybe contact Matt Stager of Stager mics ([email protected])? His mics have great looking powder coats and he's in Nashville too.
Powder coat is not rocket science but a PIA to start and stop for small runs. I recall when Peavey set up our powder coat production line and it was significant, but worked better running the same color for long runs, not small batches.
JR
JR
pucho812
Well-known member
If you have the space can get a diy powder coat kit
I had an acquaintance who worked at a small local motorcycle rebuilding shop do a small batch of powder coating for me back in the day. He was surprised at how small / simple the job was. Maybe look into that kind of business in your area?
IIRC the production powder coat line involved a controlled environment with electrostatic charged parts hangers to attract the powder onto the parts. Then they run through an oven to get cooked (cured). Not rocket science but imo not simple.
JR
Just a diy powder coater speculating: the OP complaints sound like maybe too much powder material was applied. Easy to do. It can cause an orange peel finish.
MidnightArrakis
Well-known member
[Anyone have suggestions for a place to powder coat some panels for me?] -- How many panels do you need powder-coated?
I'm guessing that for what you need to have done and with using your own powder, your personal project will probably more than likely tend to run a bit pricey. With that being said, there is a sheet-metal shop here where I live that primarily works on defense contractor projects, yet I have used them myself for a couple of my design projects. This local sheet-metal shop sends their projects out to a local powder-coating shop to do all of their powder-coating. I am mentioning this just to give you a reference of the level-of-quality that this local powder-coating shop has to be able to provide in order to meet defense contractor projects.
I myself have visited the powder-coating shop umpteen times and on the occasions when I have been there, they were involved with powder-coating "parking meters" for a nearby small town and even a "wrought-iron bench" for some local old-lady who wanted to freshen-up the look of her bench that she had in her backyard. My point??? ..... This local powder-coating shop does everything from an old-lady's backyard bench to rack-mount chassis I have personally designed to equipment consoles used on U.S. Navy vessels.....all with the same level of craftsmanship and quality. Would this be "good enough" for you?
[I know there's a way to get smooth finishes] -- YES!!!.....There is!!! But, you will need to do some "homework" first in order for you to determine -- exactly what type -- of "smooth" finish that you are looking for. There is:
- Smooth
- Fine
- Fine Textured
- Sandtex
- Matte
- Low-Gloss
- >> Others.....
- Federal Standard 595 Color FS 37038 Flat Black
- Federal Standard 595 Color FS 17038 Black
- RAL9005
- Black Sandtex
- Realcoat EL HNF35QF ECB-1363A (Black 2701)
>> Here's a stack of one of the rack-mount chassis I have designed:
>> My chassis ready to be powder-coated:
>> My chassis rear-panels inside the powder-coating booth:
>> Chassis rear-panel powder-coated and on a finished piece of equipment:
>> Chassis inside-view:
>> One of my "panel" designs:
>>> Your call!!!.....
/
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S.Samuelsson
Active member
Hi.
I got paid to wet-paint cars for a while back in the late 80's and have done some diy-powdercoating over the decades, but the bulk of my knowledge comes from my education and the various industrial jobs I've had over the years.
Just as any other surface treatement method, powdercoating looks decievingly simple.
Especially if done by a professional, in a powdercoating facility.
While the principle is very simple: just heat the piece to a predetermined temperature -> apply the powder -> melt/cure the powder -> done, the reality is a whole 'nother ballgame.
That's one of the reasons "wet paint" is still the preferred method in most applications even though the tightening environmental legislation makes it more and more expensive and difficult every few years or so.
Powdercoating on the other hand, is very environmental friendly in comparison so if it was easy, everything that can fit in a curing oven would be powdercoated.
If not by the powdercoaters who gave it a go, it's a surprise to me that they agreed to use unknown (to them) powder, a failure of a some sort is pretty much guaranteed.
It takes a lot of time (and powder) to dial all the parameters in, if and when a flawless result is required.
While they all look, well, a powderous substances, there's a lot of variations and it's usually discouraged to mix the powders.
It's been a while I last checked, but if a custom powder was required, it was ordered straight from the manufacturer and something along the lines of 1000Kg was the minimum order.
The former would be a rookie mistake, so if this was a poll, my vote would go for the latter.
If anything, it's pretty safe to say that if a one-off or a very limited run has a smooth and shiny surface, it's most likely wet paint.
Reasonably smooth finish can be acchieved by powdercoating as well, but it takes a lot of skill, and a precisely tuned process.
Not to mention a lots of parts that are exactly the same (or similar enough), otherwise all the tuning (time and powder) has to be put in the price of that one-off job.
Regards,
Sam
I got paid to wet-paint cars for a while back in the late 80's and have done some diy-powdercoating over the decades, but the bulk of my knowledge comes from my education and the various industrial jobs I've had over the years.
Just as any other surface treatement method, powdercoating looks decievingly simple.
Especially if done by a professional, in a powdercoating facility.
While the principle is very simple: just heat the piece to a predetermined temperature -> apply the powder -> melt/cure the powder -> done, the reality is a whole 'nother ballgame.
That's one of the reasons "wet paint" is still the preferred method in most applications even though the tightening environmental legislation makes it more and more expensive and difficult every few years or so.
Powdercoating on the other hand, is very environmental friendly in comparison so if it was easy, everything that can fit in a curing oven would be powdercoated.
By whom?
If not by the powdercoaters who gave it a go, it's a surprise to me that they agreed to use unknown (to them) powder, a failure of a some sort is pretty much guaranteed.
It takes a lot of time (and powder) to dial all the parameters in, if and when a flawless result is required.
While they all look, well, a powderous substances, there's a lot of variations and it's usually discouraged to mix the powders.
It's been a while I last checked, but if a custom powder was required, it was ordered straight from the manufacturer and something along the lines of 1000Kg was the minimum order.
Sounds like either condensation droplets boiling, or something affecting the surface tension during the baking/curing.
The former would be a rookie mistake, so if this was a poll, my vote would go for the latter.
Marketing claims aside, there's actually no way to tell whether the finish is wet painted or powdercoated.
If anything, it's pretty safe to say that if a one-off or a very limited run has a smooth and shiny surface, it's most likely wet paint.
Reasonably smooth finish can be acchieved by powdercoating as well, but it takes a lot of skill, and a precisely tuned process.
Not to mention a lots of parts that are exactly the same (or similar enough), otherwise all the tuning (time and powder) has to be put in the price of that one-off job.
Regards,
Sam
